Thriving Ornaments Business Celebrates 30 Years of Success!

Thirty years ago, a talented artist’s major success at a local art show propelled her into a thriving business in the gift industry. Today, Debi Allison, who first developed her art skills by creating ornaments at her mother’s kitchen table, is the creative designer and owner of Deb & Co., a company that offers collectible, handcrafted, year-round ornaments. Deb & Co. recently celebrated its 30th anniversary by debuting an entirely new Party Collection, along with a 30th birthday celebration at the Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market® in January.

“Owning this company has allowed me to expand my creative side by continuously designing and creating ornaments for collections, old and new,” says Allison. “Knowing the ornaments I’m making will be a keepsake for other families is truly inspiring to my design process.”

Deb Allison spent 10 years in the jewelry making business prior to shifting her design focus to bread dough ornaments, primarily because of the surge in gold prices. The change was a welcome one for Allison, who was able to reconnect with a hobby she greatly enjoyed as a child. “As a young child, whenever I would stay home sick from school, I would make Christmas ornaments and other crafts with my mom. I loved it so much that I actually could make myself sick to stay home!”

In 1983, Allison began selling her ornaments at a kiosk in a prominent Atlanta mall and also met her future husband, Glenn Allison, a calligrapher who taught her how to properly personalize her ornaments. Debi recalls the sleepless nights the two had during that first busy Christmas season. “Glenn would work at the mall kiosk, because I was still hand making all the ornaments,” she says. “We even had to enlist the help of some local women to help me paint. Twice a week, Glenn would drive home in the middle of the night to pick up the finished ornaments and find us women asleep all over the floor!”

For nearly 20 years, Allison and her husband worked the kiosks together and enrolled other family members to manage additional kiosks across the country. Eventually, rising demand prompted her to outsource for mass production, but Allison continues making all prototypes by hand.

Throughout her career, Allison has developed a solid, signature look that she attributes to her use of polymer clay, which customers prefer, and her personal design of each prototype ornament. Deb & Co.’s whimsical ornaments often feature Allison’s popular Belly Bears, inspired by her cat Mozart, which she lovingly refers to as “a big fat cat.” Allison has a love of animals that shines through in many of her pet ornaments and is also evidenced by the company’s website, which offers a page devoted to “furry friends.”

You can read more about the artist and view more ornaments at DebandCo.com

Article and images used with permission from DebandCo.com