The North Bay’s artisanal offerings are a haven for those who think outside of the big box store when it comes to holiday gifting.
What follows is a curated collection of makers whose work is as distinctive as the places they inhabit.
In Point Reyes Station, Wild West Ferments channels flavors gleaned from Maggie Levinger and Luke Regalbuto’s travels among nomadic fermenters abroad. Their rediscovery of a Bosnian juniper berry beverage informs a shop now tucked into the former Cowgirl Creamery space. Everything here—from their kraut and kimchi to their fermented sodas—ages to perfection in ceramic crocks or oak barrels.
80 4th St., Point Reyes Station. 415.310.5700. wildwestferments.com
Petaluma’s LALA’s Jam Bar sprang from Leslie “Lala” Goodrich’s decision to operate under California’s Cottage Food laws. She produces small-batch jams and fruit spreads from her little yellow cottage on Washington Street, including her Petaluma FOG blend—figs, orange juice and ginger—which remains one of Sonoma County’s great edible souvenirs. The Jam Hotline (707.773.1083) is both real and enthusiastically used.
720 E. Washington St., Petaluma. lalasjams.com
In Sebastopol, Little Apple Treats operates as a “peel-to-pip” closed-loop farm where orchard, kitchen and aging room form a single ecosystem. Joanne Krueger’s candy cap mushroom caramels—featuring wild-foraged fungi with an uncanny maple aroma—became Good Food Award finalists, while her apple cider vinegar rests in French oak wine barrels like a quiet experiment in patience.
707.849.8547. littleappletreats.com
Down the road at The Barlow, glass artist Michael Dickinson of Dickinson Glass suspends pocket universes inside clear spheres. His “black hole” marbles—made by heating and vaporizing clippings of gold and silver, then trapping the resulting nebulas inside layers of molten glass—are always singular. Dickinson’s compact studio doubles as a glassblowing classroom.
4200 Green Valley School Rd., Sebastopol. 707.690.4136. dickinsonglass.com
Another Sebastopol institution, Nichibei Potters, reflects the long-running collaboration between Cheryl Costantini, who trained for years as an apprentice in Japan, and her husband, Mikio Matsumoto, whose expressive face motifs have become something of a signature since the mid-1980s. Their work appears in the Asian Art Museum; their home studio remains open by appointment.
1991 Burnside Rd., Sebastopol. 707.823.0950. nichibeipotters.com
In San Rafael, North Bay Candleworks emerged from ER nurse Doug Coomer’s need to decompress after shifts. His Marin Landmark line—“Karl the Fog,” “Muir Woods,” “Mount Tamalpais”—captures local microclimates with surprising fidelity. Each candle is hand-poured with soy and coconut wax and will light up the life of whomever is lucky enough to receive one.
757 Lincoln Ave., Ste. 19, San Rafael. northbaycandleworks.com
Finally, San Anselmo’s Compass Rose Design is the realm of Creek Van Houten, who transforms salvaged heirlooms into contemporary jewelry. Antique buttons become pendants; vintage teaspoons become charms; spent watch parts evolve into steampunk relics. She began with lost-wax casting at a young age alongside her dentist father—a plausible origin story for work that merges precision with whimsy.
In Napa, the Soap Company gets the obvious joke out of the way early with names like “Cabernet Soapignon” and “Clean O Noir,” then proceeds to back up the puns with actual craftsmanship. Sophia and Garrett Williams hand-pour each batch of bars at their Bel Aire Plaza shop, wrapping them in flower-petal paper with a light hand. The berry-scented cabernet version includes cocoa butter and a dose of red wine, which is either a selling point or a waste of good cab, depending on one’s threshold for novelty. Either way, it makes a defensible gift.
3816 Bel Aire Plaza, Napa. 707.963.5010. napasoap.com
