Medieval jewelry Etsy shop opens brick and mortar store

by Martin McConnell

The medieval jewelry shop Different Branches, Same Roots is stepping into the world of brick and mortar. Originally an online-only store on Etsy.com, the company has a physical location at 4615 West Streetsboro Rd. in Richfield.

Owner and founder Sarah Mitschke developed an interest in the world of medieval and fantasy as a child, largely spawned from her interest in video games and her father’s intrigue with medieval history.

“I had all kinds of interests from Spyro the Dragon to Legend of Zelda, all that stuff,” Mitschke said. “[My dad] was also a car guy. … We ended up doing a junior sport called junior drag racing, where we’re in these half-scale dragsters. … I had a dragon on my car. I was Sarah ‘Ice’ Mitschke.”

From there, Mitschke’s love of fantasy turned into a muse for her artistic talents. Her booth at Revere High School’s 2019 senior art show helped lay the foundation for what would eventually become Different Branches, Same Roots.

“We were able to put in all my ceramic work. I had the Loch Ness Monster and stuff,” Mitschke said. “I also had a suit of armor in there. I got an award for something that didn’t previously exist; I had ‘Best Suit of Armor.’ It was all chainmail. I went in and coiled the whole thing piece by piece, and wove it all together.”

Since the senior art show, Mitschke has worked to keep building on her craft, teaching herself chainmail and medieval jewelry techniques through YouTube and purchasing over 50 high-quality ceramic figurines and statues.

“All the figurines, the dragons and fairies and stuff, those all came from GSC or Pacific Collectibles,” Mitschke said. “I have a whole stack of dollar jewelry. We’ll do dollar jewelry parties once a month. … I do all the chainmail, and all the wire wrap work.”

For DBSR, success looks like a sustained presence at the physical store to help match what the company is doing on Etsy. She already has plans for the store’s unused space, which would allow her to sell even more types of items.

“I have plans in my head for all these updates,” Mitschke said. “More crystals, more religious culture type of stuff… Level three, putting arms back in arms and armor, hopefully display swords and suits of armor in here, the big steel plate stuff. Like $3,000 type of armor,” she added.

Mitschke and her sister, Jessie, were self-described “weird children” in school and that colors her approach to DBSR. She wants to make the shop as accessible as possible to prospective clients from any background, especially for those who are as interested in myth and fantasy as she is.

“My age range tends to go from 10 to 30,” Mitschke said. “The medieval stuff – there’s a good handful of different demographics that go into that. Your nerds, your historians, some of the gothic, emo types like that stuff as well. … I hope the town supports what I’m doing.” ∞

Featured Photo: Sarah Mitschke, owner of perhaps the first medieval store in Richfield, shows one of her chainmail tops adorned by her self-made jewelry. Photo by M. McConnell.