JUDGES Meet the Tenth Annual Made in the South Awards

Erin and Ben Napier

CRAFTS

Thanks to Erin and Ben Napier, Laurel, Mississippi, is enjoying a boom of sorts. There, the couple founded Laurel Mercantile Co., on Front Street, to design and sell heirloom-quality goods such as kitchenware, comforters, and coffee mugs; and Scotsman Co., where Ben handcrafts one-of-a-kind home furnishings. In, premiered, giving the Napiers the chance to restore historic houses throughout Laurel. “Southerners take the modest things they have and make them beautiful,” Erin says.