A Guide to the Best of Southern California : HANDMADE : A Lifetime Project

More so than most entrepreneurs, Helen Linden of the Collagery relies on her customers for inspiration. The reason: She and twin sister Miriam Hacken make personalized collages built around an important theme, photograph, event or individual quirk.

“We use the pieces to describe people’s lives,” says Linden, “to highlight the things they like, their passion.”

Linden and Hacken, transplanted New Yorkers, have been doing the collages for 15 years, the last six in Southern California. “We started making gifts for friends, picking up stuff that showed their personality,” says Linden. A business was born; the sisters now do about 200 pieces a year.

The resin-sealed collages, 11 by 14 inches and up (the largest so far is a 4-by-7-foot piece for Arnold Schwarzenegger), have included such items as tennis balls, Coke bottles and imprinted messages. Prices start at $100, including the frame.

The Collagery, by appointment only; (805) 499-1052.