Owner Jan Huss is an internationally known multiple award-winning straw artist and straw arts researcher in California. In 2021, she was recognized as a straw arts specialist by The New York Times.
Her decades plus experience with natural fiber prompted her to create The Straw Shop for other fiber artists to obtain materials otherwise not easily available in the United States. As a result, a small artisan studio was created to fuel her passion of these humble materials and related items. Realizing that rye straw and wheat straw are not simply waste products once the food elements have been rendered from the plants, but rather a renewable and very ecological durable art medium,The Straw Shop made its first appearance on the internet in 2007. Since then The Straw Shop has had the privilege to supply straw art enthusiasts with materials on five continents.
The unique book selection is composed of publications highly recommended for your personal library. Books on the subject of straw art are quite rare and many of the few that have been written are out of print. Our selection continues to expand as we have to retire some titles.
The goal of the images presented on this site is to inspire the viewer to think beyond the image of straw art they may already have. We are proud to present the largest assortment of straw images found on the internet. The Straw Shop encourages our guests to see how diversified and universal this beautiful art form using cereal crops is.
No where in the world showcases the straw art story the way The Straw Shop does. We are proud to offer the largest number of straw art related material selections in the United States; perhaps the world. In addition to the fine book selections we offer, we present the largest video selection on the subject of straw art. The people we have met around the world have allowed us to showcase the largest community of individual straw artisans and their work anywhere on our Artists page. The Straw Shop is unique for the number of articles of historical research documenting information about specific pieces of straw work. The About Straw Art page is enlightening.
Did you know….
Straw art has been found for hundreds of years in nearly every agricultural culture. Often steeped in rich traditions pertaining to seasonal changes, celebrations of community, harvesting, and religion to mention a few. Each area of the globe should be respected for not only their innovative works but their preservation of their traditional works as well. The simple material collectively referred to as straw as defined by The Straw Shop as grains–rye, wheat, barley, oats, rice is what we want to present.
Preservation of cultural roots is vastly important through straw art, which is generally disappearing in our high tech world.
Sustaining this art form is so important that in 2010 August 1 was designated as World Straw Arts Day at an international conference held in Ukraine by artists representing 10 countries of straw masters: USA, Great Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Nepal and Hungary.