The Stonehouse: Found Objects and Handcrafted Goods
Growing up in rural Germany, near the France-Luxembourg border, Andrea Menke was more intrigued by the imagery of the American Southwest than with her fairytale surroundings. Her career as a fashion and prop stylist eventually landed her in New York City, where she worked for fifteen years with designers and national retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman and Anthropologie. In 2007, a fixation with straw-bale houses led her to the Western Catskills, where she met Clark Sanders, an eccentric homesteader known for constructing energy-efficient straw-bale houses from scratch. “He was supposed to build me a house,” laughs Andrea, “but we fell in love first. Two months later, I gave up my apartment and moved upstate.”
She chose the town of Delhi, a vibrant and fast-growing community in the Catskills, just a few hours north of the city. Coupled life in a small town was blissful, except her home quickly began brimming with collected treasures from her travels abroad — everything from hand embroidered pillows to antique wooden bowls to Moroccan tea glasses — and she was running out of room. It seemed the best and most exciting solution was to open up a shop.
The Stonehouse is Andrea’s tiny boutique filled with found objects and handcrafted goods, specifically named for the home Clark built for the two of them. Set in a former barber shop, a step inside is like stumbling upon a miniature Moroccan bazaar in the heart of Delaware County. Stocked with nearly everything a world traveler could want — from antique knives to hand dyed aprons to plush piles of linens — there is the promise that no two trips will ever be alike as she continuously brings forth new objects and textiles to display. “It’s a wonderful experience to be here, sitting in front of my store, in the sun, where people just stop by for a chat or a cup of tea and, of course, to shop,” she says.
Photos by Rachel Watson, Words by Jill Krasny