Meet Terri Gower, Miniature Teddy Bear Artist

Terri's Baskets and Bears by Terri Effan is now Designs by Terri by Terri Gower. The tradition of quality miniature teddy bears continues under a new name!
Why the name change? When my son's liver failed in the fall of 2001, I cancelled my bear shows and set bear making aside to deal with the many surgeries and test that he had to undergo. During that time I met and married my husband, Bill Gower. Now nearly two years later, my son's health is stable and it's time to get back to the bears. I was formerly doing business under the trade name Terri's Baskets and Bears, a business which I started in 1992. For the first few years of the business I was weaving baskets and selling them at local craft shows and designing and making bears which I sold at bear shows and in bear stores. As a collector of teddy bears since 1984, I soon found that my love of making bears surpassed that of making baskets. Basket weaving became less and less frequent, thus the need to remove the Baskets from the business name.
I have been making miniature teddy bears (1 5/8" to 4") and small mohair bears from my own designs since 1992. I was nominated for a Golden Teddy Award in the hobbyist category for my first original design, Pins, in 1992. I didn't win the award, but the nomination was enough encouragement to make me decided to hone my skills and jump into the show circuit. Since that time my work has been featured on the covers of The Teddy Bear Sourcebook and "Teddy Bear and Friends" magazine; in "Teddy Bear Review", "Teddy Bear Scene", "Teddy Crafts" magazines; in Debbie Kesling's book How to Make Enchanting Miniature Teddy Bears; and in several on-line articles.
Initially I was making larger mohair bears, but after attending a miniature workshop presented by Trudy Yelland, I became hooked on miniatures. I love the intricacies of working in the smaller scale and the challenge of finding fabrics and accessories for miniature teds. I am an admitted fabricaholic and probably have over 500 varieties of upholstery velvet to choose from when making a bear. I am also a collector of stuff and firmly believe that when I see something that can go with a bear that I should buy it. Needless to say, my work room is overflowing with supplies and hopefully they will all translate into bears in the future!
In addition to making bears, I am a freelance website designer and design sites for many other teddy bear artists and several teddy bear stores as well as other businesses. If you would like more information on my web site design services, please visit DesignsByTerri.com. I also assist my husband with software development. We are currently working on two pieces of software for the teddy bear industry. The first is a collector software, My Bear Hug, which organizes your bear collection along with maintaining information on artists, shows, and stores and provides a teddy bear wish list. My Bear Hug will be available in early November 2003. For additional information contact mybearhug@gowerdesigns.com. The second piece of software is an accounting/business package tailored to teddy bear artists and will be available in the first quarter of 2004.

Website Design by Terri Gower - DesignsByTerri.com
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This page was last updated on 10/26/03