| Bruce Sievert and JT Snow are working toward establishing
small businesses that will allow them to work from their Newport home.
They have two businesses, Bamboo Caters and Wisdom Wear, that they
promote on the Internet. Wisdom Wear offers a line of hats with "symbols
from cultures of wisdom." Their most popular hats are the ones with
Wisdom and Dragon written in Chinese on the hat. Ever since she was a little girl, JT Snow has been drawing elephants in the sand. Today her elephant drawing has become a logo that has made its way from the sand to the hats she and her partner, Bruce Sievert, are selling on the Internet under the Wisdom Wear name. The company has been an idea since 1999, but full-time jobs left them little time to devote to a new project. It took until October 2001 for them to go into business and then a few months later, they were on the Internet from their home in Newport. At the time, Snow was writing an article about a weaving goddess in ancient Chinese mythology, and was practicing Chinese calligraphy. "The characters are so fluid and beautiful. I love the way a single character represents a whole word," she said. A short while later, the pair was watching a PBS program on "The Urban Elephant," which discussed the treatment of circus and zoo elephants. "Elephants need to roam and need their exercise to be healthy, and their lives in captivity are a misery to them," said Snow. "Bruce and I cried like babies during and after the show. We vowed right then that we would create a business that would enable us to donate money to help the elephants." Their idea was to "make hats with symbols from cultures of wisdom. We decided to call our company Wisdom Wear, because elephants are one of the most intelligent animals on the planet," she said. Snow's sand-drawn elephant has been transferred to their hats, and $1 from each hat sale is sent to the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., a haven for old, sick and needy elephants. Wisdom Wear offers hats in 17 different colors with 13 designs. The most popular hats are Wisdom and Dragon, the latter done in honor of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Other designs are Hero, Freedom, Yin Yang, Love, Chaos, Chill, Peace, Eat, Horse and Dog. The Celtic Rune (alphabet character) for Strength and American Indian symbols are being considered for new hats. The symbol drawn on the front of the hat is translated on the back. Calligraphy for the hats is by Victor Mair, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an authority on ancient Chinese, and his wife, Li Ching. Other designs are by Ling Hui, wife of Michael O'Connor of Port Townsend, Wash., an author and Chinese translator. Sievert is working on the Celtic designs and will draw on his Cherokee Indian heritage for the American Indian symbols. "We hope people will appreciate having a way to express themselves through our hats and offer them as a meaningful alternative to mass produced athletic symbols so popular today," said Snow. Idea Print Works in Newport does the embroidery on the hats, made in Eugene by Richardson. The $16.50 hats can be purchased on line (www.getwisdomwear.com) or at Mai's Asian Market in Newport. They also are sold at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden Gift Store in Portland and in Port Townsend, Wash, at Moongate. And which hats do Sievert and Snow wear? Sievert wears one with the Eat symbol that relates to his professional career as a chef and the couple's Bamboo Caters business. Snow usually has the black Wisdom hat on her head. |