What We Make

Fern and her brother Jacob are themselves Makers.

Jacob Sokoloff: Musical Chime Maker

Musical instrument maker Jacob Sokoloff has been making his precision tuned wind chimes for almost 40 years. Best known for his hugely popular Car Charms (often just called “car chimes”), Jacob’s first chimes were made of wood and galvanized steel. Jacob sold these peaceful and relaxing chimes at the huge Orange County Swap Meet near his home in Long Beach, California.

Jacob's popularity at the Swap Meet prompted his sister Fern to join him and take his chimes to the wholesale market, where they met with great success starting in the early 1990's. In 1998 Jacob's Musical Chimes introduced its first “miniature” windchimes, made of solid aluminum pipes hung from whimsical shapes such as hummingbirds, cats, dragonflies, fairies, butterflies, angels and many more (the hummingbird wind chimes, dragonfly wind chimes and fairy wind chimes remain the most popular).

These affordable windchimes also made beautiful music, and Jacob’s customers accepted them with open arms (and ears!). The series currently includes  the Little Piper, the Magnet Windchimes, an 18" plant stake chime called  the Plant Adorn-a-ment, the Door Chimes, the Silhouette Chimes and of course the best selling Car Charms.

Jacob's latest creation is his Door Chime collection, a series of chimes designed for hanging on a door knob. They produce sweet, musical tones whenever the door moves, serving as both a security device and a pleasant way to greet your guests. Many clever dog owners quickly realized they could train their dog to play the chimes when it wanted to go out, and this has now become one of the chimes' main selling points. This use is so popular, we even made a short video of Flurry the Dog playing a set of Door Chimes.

Flurry the Dog plays the Door Chimes

Jacob’s “miniature” series is available in gift shops and galleries across the country (as well as Canada, Japan and some other parts of the world). Of course, all of his chimes can be found right here at Fern's Garden. In May 2012, award winnng documentary filmmaker Charles Tentindo made a 5-minute mini documentary about Jacob and his chimes.

 

"Jacob the Chimemaker"

 

Heart the Moment: Fern's Third Act

 

Fern Solomon wants to make you smile. Her main goal in the creation of her unique tiaras, greeting cards and stickers is to encourage people to celebrate this moment and delight in the present. Fern is the co-founder of Jacob's Musical Chimes, which for 35 years has been making finely tuned chimes. She is also the owner of Fern's Garden, the award winning Long Beach and Berkeley, California, gift stores featuring the work of American and fair traded artisans.

Over the years, Fern has made a hobby of creating paper tiaras from images that appealed to her whimsical sense of design. She would cut and paste to combine them in novel ways, hand cut the tiaras into themed shapes, and give them to the guests of honor at birthday parties and special events.After the Portland Gift Show, Fern took a walk on Cannon Beach and she thought... why not create a line of paper tiaras and crowns, and share the delighted smiles that she was accustomed to seeing at her own family parties?

Since the tiaras were born out of celebration, it was clear that the theme of this company would be to celebrate the moment. Thus Heart the Moment was born, adding a third act to her career following her successful wholesale and retail ventures.

Within months, the first prototype tiaras were being test marketed at Fern's Garden, and upon seeing the smiles of delight on the faces of her customers, she knew she had a winner.The tiaras and crowns were rolled out to the wholesale marketplace starting in January 2014 at the AmericasMart Gift Show in Atlanta, where the response was overwhelming. At the National Stationery Show the following May, the "Queen of this Day" tiara was nominated as best new product of the year.

In 2019 Fern introduced her vinyl stickers, based on artwork from the tiaras.That was followed in 2020 by her collection of Sticker Greeting Cards, incorporating her stickers into greeting cards for a "gift in a card" concept. Fern's latest idea is a collection of vintage postcards based on the art used in the tiaras and stickers. Rounding out the line is Fern's collection of doorknob hangers.

Fern is thrilled to be creating products that make so many people happy, encourage our “inner child,” and allow us to live in and appreciate every moment. Please delight in the moment with these unique tiaras, stickers, cards and more. Enjoy!