Dona and Bill moved from a depressed Colorado economy to a thriving and robust San Francisco in January of 1989 with a six month old baby and only a few pennies in the cookie jar. Bill wanted to pursue a television advertising career and Dona’s dream was to design and build her first line of fashion jewelry. After a few months of finding their legs, the big earthquake hit; the economy crashed. Bill’s dream died, but Dona was able to stay on track. She began with building her workshop, a 4x8 piece of plywood as a workbench in the laundry room. The office consisted of a PC and printer next to the bed. Dona took care of design and production while Bill, shifting gears, took care of business and sales development. “Ornaments by Dona” was born.

Many weekends were spent selling Dona’s original jewelry from a card table in front of the local grocery store in order to pay the rent. Because they didn’t have a permit, they were often booted from their spot. But they kept coming back, seeing no other choice. Eventually they were able to open “The Gallery of Jewels.” After several years of jewelry designing, Dona turned to pursuing her passion for discovering local treasures in flea markets. In December of 2006 Dona Taylor opened When Modern Was at Church Street in Noe Valley (which has now moved to 24th Street). Now Dona hunts and collects unique and beautiful vintage objects full time. She carefully selects furniture, home accessories and jewelry with an eye for craftsmanship, detail and beauty. She also works with talented local artists and showcases their works of art in block printing, paintings, lithos and more. To her delight, she has found her customers are as excited as she is to show them her wondrous finds! Every week brings new treasures to her store