Kensington Market, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Nassau Variety was first a small brick and mortar shop in Kensington Market in Toronto. Located in a shopfront that once housed the original “Nassau Variety” a small grocery store that operated from 1940 to the late 1990’s. As the world has changed Nassau Variety has now become an online store !!

I have always made art and come from a family of crafters, builders, gardeners, and store keepers ! My great aunt and uncle owned Degrassi Grocery on Degrassi Street in Toronto from 1932 - 1967. Later I learnt that my great grandmother and great grandfather ran a small grocery on Sackville Street in Toronto. Their store was purchased from the city to make what we now know as Regent Park.

I began to sell my art and craft after travelling to Mexico in 1995, when I left a M.F. A. program at York University and sold my computer to see other parts of the world- I landed in Mexico with it’s rich culture in art making and also it’s traditions of marketplaces, I began to paint my own postcards to sell …and then this is where I began to learn to make and sell jewellery, making a living from my hands.

Nassau Variety is a collection of hand made things- things I have made my self or sourced directly from the makers. Many items come from different parts of Mexico where I owe much of my knowledge and inspiration. Please read in the description section of each item where it comes from and who is the maker.

After many years of travelling back and forth to Mexico I came back to Toronto to take care of the elders in my family and here I am launching the online store or Nassau Variety. Take a look, ask questions and leave me messages !!! xoxoxoxo