Orient Expressed

Founding of Orient Expressed Two art teachers in retail? !.. Yes, that's how Bee Fitzpatrick and Dabney Jacob started it all. Those two young women who financed their 1978 vacation to the Far East by returning home with goods to sell at a trunk show now own and operate the multi-channeled business known as Orient Expressed. Today, the retail store feels like an old world bazaar which features antiques, porcelain, Santos, home accessories, jewelry, gifts, AND the uniquely designed Orient Expressed line of hand-smocked children's clothing. Begun when their own children were born in the early 1980's, the clothing collection has been loved, guided, nurtured, and coddled, along with the children of Orient Expressed. While it has taken about 20 years to rear each daughter, the gestation period for a piece of clothing includes fabric searches, fabric designing and printing, creating smocking patterns, correcting patterns and colors, more design refining, the actual smocking itself ( up to 20 hours of labor per piece ), assembly, and construction. Hours and hours of creative energy and labor produce a single piece of clothing. We hope that your children and grandchildren will wear and enjoy them for many years to come.