Nikola - October 2026

Choosing Timelessness

Timelessness, the coveted ideal that hangs in the balance of sturdy principles and inspired moments. With this concept I would like to introduce our blog readers to mother and daughter collaborators and founders of Greentree Home, Jenifer and Jessie Green. Greentree’s quaint workshop is nestled inside the dreamy gradation of foliage that adorns the endless hills of upstate New York. We sat at an outdoor table to talk, in perfect late September air; music and chatter between the makers poured from the windows as we spoke. In the summers the whole crew gathers at this same table to eat lunch together. I, myself, spent many afternoons here getting to know everyone at the shop as we shared gardening tips, home renovation stories, bantered about movies, books, kids, partners, parents, life. This environment was an unexpected perk of working in the space but as I inquired more about Jenifer and Jessie’s inner processes it became evident that the atmosphere of Greentree is a result of many years of practiced integrity. Jennifer Green’s careful hands have sculpted, maintained and entrusted to her daughter and tight-knit team a business that is tied at every edge with this ideal of timelessness.

T Jenifer describes her childhood as eclectic, comedic and artistically liberated. Her mother fostered an attitude of just going for it, “Don’t hold back!” or in Jessie’s words “Grip it and rip it!”; the sense of humor has absolutely remained in the bloodline. Jenifer was tapped into the art world from a very young age, going to college for painting and later working in galleries and promoting other artists. As I followed Jenifer’s recollection of the path to founding Greentree I couldn’t help but take note of the intentional, linear nature of her steps. The sensibilities of gallery display presentation are present in the visuals of Greentree today - striking simplicity that focuses our eye to the most important part of the composition. Working in galleries and her love for uplifting fellow creators led her into sales, sales led her to working with her now husband as she sold his handmade furniture, selling his work led to the two embarking into the unknown beginnings of Greentree. Starting as a limited production furniture and accessories studio, this would soon be where Jenifer discovered how magnetized people were towards candles.

Collage by James Gallagher  

T “Jessie was born into this business. I was pregnant with her at a trade show!” Jenifer told us. Jessie fondly remembered being a “trade show baby” and then a trade show kid; absorbing her own version of an eclectic and artistically motivated childhood. By high school Jessie would begin doing sales and data entry for Greentree and would continue to do so alongside college and her work in the corporate medical field. Feeling burnt out by the pace of the corporate world and homesick for her down to earth roots of handmade goods she ended up joining Jenifer in a full time capacity. She moved from Philadelphia back to upstate New York. The shop was buzzing with homecoming celebrations when she secured her adorable home here.

Jessie and Jennifer took a moment at this point in our conversation to reminisce about those early trade shows where Jessie and her sisters would run around the booths of various craftspeople doing an early form of networking with the other trade show kids who might one day also take on their parent’s businesses. As Jessie and Jenifer exchanged memories they mentioned a few trade show regulars only by first name, the endearing way family members mention beloved family friends. Of course, I didn’t know these people but, the warm and familiar way they referred to them painted a vivid enough picture of a lively, creative community that I gleaned some sense of knowing them anyway. Jessie tells me “Working with [my mom] has always felt natural and it was never a question of whether this would work. None of this is foreign to me. We’ve always been very close”.

T “You can strip anything down to its core values… The most important thing is those core values are something you can always come back to” Jessie explains as the conversation shifts towards present day dynamics between her and her mother. Although Jessie and Jenifer describe their personal style inclinations as differing they do meet somewhere within the concept of authenticity and the natural world. Jennifer likes neutrals, she likes the timeless, the dark and the strange. Jessie is not afraid to dabble in a trend or try out intense color. Jessie’s guiding admiration for the aesthetic principles already woven into the fabric of Greentree comes naturally to her as they informed so much of her own artistic development. But, Jenifer tells us she is eager to be the one informed by Jessie’s proclivities, “Jess has a great style that is [her] own, I'm hoping a lot of times to hear what [she] thinks about [something] and to over time merge [her] style into this business”. It is clear both Jessie and Jenifer deeply respect one another’s genuine expression. This respect is one of those core values, a touchstone relationally and in service of the business that has been integral in achieving consistency over many years and for many years to come.

T Jenifer and Jessie both possess this unwavering energy when it comes to maintaining quality. “I would never do anything to jeopardize my relationship with my mom or the business so I'm always thinking about it but that thinking keeps reminding me to do the right thing” Jessie says referring to the earnestness and profundity in which every movement within her work is handled. Jennifer founded Greentree with this same steadfast approach - it was crucial to Jenifer early on to use natural materials and that the operation stayed handmade from start to finish. As Jessie takes on a more involved role within Greentree the two hope to move into handmade home goods and continue intentionally growing their trusted team of makers. When I asked Jenifer how the growing scale of Greentree has presented challenges to these ethical requisites, she said, “One of the biggest challenges of [having a lasting business] is to always be putting your best foot forward every day”, for Jenifer and Jessie the obstacle doesn’t lie within fitting ethics into the framework of business but rather ensuring every motion forward is boldly led by the ethical standards they hold dear.

T This commitment to integrity has physical presence in the shop; original handcrafted candle molds made by Don, Jenifer's husband function alongside decades worth of innovative tinkering that has gone into mastering the hand poured candle. Working there you may find yourself with the privilege of mixing a speciality color; the recipe of which is hand written on a little card inside a tin box. Following the retrieval of such a card you will find yourself mixing pigments into natural beeswax and stirring it all in a cauldron - the whole process feels ethereal and all the while practical and dependable. As the candles meander their way through the hands of each maker, all at various stages of creation, fingerprints are left behind. These fingerprints in specificity are undetectable but in essence are undeniable and are what attract so many people to handmade works. When a batch of candles lay across a table, complete, they are uniform enough to be interchangeable in many cases but to those of us in the shop we can point out Mykel-Anne’s finishing, Kayla’s wick cutting, Helen’s impeccable cure timing. In this way we can mention each other’s fingerprint the way you would a beloved family friend’s.

T Nurturing the little details that so profoundly contribute to a more enriched whole resonates not only with those who work directly in making the candles but with people who carry them in their stores, people who use them in their design and people who bring them into the folds of their daily life or cherished occasions. Jenifer and Jessie feel deeply honored to be a part of this timeless relationship between the human and the flame. In a way, Jenifer revealed Greentree’s secret lasting powers when she offhandedly noted timelessness as an aesthetic trait she strives towards. The happy chatter from the windows of the shop, the smell of the natural beeswax joining that perfect late September air, the two generations sat before me describing with great passion the love for their craft, at this table where so many times over all of us had engaged each other with the ageless topics of life - it all felt as though it belonged to no particular time at all and yet it was free, abundant, it belonged to all of us - and that was no accident. Everyone at Greentree is dutifully focused on presenting the best version of this work each day. Jenifer closed out our talk with tried and true advice to anyone at the humble beginnings of their own journey “Follow your heart!” and I simply couldn’t think of a more timeless quote to leave you all with.