In 1996 Cynthia Deis began selling her jewelry designs under the name of Bedizen Ornaments. She produced the fashionable pieces in North Carolina for retailers around the country, including catalogs such as Anthropologie and Sundance. In the course of acquiring the beads and findings she needed for the jewelry line she also would purchase items for crafty friends in the area. Bedizen Ornaments became a secret resource for local beaders in the know who needed a hard to find item. In 1999 Cynthia and her husband Galen decided that the Raleigh area needed a real source for not just beads and findings but unique classes. They opened Ornamentea in a tiny front corner of their studio and stocked it with backstock from the jewelry line, vintage beads and basic findings. Since that time the store has quadrupled in size and added other handicraft “ingredients.”
