House of the Faun was started by sisters Lisa & Catherine Leporati.
Born and raised in New York, they quickly found a mutual love of travel and the arts. “Our parents and grandparents instilled the importance of the Arts in us” Catherine recounts from her childhood. Both sisters received formal degrees in the Arts, including Lisa's education at the prestigious School of Visual Arts in NYC and Catherine's BA in Art History.
Lisa & Catherine have been educators, travelers, and collectors for many years, preparing them for both the array of workshops and careful curation of artisanal goods that can be found at House of the Faun. Lisa has extensive experience as an artist and ran a business designing retail/event installations. “Fiber, natural dyes, flowers, texture, color, light: I am truly a multi-disciplinary artist. With the birth of House of the Faun a new chapter of transforming spaces and creating visual poetry has begun.”
Lisa & Catherine have been educators, travelers, and collectors for many years
Photo by Carole Raddato
They traveled together, collecting artisanal goods from around the world. “We had toyed with opening a store together for probably 20 years. We are both collectors and have a love of shopping for the most unique things, thrifting, and flea markets. We spent so many hours in Les Puces (an extensive, world-famous flea market), in Paris. It was like a dream come true.”
As travel became more art-focused, Catherine moved to Italy to teach for three years, where she found the inspiration for House of the Faun's name. “When we were trying to decide on the name of the store, I was thinking about naming it for an important home, since we were focusing on goods for the home. I had an epiphany when I remembered the House of the Faun, in Pompeii, which I had studied about and visited. The name fit with our Italian heritage, the gravitas that we were aiming for in a name, and the historic importance of the home.”
The original House of the Faun in Pompeii is renowned for containing some of the best surviving art pieces from the Hellenistic period, preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Built in the 2nd century BC for the highest order of Roman aristocracy, the palatial structure featured ornate mosaics and statues that rival anything recovered from Rome itself. Just as these world-famous pieces were preserved under the ash and lava flow two thousand years ago, we honor our namesake by preserving artisanal methods from around the world.
House of the Faun in Port Townsend connects us all to the importance of art in our community, just as the archeological ruins in Pompeii do to this day.
Photo by Carole Raddato
Photo by Carole Raddato