More than just metal
By VICTORIA CISNEROS, Student Writer
As a child, Alana Little (2004) spent countless hours and dollars at the Pismo Bead Store, looking for the perfect jewelry-making materials. Today, her passion for jewelry has flourished, as she has become the owner of Make Pie Not War.
Before Make Pie was even a thought, Alana had her sights set on higher education.
Alana always dreamed of going to fashion school, so after graduating with her degree in Business Administration — Accountancy in 2004, she moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
Alana met her then future-husband a month before graduating with a degree in Fashion Design and decided to move back to the Valley with hopes of getting married. At the time, jobs in fashion were hard to come by, so she took a corporate job and became “the punk-rocky accountant.”
In 2007, she left her corporate career and started her jewelry business, Make Pie Not War. She began by selling her pieces alongside her husband’s clothing line, and soon enough, orders started pouring in.
“I just kind of started making jewelry again to get me by until my next job and it was never supposed to be anything serious.”
Although the name of her business was coined as a joke, its message shines a light on some of the values that influence her work.
“The whole idea is just to be like, how when people eat pie, they’re never upset… It’s just the idea to not take life so seriously, that even when times are really dark, there is a lot of beauty and a lot of good times that can be had no matter what the situation is around you.”
Among other heartfelt pieces, Alana has created braille necklaces for some of her most inspiring customers, including a blind woman whose necklace bore the name of her late husband.
In 2009, Alana’s missionary friend asked her to travel to a small village in Thailand, where she could teach orphans the art of jewelry making and the process of buying and selling. She said yes in a heartbeat and used the profits from previous orders to pay for her expenses.
“We went there and we taught these kids…a little basics of business because it’s just like not something they think about in that environment.”
Alana keeps a photo of the orphans at her work station to remind herself why her work is so important. She hopes that her jewelry can transcend its material value and empower those who wear it.
“It’s intrinsic value of making you feel beautiful is also a priceless thing…It’s just supposed to bring you joy and remind you of the people that you love and that you are loved. There’s just a lot of power in that.”
Meet Alana and hear more about her story at Lana Coffee Co. on Saturday, December 8th for the Fresno Collective’s second annual Dreamer Co-op holiday bazaar.
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