On Beauty

Jennifer Thornton DiDonna,
Founder of Hazel Wood Children, and
her newborn baby (Summer 08)

By Jennifer Thornton DiDonna

Last fall, for about 5 minutes a day, the late afternoon sunlight would fall on a painting above our couch in a glowing orange light. My son would catch this moment and become so excited by it’s beauty that he would implore me to come and look before it had passed. I relish his awareness of beauty and strive to continue to nurture it. How a parent instills an aesthetic sensibility in their children has always been a very important question for me. Sometimes it happens through such unexpected moments and sometimes in more planned ways; for example, by traipsing their little bodies through the wonderful museums of our (New York) city.

It was this personal venture that led me to the founding of a business where I could collect and offer my secret stash of incredible designs to other parents and their precious children (Hazel Wood Children – www.hazelwoodchildren.com.) The online boutique consists of designers and artists whose visions filled me with the joyous feeling one gets when they find something that was made with love, skill and deliberation; an array of fabrics, colors and designs that one will want to shower upon those bright new eyes as they stare at the everything that passes their way.

Almost everyday I find moments to seize upon the opportunity to shed a little light on something beautiful. At times it might be something bought; at other times it might be something shared; sometimes it might even be made in Grandma’s oven. In each case, one doesn’t only see them experience beauty in the moment, one also encounters the hope and possibility that it may have lasing influence: that it may one day lead them to share it with their own children.

Photos above show the Semilla Baby 100% Organic Baby Wrap - Semilla_Baby_100_Organic_Baby_Wrap_& the Nathalie Vintage Fabric Diaper Bag
Nathalie_Vintage_Fabric_Diaper_Bag. Both HWC Exclusives. The diaper bag is the most environmentally conscious diaper bag on the market & is 100% made in the US.

All Hip Slope Mama readers get a 10% discount when they shop online at www.hazelwoodchildren.com. Enter code MAMA. Expiration date for this offer is: Feb. 15, 2009.

Jennifer is a Brooklyn mom and was born and raised in NYC. She studied dance and theater for many years until her childhood obsession with rearranging her room (well, her mom’s whole apartment actually) led her to study interior design. Soon after the birth of her first child, she worked for an environmental pioneer in the Green Design Movement, Kim Nadel of the NICHE Design Group. Inspired and empowered by a newfound awareness of the importance of environmental awareness in ALL aspects of life, she combined her love of design with her love of her newborn and created Hazel Wood Children. At HWC (an online boutique) http://www.hazelwoodchildren.com she could share these values with other parents and their children through her carefully chosen selection of exquisite environmentally conscious products.

Posted by Monkeydoodle at Monday, January 19, 2009