Mask appeal – Pillow prodigy pivots

LACONIA — Natalie Robitaille’s plan was working great. She decided to home-school after middle school so she could graduate early and focus on her custom pillow business, and by the time she got her driver’s license, she was a high school graduate and had built her enterprise to the point that she could buy her dream vehicle.

It was a Jeep Wrangler, “Black Bear” special edition.

But then came the coronavirus, and the 16-year-old Robitaille realized she needed a new plan.

Robitaille’s business, Creative Pillow Place, specializes in custom-made pillows. She adorns her pillows with whimsical, often nature-inspired, characters she creates by cutting shapes out of fabric and sewing them onto the pillows. She sells them at Riverview Artisans in Bristol, New Leaf Home Decor in Laconia and the Village Store in Gilford. But most of her sales were through craft fairs, and those were all canceled until it’s safe for groups of people to again gather.

So, with no demand for pillows and with plenty of fabric at hand, she started to make masks for friends and family members. Like when she started making pillows, she was just giving them away as gifts to begin with. And, as happened with the masks, people told her that she could sell them.

Robitaille’s masks are made from a thick cotton material, the same that she uses to make the pillows. And she has kept true to her style, decorating each mask with a simple, cheerful character she hand-cuts and sews. It might be a woodland creature, or a happy, fluffy cloud, as if to remind people that you can still smile when it’s cloudy.

“I just want to make people smile,” Robitaille said.

As of Friday of last week, Robitaille had made about 150 masks. Half were given away, the rest were sold for $7 each. Right now, she doesn’t have a means to order one through her website, she is only taking orders through social media. Even so, demand has been brisk – she currently has a back-order of about 30 masks.