Artist
female founder
female entrepreneur
female business owner
<p>Toree grew up in Santa Barbara California, where from a young age her two passions were art and animals. She was drawn to the beauty of wild creatures and the inherent artfulness of nartural forms. Inspired by all that is wild, Toree's passion for creative design grew into a calling that became undeniable in 2006 when she dropped out of a traditional four-year university, and ran off to art school. While studying illustration and fine art at Art Center, College of Design, Toree got a job as a caretaker for wild and exotic animals at a nearby wildlife refuge center. There she began gathering the molted feathers, quills and other naturally shed materials from the animals and incorporating them into her art. Toree 's love of wild creatures, their natural beauty and form, became the guiding inspiration for the wearable art and costume that would come to define her unique approach to style and design.</p><p></p><p>Living in Los Angeles, and having close proximity to the stars, Toree's designs quickly caught the eye of leading Hollywood stylists. By 2008 Toree was working full time for the entertainment industry and met her business partner and fellow creative, Kate Thompson. Kate and Toree collaborated under the name Fauxtale, and together created couture pieces for some of the biggest performers in the world, including Cher, Kesha, Katy Perry, Julian Casablancas, Shakira, Adam Lambert, and many more.</p><p></p><p>In 2015, Toree gave birth to a baby boy with partner, Ben Teton. It was at this time they decided to move out of the city, to a small forested enclave outside of Santa Cruz, California. Shortly after the move in 2018, Toree decided to change her business model, moving her designs online in an attempt to make quality costume more widely available to everyone, and Stonehart was born. For the first 2-3 years Toree continued to manufacture all designs herself. From the beginning, she worked closely with her childhood bestie, well-known designer and businesswoman Kimberley Gordon. As the Founder and Creative Director of both Wildfox and Selkie brands, Kim mentored Toree on every aspect of building and scaling a creative business. In 2019, Kim and Toree designed the Floating Angel wings for one the first Selkie campaigns, which became the first Stonehart piece to explode in popularity. The wings orders eventually became too much for Toree to handle on her own, and subsequently became the first of her designs to be outsourced to a workshop in Los Angeles.</p><p></p><p>In 2020, Toree launched her next best-seller, the sterling silver Fangs. Again, Toree began by manufacturing all the fangs by hand, until surging demand required her to outsource to a certified factory in Jiangsu, China. Toree's ability to manufacture her own designs while testing different products on the market became an asset for the fledgling company, offsetting many of the risks that often burden start-up design companies. With the advantage of only producing pieces she knew would sell, Toree was able to establish a manufacturing process that was sustainable for both her business and the environment. Her deep understanding of craftsmanship and design remain crucial as her precise instructions to manufacturers ensure the production of reliably high-quality pieces at any scale.</p><p></p><p></p>
