About The Lesser Bear, Naturally Dyed Silk Ribbons & Textiles for Weddings

~ Elegance from nature, Beauty through kindness ~

The Lesser Bear is a socially conscious textile company that uses natural, foraged and grown dye materials to create beautiful ribbons, twines and table linens, while simultaneously doing its part to engage through acts of kindness and generosity.

Each ribbon is made by hand in the Lesser Bear Studtio, with care and creativity

Each color is created through an extensive process of testing with botanical dyes and foraged and homegrown plants. Most of our colors are create with flowers and plants grown in our home garden, or at our native plant orchard and wildflower prairie. The colors in The Lesser Bear's collection are made up of years worth of experimenting and research to create the perfect shades, sometimes taking days or even weeks to create one batch of ribbon.

Much of the beauty of natural dyes is the painterly quality they imbue on the fabric. Like a snowflake, each ribbon is unique in its own beauty. Each spool contains subtle color variations and may contain marking from the plant materials used in the dying process, phenomena which it true to the natural dying process and adds to the delicate and exquisite uniqueness of the ribbon.

Many of our ribbon’s patterns are created using the imprints of plants and the colors are created by shifting the pH or combining different plants to mix new and beautiful colors.

We are committed to caring for the environment through the use of natural dyes, native plantings, no till gardening, composting, recycling, upcycling and reusing whenever possible. Our custom wooden spools are hand turned by a local artist, and are even glued together with a locally made glue. It is important to us that we care for the environment in as many ways as possible throughout our whole process.

Each year, The Lesser Bear is committed to raising funds for, or donating handmade goods directly to, various charitable organizations. In the past these have included medical aid to Aleppo, funds to a refugee camp in Greece, quilts for Unaccompanied Minor Refugees, financial support for the Arts and LGBTQ Youth Center, as well as Habitat for Humanity, The American Red Cross, Charity:Water, Together Rising and Mom's Rising, local food banks, local schools, One Tree Planted, The Ocean CleanUp, local homeless shelters, and more. It is The Lesser Bear's goal to put back into the world at least as much beauty, through kindness, as we take from it to create our products.

Whether you are planning a large glamorous wedding, or an unforgettably romantic and intimate event, whether your style is clean and simple or bright and bold, naturally dyed silk ribbons are the perfect way to add a timeless beauty to your celebration, while helping to do good.

At The Lesser Bear, we celebrate you and your love. We believe that everyone deserves wedding vendors who will support them to create an event to celebrate their unique love and style and we aim to do just that. If you need advise or would like us to coordinate with your vendor team, please reach out via email.

If you would like to discuss a custom order, or have a question, please send an email to kate@thelesserbear.com

All ribbons, quilts and table linens are hand made by Kate in her studio.

Kate has a degree in jewelry design and a Masters in Fine and Decorative Arts. She worked for many years in the Jewelry Department at Sotheby’s in London surrounded by some of the world’s most elegant jewelry, before turning her focus to textiles. She brings an appreciation of the finest craftsmanship and artistic creativity to all of her designs in both ribbons and naturally dyed quilts and table linens.

As well as running The Lesser Bear, Kate is also a high school jewelry teacher, and is in the process of establishing a native fruit and nut orchard, native wildflower prairie and managing a 30+ forest for optimal carbon capture, in Southeastern Ohio. The orchard, forest and prairie will be available soon for photography sessions, intimate events and educational sessions on native plants and natural dyeing.