Everyone has walked along the beach and seen driftwood – but Sarah Horbert, of Miller Place, saw a business opportunity when she did.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Sarah Horbert founded Talise Home, and started using driftwood to make woodwork products such as frames, candleholders, and more. The name, “Talise,” according to Horbert, has native American origins, meaning “lovely water” in an Iroquois language, which is in line with Talise Home’s mission of nature, art, and elevating consciousness.
“During Covid, my dad kind of worked like the beach a lot, since there was not much to do, and we just kind of started finding different, cool, eclectic pieces of driftwood,” Horbert told the Press. “And I had seen on Etsy or something once, a certain type of candle holder, and I was like, I love that. I’d love to do something like that.
“So we started collecting this driftwood, and just started playing around in the garage with different prototypes. I’ve been in the home industry for almost a decade. Now I actually currently work for Martha Stewart, so I’ve just always loved home products and always wanted to develop my own line. I’ve also always had a passion for the beach and the ocean – I almost went to school for marine biology.”
It started with Horbert making these small products for family and friends, but word spread quickly, and Talise launched their website in 2021. It’s been uphill since then.
“The ethos of Talise Home is spiritual, natural, feel good,” Horbert said. “Connecting back with the Earth is what I’m going for.”
Some of the products offered by Talise Home include picture frames and air plants – but they’ve expanded beyond products that can only be made with driftwood, and offer spiritual products such as crystals and affirmations as well as self care products such as lip balm.
“The lip balms aren’t necessarily from the beach, except I do add in algae to them,” Horbert said. “So that’s kind of how I tie it in. It’s coconut oil, elk’s powder, beeswax, essential oils, shea butter, vitamin E, and everything is organic.”
The beaches Horbert looks for potential ingredients on include Rocky Point Beach, Miller Place beaches, and Cedar Beach – all close to home.
Moving forward, Horbert hopes to expand on that use of algae to make more holistic, beachy products.
“I really want to kind of get into working with more companies on Long Island of different innovative ways we could bring pieces of Long Island into the product assortment,” Horbert said. “There’s a lot of kelp farms and algae farms on Long Island and oyster farming and things like that. I would love to work with them on different kinds of product innovation.”
Talise Home’s website is talisehome.com.
