By Carli Scolforo
Photographs by Tricia McCormack Photography
A careful eye for detail served Suzanne Werner well during her time with the CIA (yes, the Central Intelligence Agency) and as an attorney—though in the past several years, that same eye has been turned to curating a collection of pieces that look beautiful and feel even better at Fluff Alpaca in Great Barrington.
Werner’s purchase of an old dairy farm in Columbia County was a big pivot. She and her husband had wanted to move to the area; a lifelong knitter, she wanted to make her own yarn. Werner had fallen in love with alpaca fiber decades earlier, after knitting a sweater for her father—at the farm, called Green River Hollow, she could raise the animals.
Werner appreciates alpaca fiber’s softness and warmth, but the love that goes into handcrafted items makes them even more special. “The time that someone takes to make something, the personal skill, it’s a really important aspect of my values,” she says. At the family-run shop in downtown Great Barrington, she’s able to share that love. Her friends and family knit pieces, from tiny baby booties to classic scarves, by hand. Other items, from stylish sweaters to cozy throws, come from trusted artisans and vendors near and far.
The sensory experience of the exquisitely crafted goods draws people to them. “People look for comfort and design and something unique,” says Werner. “We want things that last, that we feel joy wearing. Sometimes we just want some whimsy. It’s really nice to bring that to people.” It’s not unusual, she adds, for an adult to choose a stuffed animal made of soft alpaca fiber simply to reconnect with their own sense of delight.
