Jacqui Payne, the owner and operator of the 34Designed shop, said she touches nearly every piece of apparel for babies, toddlers and adults that the store sells.
“All of it is small batch. I make everything out of my in-home studio,” she said. “Pretty much start-to-finish, it’s made by me.”
34Designed, which features designs hand-drawn by Payne as well as those by other artists, is one of three new vendors coming to the Brookfield Shops retail incubator program near Eight Corners this year.
Payne said she started the company in 2020 as a side venture to her full-time job in higher education.
“As you can imagine, working in 2020 in education was rough. I specifically oversaw housing on a college campus, so [it was] really stressful and hard seeing my students go through not the college experience that you would want them to go through,” she said, referencing lockdowns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’ve always been creative. I’ve always been drawn to something artistic, and I just needed some sort of creative outlet from that stressful time, so I started drawing.”
At first, Payne said, she drew things for her nieces and nephews as well as other family members, designing logos or merchandise for their businesses.
“My partner got me a heat press for Christmas that year, and it took off from there. I realized that people were liking my designs more than just my nieces and nephews, and I was getting more traction. I was really enjoying engaging with my community like that,” she said. “It started as a hobby and now has turned into a full-blown business, which is great. I really love it.”
Payne said she does also custom apparel orders on top of selling the clothes with pre-drawn designs by her and other artists.
While Payne has experience bringing 34Designed and its wares to art markets throughout Chicago and the surrounding region, she said she’s excited for the “standalone space” provided to her as a Brookfield Shops vendor.
“I was in Berwyn Sprout, which is connected to the Berwyn Shops — same group that manages both of those — and part of the maker community in this suburban area. My sister started her family in Brookfield, and I grew up in the Lyons Township area as well, so it felt really natural for me to be a part of the Brookfield Shops,” she said.
Aside from her sister, Payne said she has another family connection to many people in the area.
“My dad was an OB-GYN in the western suburbs as well. He delivered a lot of the people who are now having children in this area, so a lot of my current customers are people that my dad delivered who are now having children of their own,” she said. “It feels like a good connection to the community. It’s like a full-circle moment here.”
And yes, she said, customers have recognized her family before.
“They’re like, ‘Wait, Payne. Is your dad Dr. Payne? He delivered me,’ or, ‘He delivered my kids,’ or whatever,” she said. “That happened all through high school, too.”
She said she was nervous to go before the community jury, largely due to her close connection to the items she sells, but confident about the quality of her presentation.
“Going up in front of people and saying, ‘Look at my art; isn’t it pretty?’ is not super natural. I’ve been in business now for five years, going on six, and I’ve definitely grown a lot, especially in my confidence of my work,” she said. “As a newer person, this would have been really, really intimidating. Knowing that I have a lot of returning customers —I have a lot of people who I’m their go-to for when they find out their friend’s pregnant — helps me in that confidence.”
Payne said she’s looking forward both to receiving the business training that newcomers to the Brookfield Shops get as well as being part of the community that comes with being a vendor.
“Being part of a cohort, I think, is really unique and not something that I take lightly. I think that’s a huge benefit of this project and being a part of it,” she said. “At the same height is getting to know the community and being part of it. Meeting the customers here and meeting their families and having this physical space where I can say [to people who ask] ‘Where can we find you?’ and I’m like, ‘Progress Park in Brookfield. We’re open Friday to Sunday.’ I think that’s going to be so, so cool.”
