Druville Pop-up Tour Stops in Montecito

Designer, speaker, author, and philanthropist Dru Hammer is bringing druville to town. Her new brand shows the 30-plus years of design experience under her belt through clothing and jewelry as well as acrylic trays and melamine tableware. The brand gets its name from her two sons – growing up they would joke about living in “Whoville” because of the bright colors in her design projects and in their house. “I just see life in color,” Dru said. 

Dru grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When she was in middle school her family bought a vacation home in Florida. While in Florida, she discovered Lilly Pulitzer and immediately fell in love with her florescent floral designs. She returned to Oklahoma with a suitcase full of new Lilly Pulitzer clothes, excited to wear her new wardrobe to school. “It was a dramatic change from Wranglers and cowboy boots,” Dru said. 

Dru cites Lilly Pulitzer as her biggest creative inspiration. 

The druville products feature lively colors and whimsical designs. When Dru created her brand earlier this year, she was able to trademark all 11 of her original designs. 

Dru, who believes laughter is the best medicine, has given her products witty names. One acrylic tray is named “the struggle is real” and features an orange and pink design that looks like a scale. The back reads: “scale: struggle is real… for real.” 

In 2012, Dru started the Hammered Heart Foundation to help “hearts that have been hammered by life,” focusing on women and girls in need. The foundation has worked with charities such as Childhelp, DreamCenter, and Mercy Ministries. Druville works directly alongside the Hammered Hearts Foundation, with the proceeds going to charity. 

“I like to give nationally as well as locally,” she confessed, “wherever I have the pop-ups I tell the owner, ‘Let me know what your passion is in giving and we will give the proceeds to the charity that means the most to you as our thank-you for hosting us.’” 

The Hammered Hearts Foundation sprung out of Dru’s painful divorce from a 27-year-long marriage. After the divorce, a couple friends took her to Israel. While visiting religious sites something caught her eye – an odd rock by her feet. The rock looked like it was hammered into the shape of a heart. When she picked it up, she experienced what she described as a “God moment.” Shortly after her return to the U.S., she got a flat tire. While getting it fixed at the dealership, she had another “God moment.” It brought her attention to the fact that for her, getting a flat tire was just an inconvenience, but for many women going through hard times, getting a flat tire is catastrophic. “They can’t get to work, they can’t afford a new tire, and they can’t get their kids to school,” Dru remarked. 

Dru had the heart stone cast in three different golds, silver, and pavé diamonds. She has been donating the pavé diamond hearts to different charities and ministries. “They usually have me come speak at these events, where they sell the heart for four to five times more than the cost of manufacturing,” Dru said. Druville now sells these hammered hearts as necklaces in silver, gold, and pavé diamond. To help as many “hammered hearts” as possible, druville manufactures many products within the U.S., and also works with a manufacturing company in Guatemala that helps women who have escaped human trafficking. 

Dru’s favorite pieces in the druville collection are the lucite bracelets, which come in a variety of colors and have inspirational words on them. In the near future, she plans to launch polka-dot pants in a range of colors. 

The biggest part of druville is getting to hear the opinions of the women purchasing the products. “I love to see what women love, some of them like certain patterns over others… it’s really fun to do these pop-ups because I get to meet these women and they get to hear my story and why I’m doing it,” Dru said. 

The druville pop-up tour began in the Hamptons on July 15 and ends in Palm Beach, Florida on December 5, stopping in Montecito on August 26 and 27 along the way. The druville pop-up will be held at Legacy, which is located at 1137 Coast Village Road. 

Dru hopes to open a store in Palm Beach in the near future.  

For more information, visit https://druville.com.