We have lived in Knoxville our whole lives and can’t imagine living anywhere else. We attended Webb School of Knoxville from the time they opened the lower school in 1998 through our graduation years. We both went to Wofford College in South Carolina where we played Division 1 football and tennis.
Webb and Wofford gave us everything we needed to grow as individuals and as aspiring business owners. We felt well equipped for life after college and have been entrepreneurs together ever since.
Having also worked for Wofford’s Fundraising program we got to see first hand the lasting impact that even the smallest donation of $1 has on a community and how important it is for us to give back.
After being away for 4-5 years we gained an even deeper appreciation for Knoxville. We moved back to the Scruffy City in 2013 because there is no place like home!
We enjoyed living downtown on Gay Street for 7 years before moving to the suburbs when our son Derek Jr. was born.
While taking a stroll on a cold November day, a glimmer of the Sunsphere caught our eye. As we got closer we could easily see that it was covered in dirt and some of the windows appeared to be completely discolored and broken.
It was disappointing to see our iconic city symbol in distress. It didn’t reflect the energy and new life that continues to take over Downtown Knoxville.
We have a holiday tradition of adding a special ornament to our collection every year. But not just any ornament… it has to be from a special place or have sentimental meaning to us in some way. It dawned on us that a Sunsphere ornament would be the perfect sentimental sparkly addition to our tree. And surely purchasing one would help it in some way too!
For three years we searched for a beautiful glass ornament of the Sunsphere. We couldn’t even find a simple replica for sale at the time. That’s when we decided to create our own! The purpose of the Sunsphere ornament was to give back to the city that we love so much and to create something Knoxvillians will cherish forever.
For a year and a half we searched for a high-end ornament manufacturer. We wanted the highest quality, so we enlisted a leading designer of custom ornaments from Europe.
European artistry has been long detected in the art of glass molds to produce Christmas ornaments. We knew they could help us bring our ornament design to life.
After we design our ornaments on paper, the next thing we do is create our design digitally and then we finalize all of the colors and glittering! Then the artists perform all of the delicate details from the carving, molding, and glass blowing to the hand-painting and glittering for all of our ornaments!
The Finished Product
Unique and timeless collectibles that are beautiful to look at and display all year long. Every ornament is packaged with love, perfect for giving as a gift or for treating yourself.
After 2 years of designing and planning the launch of our first Sunsphere ornament and working with the City of Knoxville and Visit Knoxville, we were so excited to offer the ornament to the public.
We are thrilled that our Sunsphere ornament was the first to contribute to The Sunsphere Fund and we hope that the Sunsphere is preserved and enhanced from our efforts.
Now we are more excited than ever to continue designing and creating new ornaments for our city of Knoxville to celebrate even more city icons such as the Tennessee Theatre this year, along with the Sunsphere!
