Online shop spreads the love and lore of gnomes on Whidbey

Any day on Whidbey could present unique animal sightings — the tall, black dorsal fin of an orca jutting from the water, bald eagles circling overhead, the roar of elephant seals in the distance.

Yet shrouded by sword ferns, buried in driftwood, hidden by Whidbey’s mossy branches and perched on the island’s craggy bluffs, something else may be in plain sight among them — as one islander couple puts it — gnomes.

Jean-Michel Pin and Jannine Brunyee said the idea for whidbeyislandprovisions.com, an online shop supporting local artisans, promoting healthy living and spinning whimsical folktales, came from seeing the island with fresh eyes. Brunyee is originally from South Africa and Pin from France; they were swept away by the island’s charm.

The couple encourages artists to create their own renditions of gnomes, to feed into the fantasy of the island so it stretches beyond any one person or group.

“(We wanted to) do something that makes people smile and makes them really appreciate where they live and maybe look a little closer when they’re out walking, because maybe they’ll see a gnome or a trace of a gnome,” Brunyee said.

Gnomes, first appearing in Northern European folklore, are often depicted as small, pot-bellied, bearded humanoids in pointy hats. Old stories of gnomes often present them as witty, jovial creatures. While sometimes playing tricks, they are typically playful rather than vicious. Brunyee and Pin’s stories of gnomes reveal them as stewards of Whidbey Island.

Whidbey Island’s gnomes work as orca watchers, singing songs to guide the pods, mussel maestros, tending to the beaches like lush gardens, mushroom whisperers, mixing elixirs with woodland gifts, and much more.

Brunyee is only expanding her characters, she said, hoping to have distinct gnomes for each Whidbey Island community.

“It’s really sad that people aren’t living close to nature,” she said. “Gnomes are protectors of the natural world. There’s rich material to work with.”

The couple’s outlook comes from their own experiences.

“I’m from an area in France that is very pristine,” said Pin. “It’s up in the mountains, a town called Chamonix, and a lot of people like to go to Chamonix for mountain climbing and skiing and things like that, but the folks that live in Chamonix, it’s kind of their everyday life and you don’t really notice that it’s around you, and it’s probably about the same here. When you grow up here, you just don’t see the environment with the same eyes as us that already have been around and so many different places.”

There are also people who come to Whidbey Island not for beauty or leisure and not necessarily even by choice, Brunyee said, and Whidbey Island Provisions speaks especially to them.

Gnomes represent an interconnectivity with the natural world, she said, which is very real.

“When you go mountain biking, the Kettles Trail, when you go on the Kettles and walk, you have all those painted rocks that are along the trails,” said Pin. “They’ve been created by the gnome.”

“I really hope that local people and artists will join me,” she said, “and we can create something for Whidbey that we become known for, something the community owns.”

Pin and Brunyee come from Seattle’s tech industry, where they met. During the COVID pandemic, they planned to stay with a relative on the island for a few weeks. As they harvested mussels from Penn Cove and ate them for lunch, hiked regularly, learned to sail, picnicked on the beach at sunset, those weeks turned to months.

It took a five-minute conversation to realize what Whidbey offered that the city didn’t, Brunyee said, and they decided to move.

Inspired by their new lifestyle, they began developing an online hub for recipes, crafts and writings.

“There’s so much negativity, and we’re living in such uncertain times,” Brunyee said. “Can I contribute something that makes people feel better about their lives or maybe behave differently and seek out opportunities?”

Many of the recipes that make it into the Whidbey Island Provisions cookbooks are based on local harvests like mussels and crabs. Above all, the couple seeks to celebrate life on Whidbey.

“People sometimes forget that they get caught up in whatever’s going on with them,” Brunyee said. “If they don’t look up and look around and realize we live somewhere really special.”