When Beadology — formerly Dawn’s Hide and Bead Away — was sold in 2008 to sisters Karen and Laurel Kubby, it gradually became Iowa City’s hotspot for bead art.
When she was a child, co-owner Karen Kubby was exposed to numerous art forms by her grandmother. After trying a variety of mediums, beadwork stood out.
“My grandmother was a professional seamstress working for herself in Des Moines,” Kubby said. “She had that spirit, was a strong, stubborn independent person with a lot of skills. When I would go visit her, there were beads around.”
Her grandmother wasn’t the only influential member of her family, though. Her two sisters often crocheted, her dad taught them how to spool skit, and their mom taught them how to craft rugs.
Kubby was also the one who got both of her sisters into beading. One sister, Laurel, who is also a co-owner of Beadology, did not start that craft until later in her life, while Karen has been crafting for over 50 years.
Karen Kubby worked at the Iowa City Emma Goldman Clinic for 10 years when she declared she wanted to do more artwork.
“I approached [Dawn’s Hide and Bead Away] and said, ‘I want to teach,’” Kubby said. “And they said, ‘Well, we don’t want you to teach the store, we want you to own the store.’”
After purchasing the store, the sisters discovered the original business had been financially failing. It took 18 months, but the pair got it back into shape.
The store had originally been located across the street from The Englert Theatre, where it remained for 15 years after the Kubby sisters purchased it. Three years ago, the Kubby sisters moved the store to its current location on Clinton Street.
Beadology features a wide variety of materials from long strands of freshwater pearls to bowls of stone beads and bags of the tiniest Delica beads. The store is full-service, meaning they sell supplies, the tools to use the supplies, classes, repairs, and more.
Beadology is the only bead store in the state of Iowa after the closing of another bead store, Grandma’s Attic, in 2024. While this is a source of pride, Kubby finds it a little saddening.
“People have to travel far to get to a place where they can see things themselves,” Kubby said. “Especially if you’re buying a high-end stone, you want to look at it before you [buy it].”
Kubby held an exhibition back in October in which she, along with other staff and guest instructors, rotated an exhibition of their work. They will continue to do so once a month.
“It feels nice to see my things gathered,” Kubby said. “You can really start to see a flavor of [my artwork] that is different than Alyssa’s or Laurel’s. We might be using the same materials, but there’s different types of beading techniques.”
Alyssa Jakowchuk is the assistant manager at Beadology and specializes in stringing and crafts of multi-stranded creations. Beadology sources materials from all over the world, and Jakowchuk alluded to the variety of materials used to make beads.
“This man and his daughter used to go hunting, and they would bring us the antler tips to make into beads,” Jakowchuk said, referring to one particularly unique material.
Kubby herself specializes in a type of bead-weaving known as cubed right-angle weaving, or CRAW.
“[CRAW] is a stitch that I’ve been obsessed with for over 15 years.” Kubby said. “I just keep developing new techniques and new patterns.”
As a local business owner, Kubby attributes commitment as the primary factor in her success as a businesswoman.
“You have to build trust,” she said.