Maker: Made Solid | Pop-In@Nordstrom: Faded

Maker: Made Solid | Pop-In@Nordstrom: Faded

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This month's Olivia Kim-curated Pop-In shop - Pop-In@Nordstrom: Faded - focuses on unique, easygoing style for men and women, combining broken-in fabrics and precision craft. Here we zero in on one of our featured brands, Made Solid.

Peter Maxwell (Max, to his friends) runs Made Solid in Los Angeles with his wife, Mia, specializing in carefully sourced home goods crafted out of stretched leather and beaded jewelry. You can hear them banging away in the back room of their tiny storefront, creating every Made Solid item by hand while you check out their wares, or maybe dig through a crate of old records ( Max is a DJ).

He was relentlessly positive and grounded on the phone. Talking with him felt energizing. It did not surprise us at all to learn he had just come from teaching a spin class. That's his energy: spin instructor.

Here's Max on the origin of African trading beads, being more of a fan than a businessman and the most crucial incense in his life.

SHOP: Made Solid* | Pop-In@Nordstrom: Faded

We're really excited to feature you in this Pop-In. I've been describing it to friends as a new-Los Angeles hippie elite thing. Your brand is a perfect fit.

*available by phone: 1.888.282.6060

Oh, yeah? Who are your friends?

We're excited too. And we have some friends in the shop we're happy to be featured alongside.

You and Mt. Hill both do beadwork, but you don't seem to be competitive about it.

Dr. Collectors and Mt. Hill. I started wearing Dr. Collectors just because I liked their clothing, right when they came out four or five years ago. Through being in Los Angeles and through the trade show that we do called Liberty Fairs, I met Olivier and his wife, Penny, and that's the Dr. Collectors family. Super great people, mellow, we get along really well. And then through Inspiration L.A., which is another show we do, we met Mt. Hill from Japan. He was a fan of our wrapped stones that are featured in this Pop-In. He said hi two years ago, and is just a nice, sweet guy. We like to build relationships. We've been keeping up ever since. We have a store in Los Angeles now and we carry Mt. Hill in there.

Where do you get your African trade beads? And what does that mean, African trade bead?

Yeah, we definitely have similarities, but we have an appreciation for what they do. Everything we use for both our brands are antiques. He gets his a different way than we do. He's focused on his silverwork and making attachments. The silversmith aspect is where he's at. The way we string our products is different. We don't worry about competition. There's room for everyone.

Are those bead suppliers secret?

I'm not the ultimate authority, I should say straight out. But starting from where we get the beads: we have great relationships with a few African guys in Los Angeles, mostly from Gambia, but also Mali, Nigeria, other places, who have been importing beads their entire lives. Knowledgeable guys. We've been building those relationships for a long time so we're really confident in what we get. Our beads are more than 100 years old in some cases. Trade beads mean these are beads that were brought to Africa for trading purposes. Their origin would have been Italy, India and Czechoslovakia, places that were bead-making centers. Over time, in various African cultures, the beads have taken on status and ritual use. For our brand, tying it all together, we always try to bring history to our pieces. Whether that's using antique bone buttons or these beads from a part of the world we respect so much. These are little tiny pieces of history and we don't know where they're from exactly, who they've been on or what they've been through. To us, it's an amazing connection that makes us happy.

Made Solid is a family business; you run it with your wife, Mia. What was that decision like to jump in together, and what sacrifices did you have to make?

Most people can find them. When we make purchases, we'll see other brands there buying beads. We try to have a real relationship. How are your kids? How's your wife? In some cases, how're your wives? I think it gives us better access ultimately because our suppliers do more legwork for us. It's not just straight business. Our business is really about relationships.

I went to school for social work (I'm not licensed) and have been working with various populations in Los Angeles for 20 years. Direct care with 18 to 24-year-olds: gang members, people who have been kicked out of their houses for their sexual identity, people who have been prostituting, drug addicts, that sort of thing. Hardcore stuff. I had been doing other stuff too since you don't make a lot of money in social services: photography and DJ'ing.

When did you start learning about stretching and forming leather?

No stranger to being busy, my wife, who is from Kumomoto, Japan, has long worked in the vintage industry and the restaurant industry. We both saw the potential in the stuff we're doing now and started working together four years ago. It just keeps building. Because neither of us comes from a brand-building background, we were unfamiliar with sales, trade shows or even what's meant by the term "accessories." It's never been like, "OK, here's the plan. Here's what we're doing." It's all a learning process. That keeps us humble in the industry. We're always really thankful that people appreciate the work. Because it is all handmade and we do it ourselves. We don't send anything out for manufacturing. If you come to our shop in Los Angeles, you're going to hear some pounding from the back. We're punching holes and working on things back there. It's a slow build. We're not taking large accounts and going for money, sacrificing materials to hit a certain price point. We want a dedicated customer base and retailers around the world who get it, and who will stick with us for a long time. All our materials and all our techniques have a long history and I think people can sense that. It's all been an evolution.

What kinds of reactions have you gotten about your wrapped stones?

We get our leather from Hermann Oak, one of the oldest tanneries in the United States; they specialize in vegetable tanning. A very traditional, Western, saddle-making leather. In terms of being exposed to leather working, as a kid I was exposed to the basics through family. I grew up in the Northwest and rode skateboards for the last 30 years. I would make a leather ollie patch for my shoe. As I got older, I designed more. There are so many amazing brands, and everyone has their own idea. I've always had a strong sense of history, and traditional styles and techniques appeal to me. I started developing my techniques. I'm self-taught, as far as what I'm doing now.

Well, we're not the first brand to wrap a stone in leather. Leather-wrapped objects became pretty popular with Danish Modern designers back in the day. But a lot of people laugh. People say, "Oh, a pocket for your rock." Or, "What is it? What do you do with it? Why?" Our approach is to ask, "What would you do with it?" I want to leave it up to the user as far as the use and the concept. If I say, "This is a paperweight, then it's going to be a paperweight for all time." That's not the intent. We think of them as objects that are cool and tactile and unique. Also they're very traditional.

I find the rocks entrancing.

The technique to make them is the same as to make the horn of a saddle. Stretching the leather and stitching around the rock. There are so many layers to what we do. When someone has one of the stones on a shelf, hopefully there's some education that happens. The stones come from the San Bernardino valley. You can't just go there and collect buckets of stones; it's a National Park, so you have to have people who can get them for you. We polish them ourselves. For the leather we try to match or complement the stone, by choosing leather with a certain grain or certain tone. The color of the stone matters. It's a little piece of art, we hope. And as for the function, that's up to you. Some people buy a full set, and line up all the sizes on a table or a shelf. Some people use them as doorstops. Some people use them as worry stones. Who's to say what the best use is? It's all good and that goes for everything we do. When someone has a use for a product that we didn't foresee, that's the best. That's amazing. I want to spark people's imagination.

Final question: when you put some sand in the incense holder and light up a stick, which type of incense would you select?

Entrancing! That's a good one. We have a friend who does sales for a big denim company, and he has one on his desk. He does his sales, sits there, holds the rock, uses it to keep his hand occupied, keep his mind focused. It's better than smoking a cigarette, I guess.

I would choose baieido. It's a traditional Japanese incense. There's no wood in the middle, it's just a pressed stick. I think the company's been around since 1657, if memory serves. If you've been to Japan, you'll recognize the smell immediately. It permeates life there. It's part of being a traditional Shinto country. That's our go-to.

SHOP: Made Solid* | Pop-In@Nordstrom: Faded

*available by phone: 1.888.282.6060

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