A Bristol Gift Artist Channels Her Creativity

Cindy Daniels loved her studio art space so much, she bought the building.  Daniels, 61, a native of Homestead, PA, has made 412 Thames St., Bristol, her homestead, instead, for two decades now.

The creator and owner of C.A. Daniels and Company calls her gift line of hippo razors, elk soap dishes, seagull combs and a zoo of other home goods gift items that she sells on her website “FUNctional.” “I've always had a great appreciation for nature, be it plant, animals, sky, wind, light, earth, rock… it all appeals to me. So, when I created the razor line, adapting handles to nature was a natural thing for me to do,” says Cindy.

Growing up in a family of five girls, Daniels says, “I feel so blessed to have my studio on the harbor front in Bristol.” The studio is a first floor space in a commercial cinder block building built in '30s or ‘40s that used to be an icehouse. “I bought the building in the mid ‘90s and have been upgrading it ever since. It is a joy to work on it both on the inside and outside,” says Cindy. “I painted images on the back and side exteriors.”

It has eight huge skylights, steel beams, tall ceiling, wood floor and a loading dock giving the space and the artwork within a welcoming ambiance. “When people have come to my studio they are often surprised that one artist (me) has done the variety of styles they see displayed. I joke with them and say that's the advantage of having multiple personalities,” says Cindy, laughing. “I love photography for catching the moment and oils for catching the mood, although moment and mood come into play in both mediums. I find the ever-changing beauty of the East Bay my heaven on earth.”  

Now that her own age inexorably approaches the vintage of the building she owns, she is trying to simplify by spending her precious creative time making those paintings and photographs, rather than pedaling to peddle rhino razors or seagull soap, as unique as they remain.

“I loved and still appreciate the razor line I created. It's a great line, and I still sell through the website. However, at this stage in my life, I'm looking to simplify, which for me, means letting go of the numerous trade shows I'd do each year, maintaining a rep network, national advertising, etc.,” adds Cindy.  

Painting and photography now answer her innermost desire of both appreciating and showing the beauty nature creates daily. “God, nature, spirit – all synonyms for the nameless source we're all connected to,” she says. “When it comes to making my own art, it's more a form of prayer and/or meditation than painting a particular thing. I'm self-taught, so there are few rules that interrupt my intent of letting nature speak through me. I'm inspired constantly, whether visually or spiritually, by people I meet. It's a good earth out there.