Three years ago, before there were serving spoons, flatware collections, table bowls, candlesticks, and many of the objects that now make up the Shelton Metal home collection, there was a small sword.
The Sword Martini Picks were the very first homeware pieces we introduced, and in many ways, they became the foundation for everything that followed.
Recently, I received the exciting news that the Sword Martini Picks had climbed to the #4 Best Seller position within Bloomingdale's Bar & Wine category.
For a small independent design studio from Wilmington, North Carolina, seeing one of our earliest designs sitting alongside products from some of the most recognized names in home and entertaining feels incredibly meaningful. Moments like this are worth celebrating, not simply because of the ranking itself, but because of what it represents.
It represents three years of building a home collection from the ground up.
It represents countless conversations about entertaining, gathering, and creating objects that people actually live with.
And perhaps most importantly, it represents the idea that beautifully made objects still matter.
When I first designed the Sword Martini Picks, I wasn't thinking about bestseller lists or major retailers. I was thinking about an object that had quietly existed for decades: the classic plastic cocktail sword.
For generations, these tiny swords appeared in bars, lounges, steakhouses, hotel restaurants, and dinner parties around the world. They were playful, nostalgic, and instantly recognizable. A simple olive somehow became more memorable when skewered on a miniature sword.
I loved the spirit of the object, but I wanted to create a version that felt worthy of keeping.
Something that could move beyond novelty and become a permanent part of the bar cart.
Each Sword Martini Pick is cast in solid brass or stainless steel, transforming a disposable object into something substantial and enduring. The form remains familiar, but the experience changes entirely. They have weight. Presence. A sense of permanence that encourages them to be used again and again rather than thrown away after a single evening.
Looking back, I realize these small picks established many of the principles that would later define the Shelton Metal home collection. They are functional but sculptural. Playful but refined. Inspired by the past while designed for modern entertaining.
Most importantly, they encourage gathering.
That philosophy has remained at the heart of every object we have created since.
Whether it is a serving spoon passed around a summer dinner table, a set of flatware shared among friends, or a martini pick resting beside an evening cocktail, the object itself is only part of the story. What matters most are the memories created around it.
Seeing the Sword Martini Picks resonate with Bloomingdale's customers feels particularly special because Bloomingdale's has long represented a destination for discovery. It is a place where customers seek out both established brands and emerging designers, and I am honored to have Shelton Metal included among that conversation.
What makes this achievement even more rewarding is knowing that these pieces are being used exactly as intended. Not tucked away inside a cabinet, but incorporated into celebrations, cocktail hours, dinner parties, holidays, and spontaneous gatherings with friends.
Some use them for olives in a martini.
Others spear cocktail onions for a Gibson.
Like many of my favorite objects, they tend to evolve alongside the people who own them.
There is also something fitting about the fact that the object that launched the Shelton Metal home collection continues to chart its own course three years later. What began as a simple reinterpretation of a nostalgic cocktail accessory has become one of our most beloved designs and an unexpected ambassador for the collection as a whole.
As Shelton Metal continues to grow, the Sword Martini Picks remain a reminder that every collection begins with a single idea.
To everyone who has purchased a set, gifted a set, served a martini with one, or supported Shelton Metal along the way, THANK YOU!
X, Colby
