I want to tell you where the name Dolorna came from, because it's not really a brand name. It's two names put together.
Dolores and Lorna. My grandmothers.
Grandma Lorna was the one who introduced me to antiques. I was maybe five or six, and she'd load us kids up into her Lincoln and take us out to estate sales and antique shops on the weekends. I didn't understand what we were doing then, not really. I just knew I got to ride in the big car and wander through other people's old things. She collected perfume bottles - all different shapes and colors. And she had this rose garden that was her joy. I remember the smell of it more than almost anything else from those visits. She taught me about heritage and histories, and that those stories are worth paying attention to.
Grandma Dee, Dolores, is a different kind of teacher, and she's still very much here to teach it. She's someone who loves people, genuinely loves them, and who has spent her life connecting with them wherever she goes. She has this gift for slowing down and being fully present in a moment that most people would just rush through. It's about the small, ordinary moments in between. Sitting in the sun with her morning coffee. An evening cocktail at the end of a long day. She doesn't need much to be happy. Just the sun, a good cup of coffee, and someone to talk to.
Between the two of them, I got a real education, even though neither of them would have called it that. Lorna taught me to see the beauty and the story in old, well-loved objects. Dee taught me to actually stop and enjoy life's simple pleasures.
That's what I wanted this shop to be. Every piece we carry has a little bit of that in it. Something heritage-worthy, something worth turning over in your hands and wondering about. And something meant to be lived with, sat with, enjoyed in the ordinary moments of your day.
This is my way of saying thank you to both of them, and hopefully passing a little of what they gave me on to you.
Thanks for following along this journey. I'm really glad you're here.
~Kelly M.