Freehand Style With Crafts : Marketing: Its contents remain handmade, but the gallery has evolved and expanded to offer more services.

A great deal has changed on West 3rd Street near the Beverly Center since Carol Sauvion opened her arts and craft store, Freehand, there 10 years ago. What were secondhand furniture stores are now antique stores and the tailor shops have given way to trendy clothing emporiums.

Even Sauvion’s store has changed with the times. It has doubled in size and now competes with tony gift shops by offering a bridal registry, a corporate gift service and custom orders. The contents of the crafts gallery though have remained very much the same. Hand-thrown pots, hand-constructed jewelry, handmade fabrics and blown glass are still the bread and butter of the craft business. “As long as something feels handmade and has a personality,” Sauvion says, there’s a customer for it.

The trends that drive traditional retail sales are not lost on the artisans who specialize in handmade objects. Ceramic pieces are moving away from glazes in Santa Fe-style pastels and depictions of howling coyotes, toward vibrant colored amorphous shapes. Case in point: San Diego math teacher and potter, Ted Saito’s brilliantly colored tableware. Tim Vaness’ beautifully executed jackets and sweaters made of woven ribbons are replacing hand-painted silk blouses and tie-dyed prints. The jewelers too, are tracking the trends. Massive earrings are becoming minuscule and necklaces and bracelets are preciously delicate.

“Design trends are often influenced by a lone artist,” Sauvion says, “Yet, it surprised me to find there were people who shop for trends here.”

The Freehand 10th anniversary celebration kicks off today. All 200 artist’s in Sauvion’s stable will be represented at the champagne celebration and 20%-off sale.