The Shop
Photo by Sofia Bouma
Walking along the charming streets of Edison, you’ll come across an unassuming white and red building labeled ‘Edison Firehouse,’ which isn’t a firehouse at all. Rather, it is home to Indigo Dreams, a fiber arts studio born nine years ago out of a passion for creating. The building is part shop and part workspace, and sells an eclectic assortment of handmade items, including (but certainly not limited to) felted wool textiles, watercolors, and crocheted stuffies; all items at Indigo Dreams are made with care by Janeen Doi and Susan Marchionna, the two women behind the business.
Photo by Sofia Bouma
The Atmosphere
Indigo Dreams is rather mysterious from the outside looking in; fabric is casually draped across the windows, leaving most of the shop’s contents up to the imagination. When the front door is opened, though, it’s like stepping into a whole new world. The fabric covering the windows serves the purpose of diffusing light for an indoor garden; plants inhabit the nooks and crannies of the store. Dreamy creations—vibrant watercolors, felted flowers, crafted jellyfish—hang from the ceiling and walls. The left side of the store is a retail area, and the right side serves as a workspace with a large table and bins of material. The shop is warm, inviting, and mellow, and the intriguing creations certainly make the building’s interior a feast for the eyes.
Photo by Sofia Bouma
The People
All the whimsical items found at Indigo Dreams are made individually or collaboratively by Doi, owner of the shop, and Marchionna. Doi is a seasoned natural fiber artist and has been using her skills to create art for many years, but Indigo Dreams was a place to consolidate and display her work.
“[Doi] has been here for nine years, alternating between having open hours and being shut down to just focus on making things. And she has tremendous creative energy…her imagination is boundless, but she also combines that with a real attention to method and a high standard for material integrity,” Marchionna says.
Following meeting Doi this past summer after years of admiring her work, Marchionna requested the women collaborate in some way. And so, a creative partnership was born in August of 2024.
Both women are masters of multiple trades; while Doi excels in felting, botanical printing, crochet, and origami, Marchionna designs and sews clothing, creates household arts, and paints watercolors. Sometimes they collaborate with one another— for example, Marchionna made a quilt out of Doi’s botanical prints.
“Our skills are not overlapping so much as complementary,” Marchionna says.
Photo by Sofia Bouma
What You’ll Find
The items found at Indigo Dreams span a plethora of categories, and none are mass produced, making them one-of a-kind. They include botanical printed silk scarves, origami roses, handmade jewelry, felted hats, vests and other clothing items, watercolor paintings, pillows, and crochet stuffies. Because new items are always being created, the pieces Indigo Dreams carries may differ from one visit to the next!
Favorites
Marchionna’s favorites include a shaggy vest that Doi created over two weeks, and the whimsical jellyfish hanging from the shop’s ceiling. I was drawn to Marchionna’s watercolors, Doi’s felted hats, and the quilt Marchionna sewed from botanical prints. Indigo Dreams is a shop for the dreamer, the creative, and people who plain appreciate the time and thought that goes into handmade items—it surely has something for everyone!
INDIGO DREAMS 5821 Cains Ct., Bow, 808.333.1164, @indigo_dreams_edison on Instagram
