Lovely, but bonkers.

Besides Ourselves is an eclectic brand, born in Chicago by two tenacious maximalists who were itching to create stuff they loved, to work together, and to bring delightful products into your home + life.

Tre’ actually puts all the pens and paints to paper and conjures our weird ideas into this wild world. She meddles in more mediums than is advisable—ceramics, silkscreen, inks, and graphite to name a few. She has been a barista, graphic designer, restaurant manager, creative director, and is a babka baking expert. Her favorite places are bakeries and her favorite pastime is camping with her pups.

Elizabeth has lots of ideas and makes a lot of lists and though not easily impressed, was amazed with how Tre’ could make those ideas and visions into real life things. Her favorite medium is fabric and her favorite design element is texture. She has been a lifeguard, college bartender, event planner, project manager, interior designer and is a wallpaper enthusiast, travel devotee, and a castelvetrano olive aficionado. 

After being colleagues and friends for five years, Elizabeth asked Tre’ to create some merchandise for another project, it turned out pretty great, and they never looked back. Okay, that’s not true. They did look back several times, but the point is, they are here now. So go ahead and buy some stuff from them. 

We design and create products for a reasonably particular crowd, just like ourselves.