Sarah Alleman Photography
The Davis family standing in front of Grandmother's Buttons historic storefront. From left to right: Ben, Susan, Donny, and Anna.
In our second episode, we join Grandmother’s Buttons founder and designer Susan Davis upstairs in the red historic bank building during the business’s final days in St. Francisville, to reflect on the alchemy of transforming antique buttons into jewelry and the many lives the brand has touched since Davis started it in 1985.
The Great Button Hunt
Bloopers
It's not a blooper exactly, but we recorded this episode upstairs in the former Grandmother's Buttons building on a single microphone for all three hosts and Susan. We wanted to capture the energy of us all being in that storied storeroom and workspace together—but the audio quality suffered a tad as a result.
Reading List
Here, find articles that we either mentioned in the episode, or that we think might enrich and/or further the conversations we had.
A Farewell to Grandmother's Buttons
by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot
After almost forty years, one of Louisiana's most beloved brands says goodbye
Anna Davis
Susan Davis describes making jewelry from antique buttons as "putting a puzzle together".
Friday Nights at the Mag Return
by James Fox-Smith
Tentatively, triumphantly, a community institution dances back in
Photo by Jill Moore
Dancing at Magnolia Cafe
Forty Years of Country Roads: Building she-sheds and magazines, one brick at a time
by James Fox-Smith
Speaking of things that take a long time to build, did you ever hear the one about the St. Francisville woman who, in 1983, started a magazine about things to do “from Natchez to New Orleans”?
Dorcas in 1983
Dorcas Brown—CR's founder and James' oft-teased, much-loved mother-in-law—signing copies of the first issue. September 1983.
The Myrtles
by Chris Turner-Neal
Changes at the haunted plantation focus on hospitality and hearth cooking
Lucie Monk Carter
Episode Ephemera
Alexandra Kennon
Left to right: James Fox-Smith, Susan Davis, and Jordan LaHaye Fontenot preparing to record this episode upstairs in the Grandmother's Buttons building in St. Francisville.
Alexandra Kennon
Left to right: James Fox-Smith, Susan Davis, and Jordan LaHaye Fontenot standing in front of the gorgeous vintage stained glass window in the stairwell of Grandmother's Buttons during one of the store's final days.
