If we can make people feel better, and make a better world by making beautiful things for creative change with less human suffering from poor working conditions, less waste, and less environmental stress, why wouldn’t we?
OUR MISSION AND VISION
To inspire and nurture personal creative change and growth for everyone, and to produce aesthetically pleasing, sustainable, and heirloom quality products that are ethically made, Maine lifestyle brand driven, while supporting local & U.S. based artisans, craftspeople, manufacturers, merchants, and suppliers.
ABOUT US
We believe in creativity.
We believe in living lives of higher quality through creative expression and sharing what we make. We wish to make beautiful things that are built to last and that have meaning. Years of dedication and commitment to encourage everybody to do the same has brought us Bell & Beacon and Bell & Beacon Society.
We strongly believe in ethical production, fair trade, and giving back; supporting the Maine economy, and providing production opportunities to local artisans, craftspeople and manufacturers. Sourcing responsibly produced materials from local and U.S. businesses can help our creative lives to thrive.
We are native born Mainers who love exploring nature, the sea, the land, new ideas, and finding ways to live a more meaningful life through creativity and supporting and caring for each other. Being more aware, observing our surroundings and daily life, and understanding the rich history of where we live help us find creative meaning and draw inspiration from the small and seemingly mundane to the grandest of things.
We like to draw, write, sketch, build, play, and are enamored with exploring. Our daily lives include seeking inspiration from our surroundings on the coast, in the woods, our neighborhood, and surrounding towns. We trust change, global and personal. Change is inevitable; it can be difficult and wonderful, you decide. We all have the ability to decide our own change.
‘BELL & BEACON’ AND
‘43ºN 70ºW’
‘Bells’ and ‘beacons’ have been trusted for centuries to help countless ships navigate through hazard and harm to reach port safely. We see these as a metaphor of a wake up call and the right direction to go; the way to personal freedom from devices and negative personal and social practices and habits.
We founded Bell & Beacon in 2017, but the idea for it was born many years ago in Portland, Maine, our home town. ‘Bell’ refers to a signal bell housed in an oceanic navigation buoy. ‘Beacon’ refers to the visible beam of light from a guiding light source, usually from a lighthouse. Both have been used for centuries around the world to help guide vessels navigating in foggy, dark, and stormy weather along a potentially treacherously rocky coast. Casco Bay and the surrounding coast has many of both navigation buoys and light houses, including Portland Head Light – completed and first lit in 1791, and still in use, it is one of the most celebrated and photographed coastal beacons in the world today. On foggy evenings we can usually hear the clanging of a bell in the harbor, and see the glow of one of the nearby beacons from where we live by the Portland harbor waterfront.
There’s always something to explore wherever you live and wherever you are. There always is here, at 43º north longitude 70º west latitude (the general coordinates of Casco Bay & Portland, Maine), and we’re really just getting started.
Kenneth T. Murphy, Owner
Ken lives in Portland, Maine, is a Maine coast native and has been producing many forms of art and design since he was a young child. He is a sculptor, craftsman, graphic designer, creative director, outdoorsman and adventurer and has many fields of study interests including biology and marine biology, to name a few. His passion for vintage-meets-contemporary art and design concepts has inspired him to create many forms of physical and visual expression.
Murphy is inspired by life on Casco Bay and believes in endless exploration and learning to inspire his creativity. He has a vast knowledge of the history of the Maine coast and a love for reinventing how we look at things – past or current, large or small. With this passion and influence guiding him, Murphy’s aesthetic is timeless and can appear effortless, yet edgy enough to feel current. His work tell can tell a story in an instant – being felt or understood on a visceral level as if familiar, perhaps tied to fond memories or past experiences that intrigue us.
Ken has an education and background in art, design, the study and history of typography, and hand-made signage. He has a purist’s approach to his design aesthetic – adhering to foundations of composition and formal conventions of typography – while also being wrought with the elemental nuance of being hand-made, or maintaining the ‘human element’, which is part of his signature style of rustic-refinement.
Murphy is the founder of Bell & Beacon and owner of Murphy Empire Design, an award-winning graphic design studio in Portland’s Old Port, established in 2007.
Holly Murphy, Owner
Holly lives in Portland, Maine, and is a Maine coast native who is passionate about the ocean, coast and where she lives. She loves exploring and finding creative inspiration any way she can in her unique urban/coastal environment. She sketches ideas and writes daily about her discoveries, whether it is food from a new local restaurant or a ferry ride to one of the islands or walking around, observing the daily goings-on. Holly loves to play tourist in her own city – approaching each journey as if it was for the first time, which she says keeps her in the moment and helps her see things she hadn’t noticed before, from the everyday, seemingly smallest or simplest things to how the sunrise over the bay can change depending on the time of year.
