Rosemary Radford is the owner & leading artist behind all things Garden Key Co. Her love for all things creative was first ignited in middle school when she was introduced to lettering through a book of tutorials her mother had gifted her. Since then Rosemary has decided to see the world through eyes of whimsy and adventure and hopes to inspire others to do the same.
After moving to Middle Tennessee in 2007, she has collaborated with some of Nashville's top-rated artists and businesses by offering lettering work and other creative services. She truly believes that some of Nashville's best artistic work comes when the community joins together to create something beautiful.
When she's not creating, you'll find Rosemary catching up with friends over coffee, adding to her ridiculously large key collection, or traveling across the globe. It's a dream of hers to take her creative services on the road, and she hopes that dream becomes a reality soon.
BEHIND THE NAME
Many people ask Rosemary how she came up with Garden Key Co. as the name for a creative business. With much intention and thought, Rosemary developed the name with her family in mind. Her 'Granney' had a family garden that provided food for her family for years and years. The harvested food from the garden not only brought the family together for meals filled with laughter, but provided years of entertainment and joy as a hobby for her Granney.
After her Granney lost her husband later in life, Rosemary's mom and dad built a small cabin in their backyard for her, just feet away from their own home. Going to Granney's house became Rosemary's favorite thing to do after school as she loved spending time with the lady that saw life in such a special way. The cabin was filled with treasures from over the years, but the thing that always caught Rosemary's attention were the set of skeleton keys that adorned the log-covered walls. They held so many stories from generations past, of places Rosemary had never visited, but her Granney wanted to remember.
Now, Rosemary has a collection of skeleton keys of her own, and the collection grows and grows. She loves what they stand for, the places that they've locked and unlocked...
It is because of growth from the garden and the unlocking of new and old places that Rosemary developed Garden Key Co. She hopes to inspire the world through her creativity by helping others experience joy through the unexpected beauty in the world around them.
Learn more about Garden Key Co. in an interview with Neat Nashville here.
It is always an honor to have someone notice the passion we have for our brand. Read below for our most recent publications and interviews.
TRENDY BRIDE MAGAZINE // WINTER-SPRING 2017
THE PINK BRIDE // NASHVILLE 2016
SOUTHERN BRIDE MAGAZINE
NEAT NASHVILLE INTERVIEW
1. Who are we?
We’re the optimistic adventurer. We’re passionate, and we’re positive. We’re expressive, but authentic. We’re the ones who get outside our comfort zone to live life to its fullest potential, encouraging others to do the same. We’re the ones that laugh when it rains on a pool day, but play anyway. The ones that stop the car to make a bouquet of wildflowers, because we believe that the best moments in life are the ones unplanned. Life has so much unexpected beauty to offer - and we want to experience it all.
2. Why are we here?
Our company was solely designed to inspire you [our customers] to break from the ordinary to find the whimsical, wonderful side of this world. We want you to feel inspired and encouraged and to help spread that outlook to the people you encounter. Our vision is simple and straight-forward ---- to find joy by unlocking your best adventure.
3. What are we doing?
Garden Key Co.'s mission is to provide the highest quality products and services to you, while passionately focusing on encouragement and inspiration. We respect you, our customers and clients, as much as we respect our team, and wholeheartedly believe together we can make a positive impact.
Here at Garden Key Co., we love investing our time in people. Your stories of strength, optimism, and adventure are the inspiration behind every product we create and every service we supply. We love interacting with you in person and online and look forward to future years of inspiration with you.
When we're not in the office, at an event, or on set creating new work, you'll find us supporting our local Nashville neighborhood at the many events and markets it offers (in fact, we might be a vendor every now and then!). We love engaging in our community, especially with those less fortunate. One of our newest events is called A Heart for the Homeless, where we deliver a packed bag of winter essentials, along with written words of encouragement to our fellow Nashvillians. It is our hope that this event would be able to spread to other parts of the nation over the next few years.
We love growing new friendships through our lettering workshops, too. We are extremely passionate (like extreeeeemeley passionate) about teaching lettering, and every class offers a unique experience for us and the students with ample one-on-one time. You can find out more, and a schedule of upcoming classes, here.