Robin Sherman
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme- mso-fareast- mso-fareast-theme- mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme- mso-bidi- mso-bidi-theme-}
Robin Sherman”™s store and her talent both have clued-in Fairfield residents telling their friends stories that start, “It”™s from this great little shop”¦”
The store”™s back-story offers a tale of loss and strength that demonstrates exactly how great this great little shop really is.Â
Sherman has lived in Fairfield the majority of her life growing up in Southport and only taking a few years out to live in New York City where she met her husband.
“I can”™t imagine living anywhere else,” said Sherman.
She went to Greens Farms Academy in Westport and went on to college at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Starting out interested in pursuing her artistic talents, Sherman drifted into a business major with concentration in retail and kept her art as a minor.
“Art was too much fun and I didn”™t think I”™d ever make any money doing that,” said Sherman.
After graduating from Skidmore, Sherman moved to New York City and began working in Macy”™s and then for Avon. Her painting talents lay dormant.
“I got married in 1982 and became a stay-at-home mom,” said Sherman. “Sadly, our middle daughter, at the age of 4, was diagnosed with a degenerative disease. Over time she lost her ability to walk, eat, speak & eventually breathe.” Â
In 2001 Whitney, or Beans as her daughter was affectionately called, ultimately passed away at age 13.
Sherman had taught her daughter how to paint and enjoyed their shared skill.
“She did love to paint and we often enjoyed that pastime together,” said Sherman. “She deserves full credit for getting a paint brush back in my hands after so many years.”  Â
As Sherman began to paint, she developed her art into wares and a small home-based business blossomed.
“The success of that venture allowed me to open a small shop in Wilton Center in 2005,” said Sherman. Â
The shop, called Sea Beans Studio, sells a variety of ornamental and domestic wares that all carry a summer beach home feel. It also allowed Sherman to reutilize her retail talents.
“I wanted to incorporate my daughter’s nickname and our shared love of the beach,” said Sherman. “Fortuitously, sea beans are a sign of good luck and longevity.”
“When Sea Beans Studio was first conceived, my image of what the shop should look like was a cozy space that was charming, cheerful, fun, fresh, relaxed and inspiring,” said Sherman.
According to Sherman, she imagined her customers finding the store, wandering in and falling in love with the assortment of unique and wonderful gifts.Â
Sherman said she often hears people mention Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, and the Maine coast while shopping in the store.
Though the majority of the products in the shop do not feature Sherman”™s art, she does customize merchandise for anyone who wants and often has other local artists”™ work for sale.
“I paint custom designs on tote bags, framing mats, throw pillows, furniture, linens, canvas, wood,” said Sherman. “Anything paintable, on any given day, you’ll find me contentedly painting in the back of my tiny shop space. Sea Beans is admittedly a very tiny shop, but it is brimming with unique and wonderful gifts for family, friends and home.”
According to Sherman she has painted almost anything you can think of and does so between the shuffling of customers.
Finally able to incorporate painting, something she once thought was too fun to be work, Sherman takes solace in the fact that her daughter”™s memory has inspired a shop that people tell her they come to just to have their spirits lifted.