Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Riley.
Hi Stephanie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Fern & Folk has never been something I set out to turn into a large business. It started simply because I loved making things with my hands. Back in 2020, I was looking for a creative outlet outside of my full-time career in technology, and I discovered cement casting almost by accident. What began with a few planters quickly turned into weekends at local markets, and before I knew it, I was hooked and doing festivals and reaching out to stores for wholesale deals.
Over the last several years, Fern & Folk has grown in ways I never could have imagined. I’ve expanded into wholesale; my products are now carried in multiple ACE Hardware locations and several incredible locally owned shops throughout Maryland and beyond, and I’ve recently had the opportunity to join the Print Pact community, allowing me to share even more of my artwork. Every new opportunity has come through building genuine relationships, showing up consistently, and saying “yes” to things that maybe felt a little scary!
At the same time, my biggest adventure has happened outside of the studio. Becoming a mom to my son, Harrison, and my daughter, Wren, has completely changed the way I think about success. Running Fern & Folk while balancing a full-time career and raising two little ones isn’t always easy, but it has made this business even more meaningful. It gives me the flexibility to continue creating while showing my children what it looks like to build something with passion, determination, and a whole lot of hard work.
One thing that has never changed is my love for shopping small. Some of my proudest moments haven’t been seeing Fern & Folk products on more shelves; they’ve been building relationships with the independent shop owners who believed in my work early on and continue to support local artists every day. Those community connections are what make this business special, and I will always be passionate about helping keep small businesses thriving.
Today, every piece is still hand mixed, poured, sanded, and finished by hand. Whether it’s a booty planter, a silly goose, a little ghost, or one of my illustrations, my goal is always the same: to create something that makes people smile. Fern & Folk has always been about reminding people not to take life quite so seriously, and it’s a sentiment I try to put into each piece I create!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like most small business owners, my biggest challenge has always been balancing everything. Fern & Folk isn’t my full-time job, it’s something I’ve built during early mornings, late nights, weekends, and just about every spare moment in between while also working full-time and raising two young children.
The hardest lesson I’ve learned is that growth doesn’t always happen in a straight line. There have been seasons where I’ve had to slow down because life came first. Becoming a mom, taking time away after having my children, and learning how to juggle family, work, and a business all at once forced me to redefine what success looks like. I had to let go of the idea that I needed to do everything perfectly and instead focus on building something sustainable.
I’ve also learned that saying yes to every opportunity isn’t always the right answer. As Fern & Folk has grown, I’ve become much more intentional about the markets I attend, the wholesale partnerships I pursue, and how I spend my time. Protecting my creativity and making sure I still love what I do has become just as important as growing the business. I have to make sure that now the time I spend away from home is actually worth it financially. Is it paying for a birthday party? This seasons kids sport? A family experience? If not, I’m likely saying no thank you.
One thing I’ve realized along the way is that this business has never really grown because of advertising, it has grown because of people. Every new opportunity has come through relationships with customers who return year after year, shop owners who took a chance on my work, fellow makers who cheer each other on, and people who have shared Fern & Folk with their friends and families. Being invited into multiple ACE Hardware stores, joining the Print Pact community, and partnering with so many wonderful independent shops all started with someone local believing in what I create. Those relationships have become the foundation of my business, and I’m incredibly grateful for every one of them.
I also learned that there is room for all of us. Some of the most rewarding parts of this journey haven’t come from selling my own work, they’ve come from helping other artists succeed. Whether it’s organizing makers markets through Riley Rad Productions, introducing shop owners to talented makers, or simply cheering on another small business, I’ve found that community is far more powerful than competition. When one of us succeeds, it creates opportunities for all of us, and I think that’s what makes the handmade community so special.
If there’s one thing I’m most proud of, it’s that I’ve continued to grow without losing the heart of Fern & Folk. Every piece is still made by me. Every market still feels like a chance to catch up with familiar faces, welcome new ones, and be part of something bigger than myself.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Fern & Folk has evolved into a bit of a creative playground for me. I work across several different mediums now, but the common thread is that everything is handmade, a little unexpected, and usually doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Cement is still at the heart of the business. I hand mix and pour my cement pieces, let them cure, sand and finish them, and then seal each piece. Over the years, I’ve expanded far beyond traditional planters. I make everything from my signature classic round pots to boobs, butts, full size porch geese, ghosts, and plenty of other things! Humor has become a huge part of Fern & Folk and I fully intend on making several people laugh or do a double take of my booth at every market.
My Ghosters are probably one of the best examples of how much time can hide inside something that looks simple when it’s finished. Each one starts with me painting a wooden coaster black, waiting for it to dry, painting 1 or several ghosts, adding a layer of resin and arranging an array of different flowers and foliage. Then I repeat the resin layers several times, sand and paint the sides, and what feels like 1,000 hours later, I have a cool ghoster!
I’ve also started doing more illustration, which has opened up an entirely different creative outlet for me. I love being able to take the humor and personality of Fern & Folk and translate it into prints. Several of my pieces feature a ghost who really likes Baltimore. My latest piece features Jimothy the Racoon because he’s adorable.
Cyanotypes let me lean into the botanical side of Fern & Folk in a completely different way. It’s a photographic printing process that uses sunlight to create these beautiful, deep blue images. I use plants and natural materials to create the compositions, expose them in the sun, and then develop them in water. There’s something I love about combining an old photographic process with plants I’ve collected myself. You can control the composition, but sunlight and nature still get a little say in how the final piece turns out.
And then there are the porch geese, which might be the best example of what Fern & Folk has become. They’re giant, ridiculously heavy cement geese that I hand cast and finish, and somewhere along the way they become their own little personalities. People name them, dress them, decorate them for holidays, and become surprisingly emotionally attached to them. I’ve even started hosting Paint Your Own Silly Goose workshops where people can paint and personalize their own while playing bingo and shopping small in the workshop host store as they dry! Shout out to Simply Made Here in Catonsville for allowing me to host these silly workshops in their awesome workshop space!
I think that’s ultimately what connects everything I make. Whether I’m pouring cement, arranging dried flowers, illustrating something ridiculous, making a cyanotype, or creating a 50-pound goose that someone is going to create an absolutely hilarious attachment to, I want the process to stay creative and the finished piece to have personality.
Fern & Folk started with plants and cement, but over the years I’ve learned to expand and do whatever makes me excited! I think that’s why I still love doing it!!
Stores you can find my works in include:
Botanigal
Plants Alive! (I’m also their monthly market coordinator- Stephanie@plantsaliveshop.com)
The Thrive Sanctuary
The Succulent Hippie
Twisted Roots
The Succulent Garden
Mount Royal Soaps
Simply Made Here
Multiple employee owned ACE Hardware stores in the DMV
And, my products are frequently used in crafting events held by The Resting Bitch Place!
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
My biggest advice is: don’t give up, and don’t forget why you started.
Running a small business is going to have slow days, bad markets, ideas that completely flop, and moments when you wonder what you’re doing. Keep going. Some of the things that didn’t work taught me just as much as the things that did.
More importantly, keep it fun. The minute everything starts feeling like work, take a minute and remember what made you excited about creating in the first place. Try weird things. Make the thing that makes you laugh. Not every idea needs to become your next bestseller. Sometimes creating something just because you want to is what keeps you inspired.
And make friends with your market neighbors! Some of the best relationships and opportunities I’ve had have come from the people I’ve met setting up a tent next to me at 7 a.m. Small business can feel lonely if you let it, but the maker community is incredible when you actually become part of it. Ask questions, share opportunities, help someone with their tent when the wind inevitably tries to take it away, and cheer when something great happens for them.
I always say: mind your own small business and cheer on everyone else’s.
It’s really easy to look around and compare yourself to what another maker is selling, how many followers they have, what markets they’re getting into, or how busy their booth looks. Don’t. Their success doesn’t take anything away from yours. I’ve gotten much further by making friends, sharing opportunities, recommending other makers, and genuinely wanting to see the people around me succeed.
Some of the people I’ve met through markets have become friends, collaborators, retail connections, and part of the reason Fern & Folk has grown into what it is today. There’s room for all of us, and Baltimore is “Smalltimore”. It’s WILD how everyone is connected!
So make the weird thing. Apply for the market. Introduce yourself to the person in the booth next to you. Support the shop that supports you. Celebrate other people’s wins. Laugh when things go sideways. And just keep showing up!
You don’t have to have the whole thing figured out before you start. I definitely didn’t. You figure it out by doing it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @fernandfolkbmore
- Facebook: @fernandfolkbmore
