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YONDER shopModernity meets nostalgia in the sleepy seaside town of Pacifica, California.

WORDS + PHOTOS BY BROOKE BASS

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Fahey is the artist behind the dreamily illustrated ceramic and

driftwood pieces at YONDER Shop, a small space tucked behind an

old traincar coffee shop in Pacifica, fifteen miles from San Francisco.

While not quite a must-see destination for most tourists, Pacifica

does offer some of the country’s best surfing, and draws crowds for

various competitions throughout the year.

Most days, the sleepy town is blanketed in a quiet, gray fog.

The blue ocean sits behind mounds of sand dotted with driftwood

and the occasional starfish. It’s a quiet place, where often the

only sounds are the lapping waves and the distant screeches of

ocean birds. It’s from this quiet that Fahey draws inspiration for her

work. Whether she’s gazing out over the sea from the deck of her

home or scouring the sand for unique items to incorporate into her

work, Pacifica is a piece of her and a piece of her art. “I have little

secret spots in small places where I look for driftwood,” says Fahey.

“I like to go during the week when no one else is there. There’s

something just really special about being on this big beach alone.

I walk around and pick up pieces and think about the kind of work

I might want to make with it.”

These solitary walks have inspired some of Fahey’s most

treasured pieces: The sand-white ceramic mug with an old Cypress

handle. A series of plates, bowls, and platters with intricate wave-

like loops and swirls. And her most sought-after item—the drift-

wood spoon.

Before she made the transition to selling her ceramics full-

time, Fahey worked in the fast-paced corporate world of downtown

San Francisco. Even with a hectic work schedule, she always carved

ROAD TRIP

“It’s in my blood,” Linda Fahey says simply of

the seascape that inspires her creative work. “It

sounds hokey, but it’s like a friend—the ocean,

the beach, and the environment.”

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ROAD TRIP

out time for her creative side—from making and selling a few

ceramic pieces to the annual art show she curated to showcase

the creative sides of her fellow employees. In 2001, when Fahey

moved from San Francisco back to Pacifica, where she was born

and raised, she continued making art; when she was laid off from

her job in 2011, she took a leap of faith and pursued her artwork

full-time.

For most who begin a full-time career as an artist, the gains

come slowly, growing bit by bit with every piece created and ev-

ery sale made. For Fahey, it happened nearly overnight. Within

three months of her career transition, Anthropologie, the mega-hip

retailer of craft goods and clothing, was calling, hoping to include

her handcrafted driftwood spoons in their line of home goods.

“I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go from zero to sixty,” Fahey says.

But she took on the challenge despite her fears and now credits

the retailer with putting her on the map.

Today, YONDER Shop is half personal studio and half store-

front, where she works on both large- and small-batch projects,

including bowls, mugs, spoons, plates, and platters—each one, re-

gardless of the quantity ordered, handmade without molds. With the

launch of her online store, Fahey is particularly excited to do more

custom work with clients from all over the world. She also sells other

local artists’ work, such as jewelry and makeup. “It’s important to

me to promote other Pacifica artists,” she says. “YONDER Shop is a

community place.”

When asked where the name “yonder” came from, Fahey

says it popped into her head one night and just felt right. It

conveyed a sense of nostalgia, but also had a modern tone to it,

which Fahey says is a balance her work embodies, too.

For those visitors and residents in the fast-paced Bay Area

who seek a taste of peace, quiet, and a quaint sense of coastal-

inspired art and community, they haven’t very far to look—Pacifica

is just over yonder.

To see more of Fahey’s work, visit www.yondershop.com.

this page: spoons were designed as part of a collaboration w

ith Diana Fayt.