Glitterville Invasion
Pop-up store brings holiday decorating mirth
Kelly Dworkin, co-founder of Preston Center Plaza gift and party mainstay Swoozie’s, knows how to add some wacky whimsy to her holiday decorating.
“I’ve given my fair share of parties at the house, and Glitterville was always the central decoration,” she said.
Swoozie’s has carried the Glitterville line for nearly two decades, and this has helped bring even more of the brand to the Park Cities area with a pop-up shop at the Pavillion on Lovers Lane through the end of December.
“We were always targeting the Park Cities for the Glitterville Pop up,” Dworkin said. “Lovers Lane is perfect.”
Product line designer Stephen Brown also sees the location as ideal.
“It’s an area that really appreciates that all of Glitterville is completely handmade — that really appreciates that craftsmanship,” he said.
Brown founded the popular holiday and party décor line in 2003. Its motto: “Making every day a holiday!”
His fun, whimsical designs have skyrocketed in popularity with celebrities and plain folk alike — Brown now decorates Oprah’s Christmas tree every year.
“My background is in television and film,” Brown explained. “And I started making ornaments on the set of a movie I was doing with Mariah Carey. Someone saw them and said, ‘You should really make ornaments and sell them.’ That’s how it started.”
Working from his home studio in Knoxville, Tennessee, Brown hand makes the original for most Glitterville products. He then travels to Europe and Asia to work with local artisans, who reproduce his designs using the same techniques.
The creative entrepreneur sees spreading joy as his business.
“My thought is we should fill every day of the year with something that’s fun and wacky and makes us happy,” he said. “There’s all different characters that do take you all throughout the year.”
Fans of TLC’s Craft Wars may recognize Brown as one of the judges.
“It was fun because I looked at each one of those people like me, just loving what they do,” he said.
Brown also enjoyed watching many people turn to crafting during the COVID lockdowns and social distancing.
“I did a lot of Instagram Lives where we would just craft with people all the way through the lockdown period,” he said. “In bleak times, people just try to do things that make their lives happier. What better way to do that than crafting and surrounding yourself with giant hippos named Pongo and Llamas named Lala standing on a watermelon?”
