PPB April 2019

L eah Andrews was having a quiet afternoon to herself, enjoying one of her favorite TV sitcoms, HBO’s Sex and the City . In the episode, Andrews watched as the pint-sized, bubbly and ever-so fashionable New York columnist Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) shook a large, dazzling snow globe of Manhattan. The scene, Andrews explains, foreshadowed changes—the “shaking up” of things in Bradshaw’s relationship. Little did Andrews know that it would soon symbolize change for her, too. The snow globe wasn’t like anything Andrews had seen before. “I was captivated by the globe, as it was quite beautiful and bigger than most globes I’d seen before,” she says. Curious to see what other exquisite globes were on the market, she surfed the web, only to find the results turned up short. “Most of my searches returned those kitschy, cheap, travel globes and plastic domes. I was quite disappointed!” Looking to pursue a new creative project, and with the underlying drive to become her own boss again (years earlier she owned two businesses in different industries), Andrews ordered a simple snow globe-making kit. The rest, she says, “is history.” Some eight years later the “Queen”—a nickname that jibes with the name of the company, Queen of Snow Globes— continues to run her business, which produces bespoke snow globes for famous and not-so- famous clients around the world. Over the years, Andrews has designed personalized pieces for Steve Martin, Channing Tatum and Kurt Russell. Her work has been at the heart of media celebrations, like her Best Fiends snow globe, created to celebrate the success of a smartphone game with more than 80 million international players; a La La Land snow globe to promote the musical’s Blu-ray release; and custom globes for the pop duo Daft Punk and the cast and crew of Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert, The Musical ; Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight ; the Netflix series, Narcos ; and TimMinchin’s Matilda The Thanks to Carrie Bradshaw, Leah Andrews creates awe-inspiring, bespoke snow globes for her list of growing clients. by Danielle Renda Queen o f Snow Gl obes A Story In A Globe 74 | APRIL 2019 | CONNECT