Edith Harlan grew up on the east side of Detroit with a single mother and five brothers. Often money was tight for the basics, but Harlan made the best of her situation.
“I had so many hand-me-downs,” Harlan recalls. “I had to make them look female!”
And from that, Harlan’s artistic future began. Learning how to sew in home economics, she found that she loved making clothes and having her own sense of independence.
Harlan, known as Edy to those close to her, has always been creative and loves fashion, too. She started writing poetry at the age of 18 as a way to express herself and to figure out who she wanted to be in this life. The poetry led to art, and a creative door was opened never to close again. Harlan began to explore her way around different mediums including painting, making clothes, and jewelry. She then decided to turn that love into a business.
Harlan is the owner of
The Garden of Edy located at 1604 E. Perkins Ave. in Sandusky. While she is the sole proprietor, her husband and two children lend a hand with tech and social media. While exploring her brick-and-mortar shop, customers can even find her 8-year-old daughter’s artwork on the walls.
Describing her shop as “unique, eclectic, and quirky,” Harlan wants residents to know that there is something for everyone there – even kids. Sitting alongside her home-made items, shoppers can also find items that are a bit more conventional. In fact, they can even find artwork by Harlan's 14-year-old and 8-year-old children in the shop.
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A display of items for sale inside The Garden of Edy. (Photo/Kevin Lee)“I wanted to have a little bit of everything for everyone,” she says. “I can do anything custom, and most anything is interchangeable to suit everyone’s taste.”
She wants everyone to feel love and inclusivity in her shop.
Moving to Sandusky from Detroit for her husband’s work, Harlan started working from her kitchen table in 2021. She chose the name The Garden of Edy because it was a broad enough name to encompass everything she loves about creativity. Now Harlan hand makes each item in the shop.
Patrons can find everything from artwork to wearable art and everything in between. She also chose the name because it paid homage to both her spiritual side with a play on the Garden of Eden as well as gives a nod to her roots from when she had a flower shop back in Detroit.
“My company is all about creative expression,” she says. “Everything is art - not just the artwork itself. Being able to express yourself is a form of art.”
The pieces in her collection are designed to show diversity in both art and fashion. She wants to craft items that allow for conversation and “shine light into the darkness.”
“I love what I do, and it shows in my pieces,” Harlan says. “’LOVE’ is literally all that I do. I want to show it in everything that I do. I love, love!”
Harlan’s hope is to spread love through her art.
Connection and community are also important to Harlan. She loves Sandusky for the small-town feel and providing a good place to raise a family. The sense of community is one of the things she loves most about owning her business.
“The idea of people talking and connecting and networking makes me happy,” she says. “And if they wear my stuff – even better!”
Her hope is that people will notice her wearable art and that will be their connection to open a dialogue and create bonds between one another.
Another way Harlan is improving her community is offering internships with her business. As Sandusky’s first black female business owner to offer an internship to Sandusky High School students, Harlan is thrilled to provide this opportunity.
When Harlan was in high school and trying to figure herself out, being creative was a saving grace for her.
“My clothes were different because of affordability, but that helped me figure out who I was,” Her internship in her high school in Detroit was at a flower shop and that gave her the beginnings of the garden of her life. It helped shape who she was and what her business is growing into now. Harlan wanted to give back to her community in the same way.
“It has been a great gift to pour into the next generation” Harlan says. “Small businesses often don’t consider what they can do even if they are small. You can have an impact and many of them have not even considered the idea of hosting an intern.”
As an outside-of-the-box thinker, Harlan was happy to lead the charge with having her first intern. The high school girl at The Garden of Edy has been “awesome to work with.” Harlan simply wants to give back the gifts that she has been given and watch her love bloom.
To visit Harlan at her shop, come and see her at the following hours:
Sunday and Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Friday: 11 a.m – 5 p.m.
Saturday: noon-5 p.m.
Shopping can be done both in store and
online. The Garden of Edy has shipped to every state all over the U.S. You can also find her on
Facebook and
Instagram.