Heidi Lowe Gallery set to expand on Rehoboth Avenue

For 14 years, Heidi Lowe has operated her jewelry studio in a 450-square-foot beach cottage on Rehoboth Avenue. If all goes as planned, by this time next year, her studio will be in the same location, but in a brand-new building.

In a recent Instagram post, Lowe announced that Tuesday, Sept. 24, will be the last day for Heidi Lowe Gallery in the postage-stamp-sized white cottage with teal-colored trim.

“This little cottage has served us so well for 14 years, and we are so grateful for every minute,” she said in her announcement. “But we have grown out of it!”

In an interview Sept. 17, Lowe said she’s chosen to demolish the cottage because it’s become too small. In addition to selling jewelry, Lowe offers metalsmithing classes throughout the week and occasionally has guest artists. She said she’d like to be able to have more than one thing happening at the same time.

“At this point, the business can’t grow in this building,” she said. “We’re at a standstill.”

Replacing the cottage, said Lowe, will be a two-story structure with two retail shops on the first floor and a residential rental on the second. She said her studio will take up one of the commercial spaces, which will be triple the size of the space in the cottage.

“It’s going to be great. My studio is going to be up front, so people are going to be able to walk by and see me working,” she said. Right now, her workbench is in a closet-sized room at the back of the cottage.

The small cabin dates to the 1940s. The gallery dates back a little more than 20 years. Lowe said her mom, Colleen, purchased the property in the 1990s for Lowe to open a jewelry studio when she was done school. Before opening the studio, Lowe traveled to New Zealand, which she said is where she found her inspiration for the cottage’s look for the past 14 years – a studio named Lure.

“Within three months of returning, we were up and running,” said Lowe on returning from New Zealand. “We’ve been holding on by the seat of our pants, running on the treadmill ever since.”

Lowe said the three-room cottage is slowly, but surely, beginning to show its age. She said she’s had four people offer to buy the cottage, but she said she’s also been told by a house mover that it can’t be moved without cutting down the two trees in her front yard.

“It’s an either/or situation, and I’m saving the trees,” she said, emphasizing she is grateful for how well the cottage has held up. “It’s been so good to me.”

After the store closes, Lowe will set up a temporary studio near Five Points, which, she said, will primarily serve as a creative space for her year-long creative sabbatical. She said she’ll still be doing commission work and teaching classes, but everything will be by appointment only.

“There’s some things I want to get better at, but haven’t had the time,” said Lowe. “You can spend your whole life getting better at metalsmithing.”

Lowe said she’ll have pop-up stores at various events throughout the holiday season. For more information on Heidi Lowe Gallery, 328 Rehoboth Ave., call 302-227-9203, email heidilowegallery@gmail.com or go to www.heidilowejewelry.com. She can also be found on Facebook and Instagram.