It all started with a clam.

In 2001, Marcia Poirier—a New Brunswick-based Acadian artist known professionally as Marcia Poirier Shell Carver—picked up a quahog shell on the beach and noticed the shape of a heart inside. She tossed the shell, but the shape in the purple and white shell made a lasting impression.

When Poirier was gifted a Dremel rotary tool for Christmas that year, one of the first things she did was carve a heart pendant out of a shell. Then she wire-wrapped it, put it on a necklace and wore it everywhere. According to Poirier, strangers stopped her constantly, asking, “Where’d you get that? Where’d you get that?”

Poirier made more, selling her work at the farmers market before moving on to craft shows. The early days were lean. Before some shows, she’d take her guitar to the pawn shop so she could afford to buy chains and other materials. When the shows were over, Poirier would return to the pawn shop to get her guitar back.

Fortunately, it didn’t take too long for the business to become profitable. Within three years, Poirier was doing craft shows across Canada, joining craft councils and filling wholesale orders for 55 different stores.

“It was a different lifestyle back then,” Poirier says. “It was during the time where you could be a Bohemian and jump in an RV and head down to Key West for six months to work for the winter and then head back up here and work for the summer for six months. I miss that type of thing for the business, but I don’t miss the instability and having to set up the workshop.”

Poirier put down roots in 2010, when she bought a former print shop in Cocagne and converted the front office into a boutique and turned the remaining space into an apartment. She also built a small barn out back for her workshop, where she ran shell carving classes.

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