The beginning
A life shaped by handmade things
Garan-Beadagio grew from founder Anna Johnson’s lifelong interest in textiles, ornament, mosaics, beads, and traditional handwork. As a traveler and merchant, she bought and sold rare kilims, embroideries, vintage and antique beads, and other handmade materials, working directly with artisans, collectors, designers, and shop owners.
She later became a self-taught glass beadmaker, learning traditional techniques at a time when artistic glass beadmaking had little organized presence in the United States. That experience from inside the artisan world helped shape the company’s approach to producing shows.
Creating places to meet the people behind the work
Garan-Beadagio was founded in 1992 around the idea that traditional handwork is not a single style or period, but part of a much broader conversation between culture, materials, technique, art, and design. The shows developed as places where independent makers and tradespeople could present their work directly and where visitors could ask questions, learn, shop, and make personal connections.
Over the years, those events have welcomed thousands of artists, craftspeople, designers, merchants, and tradespeople from across the United States and around the world. Workshops and demonstrations have also been an important part of many of the shows, giving visitors another way to engage with materials and techniques.
One family of events, each with its own identity
Today, Garan-Beadagio produces several related event brands. Bead & Design Shows focus on beads, jewelry, gemstones, textiles, artwear, and design. Colors of the Stone and To Bead True Blue continue the company’s Tucson tradition. Artazan and Marin Arts & Crafts Show extend the same appreciation for craftsmanship and independent creative businesses into broader art and handcraft marketplaces.
The shows are deliberately not identical. Each has its own audience, setting, visual identity, and mix of exhibitors, while sharing a common emphasis on the people, materials, knowledge, and creativity behind the work.
What continues to matter
Direct connection remains central to the shows: meeting the artist or merchant, understanding how something was made or collected, discovering unfamiliar materials and techniques, and finding work that is difficult to encounter through mass-market retail.
Garan-Beadagio remains a family-run event company based in Nevada City, California, continuing a tradition of producing marketplaces where art, craft, jewelry, materials, workshops, and independent creative businesses can be experienced in person.