76 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {home & design} RETAI L hand made words by SHERYL NONNENBERG • photography by ANNIE BARNETT When Eilish Lancaster was growing up in Dublin, she made most of her own clothes. As one of six children—“a typical Irish family”—necessity dictated that she become handy with a sewing machine, she explains. From these humble beginnings came a love for anything handcrafted, which eventually led to a second career as the owner of Lark San Carlos. A redhead with a lilting accent, Eilish studied computer science in college and left Dublin for a job with Microsoft. “I was lucky, because I got sent to San Francisco, rather than the headquarters in Seattle,” she says. She worked for the company from 2000 to 2011, then left for a short stint at Amazon, followed by a decade at Google. Eilish enjoyed her work, but says she was ready for a change. After walking past a shop in San Mateo that offered classes in working with leather, Eilish explored it as a hobby. “I love working with my hands and learning by doing,” she says. When she enrolled in a class in leather crafting at Lark in downtown San Carlos, she met Angela Kalayjian, the store’s owner. Angela had recently announced plans to sell the business and Eilish jumped at the chance for a new career direction. “Opening a store wasn’t necessarily my plan, but I just took it as an opportunity,” she says. “I didn’t have to start from scratch and if I was ever going to do it, it was handed to me on a platter.” In January, Eilish took over ownership of Lark and quickly began putting her own stamp on the gift shop by focusing on handcrafted goods made by local artists. Through her work on the board of Art Bias, an artist’s collaborative in Redwood City, Eilish was familiar with many artists in the area. She invited some of them to show their art at Lark and soon began hearing from other craftspeople. “Artists are very connected to each other through markets and fairs,” she explains. In less than a year, Eilish says that she has increased the number of artists represented at Lark from 10 to around 40. Wander around the thoughtful displays that reveal a wealth of works in media including jewelry, ceramics, paintings, woodcrafts, photography and stationery. Eilish says she’s very willing to try things out to see if they will sell. Her experience in the last year has shown that while gallery art (which gets changed monthly) does not sell quickly, “table runners do really well.” Jewelry and other small items have also been very popular. She appears to be on the right track, since Lark was voted the best gift shop in the 2025 Best of San Mateo Awards. As she gets to know her clientele and strives to offer the right items at the right price point, Eilish is determined to stay true to her goal of offering hand-made
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