Category Archives: Museum Store

HMNS is here to handle the holidays: Whether it’s goodies to wrap or stuff to do, we’ve got gifts galore

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You’ve heard a lot lately about our Museum Store. But aside from finding everything from kids’ gear:

spikeosaurus backpack

To dorky duds:

solid, liquid, gas tee

To fine jewelry:

suzanna dai necklace

To funky stuff for your home:

elemental wine markers

. . . (all in-store OR online, we might add), you should also remember that we deal in fun.

For example, for the budding astronomer in your life, some NASA-grade astronaut gear might be suitable, but you could make his or her holiday STELLAR with telescope classes at the George Observatory. The George offers tailored classes for Go-To and computerized telescopes as well as for simple, non-tracking reflecting and refracting telescopes. Classes for each are offered on Jan. 5, with expert astronomers on-hand to help set up ‘scopes and get students started tracking those stars away from city light pollution in beautiful Brazos Bend State Park.

So while you’re wrapping up boxes this holiday season, be sure to think outside them. From membership to adult education to classes for kiddos, we’ve got you covered.

Style Spotlight: Jessica Winzelberg makes rough-hewn gems of jewels you can only get at HMNS

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Have you ever sat at your desk, daydreaming about leaving your 9 to 5 and becoming an artist? (I never have, but then my job happens to be awesome). Jessica Winzelberg took that leap and left investment banking to become a San Francisco jewelry designer and metalsmith.

I stumbled across Jessica’s work surfing the internet one day (it’s called RESEARCH, I swear!) and knew immediately that her vibrant stone choices and elegant, streamlined metalwork would be a perfect fit for the museum store. Fortunately, Jessica thought that was a great idea, too, and we are now the only store in Texas to carry her gorgeous designs.

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Jessica handpicks unique stones just for us — like fiery boulder opals, unusual agates and jaspers, and sliced aquamarines — and custom creates each piece. Sometimes, because she knows we can never have too much of a good thing in Houston, she doubles up on the glamour by setting a polished, organically shaped opal with say, a brilliant pink tourmaline.

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While all of the stones are beautiful (I don’t want any of them to get their feelings hurt), the boulder opals are my personal favorite. Found in Australia, veins of opal occur in an ironstone rock matrix — it’s like catching a glimpse of a gemstone rainbow through a secret window.

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Check out Jessica’s work in-person at the Museum Store, or take a look online. Orders made by Dec. 17 are guaranteed delivery by Christmas, and 100 percent of the proceeds from our pretty things benefit the Museum and its programming.

Attention, shoppers: The HMNS Museum Store has a new address at museumstore.hmns.org

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Ermagherd, it’s here!

The HMNS Museum Store has a new address online

 

The HMNS Museum Store is now online. That’s right, all the gleaming goodies at our stunning store are now available for purchase at our brand new online address: museumstore.hmns.org.

Apparel and accessories that make you think. Home goods that make you giggle. Jewelry that makes people jealous. It’s all online just in time for the holidays, with a little extra cheer: 100 percent of the Museum Store proceeds benefit HMNS and its programming. AND you can get it all with your member discounts that you won’t get anywhere else.

 

The HMNS Museum Store has a new address online

 

So what are you waiting for? Get shopping!

Look smart with jewelry that fuses fashion and science — only at HMNS!

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Some of you might not know that some of the Museum’s most spectacular specimens are located downstairs in the Museum Store. We’ve long been a go-to destination for fabulous jewelry by the likes of Alexis Bittar and Houston’s own Rebecca Lankford, along with other  designers you can’t find anywhere else, like Hyla Dewitt and Assad Mounser.

Now, we’re welcoming a new designer that perfectly fuses fashion and science: Somerville, Massachusetts-based brand Nervous System.

Nervous System jewelry fuses fashion and science

Nervous System approaches jewelry design with a scientific mindset. Using generative design methods — including mathematical algorithms — founders (and MIT-grads) Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg create jewelry inspired by natural forms and processes occurring in the world around us. From aggregations of coral to cell cycles to the growth patterns of algae, Nervous System crafts its designs by developing systems that create distinct forms — every one unique.

Nervous System jewelry fuses fashion and science

Our always impeccably styled buyer, Jen, first heard of Nervous System a number of years ago when its designs were featured in the blog Design Sponge. After the Museum Store was expanded and Jen was reintroduced at a convention this August, she reached out and secured the line for HMNS. The Museum Store is now (at the time of publishing) the only place in Houston to carry these innovative designs.

Come see for yourself! One hundred percent of proceeds from the Museum Store support HMNS and its programming.