Omnia in patientia fide.
We are Baroness Design Shop, a "donkey-branded" art and design company based out of Madera, California, that does "all things in patient faith." Read on to find out more about the products, services, and personality we have to offer.
All things in patient faith.
Baroness Design was started with a passion for faith-based art and design. We hope that our product and service offerings will spread the light of Jesus and inspire others to live boldly in faith. Our design shop is home-based in the heart of California's Central Valley. We offer a variety of products and services, including: faith-based apparel and art, as well as local graphic design, marketing, and specialty solutions.
About the owner, Lou.
Owner and artist Lou Garrison is a Graphic Designer by trade, but has always been naturally inclined to the Arts. Lou is a self-proclaimed "adventure addict" and spends her free-time riding motorcycles, kick-boxing, shooting bows, and doing mounted archery with her horse, Beauty.
Lou grew up in Madera, California. She shares her home with two McNab collies, Bandit and Bunty, and cat, Nala. Lou prioritizes time each week to engage in creative pursuits and enjoys working with mixed-media art, writing poetry, journaling, and reading.
In 2021, Lou was encouraged to step out in faith in pursuit of her dream to run her own small business. Lou worked diligently to create a faith-first graphic design business that would allow her to use her time and talents in God-honoring ways. Her mission is to create art and design that ignites conversations of faith with ordinary people in everyday life.
Eco-Friendly Commitment
We strive to be good stewards of God's resources. To accomplish this in our business endeavors, we use a few methods in our art and apparel design processes that reduce materials waste and limit chemical use/exposure.
Our screen-print process exclusively utilizes AP Seal certified water-based inks and pallet tack. Our shop is 100% aerosol and chemical solvent free. All screens are made with vinyl instead of emulsion, which allows them to be washed with gentle soap and water and re-used hundreds of times without waste or breakdown.
All of our blank apparel comes from companies with vetted commitments to ethical material sourcing, eco-friendly dyes, and sustainability practices in place.
For our wood signs and wall art, we "stain" using an acrylic-wash process with AP Seal certified non-toxic paints or inks. Each piece is finished with a water-based sealer. All painting supplies, including paint trays and brushes, are re-used until the end of the each product's life, reducing materials waste.
The Donkey Brand
Baroness Design Shop's logo was inspired by our two mini donkeys, Cooper and Virgil, who have always been steadfast companions of the Garrison family's many ranch animals over the years.
In heraldic tradition, a donkey displayed on a coat of arms might symbolize patience and humility; two character traits that we feel are vital to the Christian faith and highly favored by God when displayed in His followers.
Each of our donkeys (and indeed, most all donkeys) display a dark cross running the length of their backs with arms passing over each shoulder. There is some debate as to why donkeys have been marked this way, but some believe they have been charged to bear the cross of Christ for generations to come.
As for us, we live each day encouraged by what our donkeys symbolize as we take up our cross and plod along, striving to do "all things in patient faith."