Founder’s Letter
An Introduction to Old Stone Trade
By Melissa Ventosa Martin
I was raised by my grandparents and as such have always felt a connection to old things—stories, traditions, and perhaps most strongly, clothing. I was drawn to certain pieces because my mother had worn them, or because her mother had worn them (and so on). Now on special occasions— not without some tears— my own daughters wear these very same pieces.
All these heirlooms have a story behind them. My maternal grandmother was Scottish by way of the Bronx. We grew up on Staten Island which doesn’t conjure images of heritage tweeds, but she had deep familial roots and every year around Christmas, I’d watch her get ready to meet her high-school friends from Sacred Heart School in Highbridge for a luncheon followed by mass at St Patrick's Cathedral. She’d put on one of many kilts she’d acquired over the years that had been passed down from her Chisholm clan or purchased on trips abroad. These kilts are in my wardrobe today — though I only take them out for special occasions and, having worked in fashion for many years, I style them differently than my grandmother did. When I put them on, I still think of her.
As the world stopped in 2020 and I had the opportunity to take a step back from fashion, I started thinking about the racks of clothes I’d acquired over the years. I realized that there were only a few special pieces that I truly cared about. That, in fact, I had developed a uniform for myself—the clothes that I come back to over and over. The handmade apron dress from Atelier Bomba I got after walking through their atelier in Rome, meeting the women who make them and hearing the story behind them (more on that later). A hand-knitted cardigan that had belonged to my mother. A hand-smocked blouse from Loretta Caponi bought on a special trip with my Aunt to Florence. Each of these pieces had a story, they were all handmade—and they are all worthy of being passed down to my daughters.
This is where Old Stone Trade began. Named for our 1833 stone house in Saratoga Springs, which itself has lived many lives and has many stories to tell, OST brings together beautiful handcrafted pieces from all over the world and shares the stories behind them: Aran sweaters hand-knitted on the island of Inishmore, a traditional Ruana hand-crocheted in Colombia, a Lepoglava lace collar from Croatia.
What we are proposing is not so much a new way of dressing, though you might find yourself adopting your own uniform, but a new way to think about clothing and how it fits into our lives. With true luxury comes time, a personal connection and a desire to make more meaningful purchases for the good of the planet—which just might be the best thing you could pass on to future generations.