Ysbrydoliaeth, Curiosity Shop

Help us make the
world become a better
and kinder place one
gift at a time.

Become
a curiosity
aficionado!

A gift shop for people
curious to try something
new or get reacquainted
with something to
satisfy your nostalgic
yearnings.

First a lesson in pronunciation!

Ysbrydoliaeth (pronounced uh-sprid-OH-ly-eye-th) means “inspiration” in Welsh. The root of the word, ysbryd, comes from Latin espiritus and likewise means “spirit” or “ghost,” so in addition to our products to enjoy from the everyday world, our range of merchandise also features a touch of the otherworldly.

Be inspired!

Ysbrydoliaeth – Curiosity Chop / Magasin de curiosités

Explore speciality and artisan merchandise from:
United States, Argentina, Brittany, Japan, France, and Wales

The emphasis at Ysbrydoliaeth is on quality and conscience.
Many of our items come from companies and makers with strong social action and social justice policies.

Help us make the world become a better and kinder place one gift at a time.

Myddfai Fragrance

Boundless Beauty

Wash away your day with fragrances, soaps and lotions from:

  • Aunt Sadie’s Candles
  • Beekman 1802
  • Caswell-Massey
  • Dickens Candles
  • Jasmina
  • Margot Elena
  • Michel
  • Myddfai
  • Pilot
  • Pot Pourri des Arpents Verts
  • Sayat and Hem Indian incense
  • Thymes

Still curious? Take a closer look.

Red Ware Set

Bespoke!

Our curated lines also include
one-of-a-kind gifts including:

  • Original Pennsylvania German
    artwork by Rachel Yoder
  • Contemporary gifts inspired by Welsh
    woolen crafts from Moose & Co.
  • Hand-carved Welsh love spoons from Cadwyn
  • Kutani pottery from the Musubi Kiln in Japan
  • Robesonia redware from Pennsylvania
  • Slate gifts from Brooklyn Co. and Three Witches
  • Traditional Welsh woolen products from Melin y Graig, the last water-powered woolen mill in Wales

Still curious? Take a closer look.

Drink Coasters

A Little Cheeky!

You’re also bound to find a few gifts for people who are a little cheeky and enjoy a good laugh.

  • Coasters and Tea towels from the
    Radical Tea Towel Company
  • Door Mats from High Cotton
  • Socks from Gumball Poodle
  • Lip Shit and snarky dish towels from Blue Q
  • Toilet sprays from Poo Pourri and Blue Q

Still curious? Take a closer look.

Chantler Teas

Sips and Eats!

Offering a plethora of teas, coffees and other comestibles from specialty and national purveyors from our source countries including:

  • Argentine chocolate, coffee and mate
  • Artisans du sel Breton sea salt
  • Café du Monde
  • Halen Môn Welsh Sea Salt
  • Japanese black and green teas
  • Mauch Chunk Coffee from Pennsylvania coal country
  • Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire teas
  • Teifi Coffee from Wales
  • Traditional Breton cookies and Welsh tea cakes
  • Welsh black and herbal teas

Still curious? Take a closer look.

Tarot Cards

Read and explore
some worlds beyond!

Our book corner offers titles on:

  • Celtic Paganism
  • Pennsylvania-German folklore and language
  • Celtic Tattoos
  • Tarot and other divination methods
Robert Jones, Open for Business

Owner Robert Jones… the eccentric uncle.

Three Corgis

Three Corgis. The one who’s mostly white is Hibiscus. The largest one always at the back is Marigold, and the other black and white is Wisteria.

Barbara Martin

Barbara Martin

Mary Megan Olwen

Mary Jones and  Olwen Thomas with Mary’s dog Megan.

The Inspiration
for Ysbrydoliaeth:

Your eccentric uncle…

The owner, Robert Jones, comes originally from Monroe County in northeastern Pennsylvania born of a Pennsylvania-German and Welsh family. He spent much of his formative years with his maiden aunts who were among the last of the Victorians and practiced Braucherei, Pennsylvania-German folk magic. He spent many years teaching French, German, Spanish, linguistics and literature at a small community college in Central New York before relocating to Lunenburg in the Northeast Kingdom with his spouse and three Cardigan Welsh Corgis (Marigold, Hibiscus and Wisteria).

During his previous career, he spent a great deal of time traveling, especially to Wales, and New Orleans where he went to collaborate with harpist, journalist and renowned inn-keeper Barbara Lefèvre Martin on matters of Welsh independence. It was there that he became acquainted with Kutani pottery while wandering through the French Quarter after getting buzzed on chicory coffee at the old Café de Paris next to the Cabildo on Jackson Square. Barbara and he had many adventures in and around New Orleans that included Voodoo practitioners, visiting haunted houses, journalism, plotting and tracking down the ever elusive Bedwyr ap Dafydd, a self-exiled Welsh immigré and descendant of one of the great bardic families of Wales, the last known location of whom was a bar in the Lower 9th Ward before Hurricane Katrina.

On his trips to Wales he became friends with Mary Jones (no relation) and her sister Olwen Thomas of Tai’n Lôn, a remote farming village in the foothills of the Snowdonia Mountains where English was rarely spoken. He made the region his base to travel elsewhere in Europe including Brittany, England, Catalonia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, France, and Spain.

Even his connection to Argentina comes through Wales. In the Chubut Province of Patagonia is Gwladfa, a Welsh colony from whence hails the former editor of the Welsh North-American newspaper Ninnau for which Robert wrote off-and-on for many years beginning in the 1980’s. In fact it was in the 1980’s that Robert first drew the unwanted attention of one of Britain’s military intelligence divisions, but that, as they say, is a story for another time.

It was his travels and the people he met over the years that inspire the selection of goods on offer at his store. Just like them, they’re a little off the beaten trail, quality, principle driven, and a little eccentric – shall we say, curious!