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Sarah has been making toys for 27 years. She was inspired to create Sarah's Silks while raising her 3 sons with imagination play during their Waldorf education.
While working for the Peace Corps in Guatemala, Sarah met Mike, her life partner. They started a farm, Frutas Del Mundo ("Fruits of the World"), and spent many years absorbing the rich prism of hand-loomed weaves and tropical fruits. While in Guatemala, Mike and Sarah started their family and decided to move to California.
As a creative mother, Sarah wanted to celebrate her son Josh’s spirit, which involved wearing costumes and putting on performances. With a friend and neighbor Ann Platz, Sarah dyed her first silks in the kitchen sink. These silks were embraced by the local Waldorf community and before long, Sarah was combining the roles of motherhood, working as a doula and dyeing silks. “What do you call them?” Sarah McDonald of Magic Cabin asked, and Mike came up with the name, 'Playsilks'.
Silk is an ancient product of China. Sarah’s Silks are woven, dyed, and hand-hemmed in a small village near Suzhou, a beautiful city long renowned for its silk culture. Sarah and Mike Lee enjoy this rich connection to exotic China and their family’s ancestral heritage.
Diversity of all types is extremely important to us, both as a woman-owned company and as a company that serves some of the most diverse parts of the world. As part of our dedication to supporting the healthy families of our partners, Sarah’s Silks hires Chinese seamstresses who work in their homes, offering incentives beyond prevailing wages as well as access to supplemental health insurance. The hand-hemmed and dyed products are shipped to Sonoma County, California where women work in their homes to finish sewing, ironing, and packaging Sarah’s Silks products.
We believe that our commitment to diversity is an enormous strength, and one that is reflected in every one of our team members.
Sarah enjoys contra dancing to live music and exploring new beaches. Some of her favorite places to be are:
Mike enjoys growing unusual fruit trees, flying his drone, and learning to play the piano. Some of his favorite places to be are:
Josh enjoys acrobatics & balancing, and loves doing photography both for Sarah’s Silks and as a hobby. One of his favorite places to be in the world is Kiev, Ukraine.
Morgan enjoys doing acrobatics, rock climbing, and Thai boxing. His favorite place to be is at the beach.
Elizabeth enjoys spending time in her garden and taking trips to the beach with her family, both of which are some of her favorite places to be.
Aila enjoys listening to podcasts while on really, really long walks. Her favorite place to be is at an elevated spot overlooking a big city - some favorites are: Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Twin Peaks in San Francisco, and Plaza San Nicolas in Granada.
Kim likes to work in her garden and enjoy the outdoors hiking and paddleboarding with her family. Her favorite place to be in the world is Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Tony is an avid photographer, jazz junkie, and coffee aficionado. His favorite place to be is cozied up at home on a rainy day, or exploring the local coastal redwood forests.
Annabelle loves hiking, hanging out in her hammock, and painting large-scale murals in Bellingham, Washington. Her favorite place to be is hiking in the Chuckanut mountains or hanging out on the beach.
Madlyn enjoys photography, textile arts, and stargazing. Her two pet rabbits keep her busy and smiling. Sitting next to an evening seaside campfire at Point Reyes National Seashore is her favorite place to be.
Meshach enjoys learning and teaching Earth Skills, making jewelry, and studying the art of Aikido! Most of all, he enjoys spending time with family in his favorite place to be - The Cazadero Coastal Hills in California
Erica enjoys knitting and crocheting, origami, playing the piano, and spending time with her family at the beach. Some of her favorite places are Big Sur, Costa Rica, and Barcelona.
When she’s not working, Esperanza loves spending time with her family. Some of her favorite places to be are Lake Tahoe and Mexico.
