FROM COVID TO COTOURE. Lindsay Ulness (left) and Sarah Hrudka (right) are the duo behind Linyage, the custom bridal separates design house that once called Eau Claire's Barstow Street home, and is now fully remote.

Nearly a decade ago, Volume One introduced readers to longtime local best friends, Lindsay Ulness and Sarah Hrudka, and their newly-opened wedding dress design house, Linyage. In 2015, the duo set up shop in the Stones Throw building on Barstow Street, a budding small business born from a breathtaking talent for sewing and art, and a Midwest-grown friendship. Today, you won’t find the small business in that storied downtown building.

Technically, you won’t find a Linyage storefront anywhere, but that’s an intentional part of the experience.

“Things really shifted with COVID,” Lindsay and Sarah recently told me during an interview at SHIFT, a downtown Eau Claire coffee shop not too far from their former location. Lindsay, the craftswoman behind the vintage-evoking bridal separates, recalled a story business owners – and people across the globe, really – know all too well: the sudden and swift closure of storefronts, the sometimes-clumsy and necessary pivot to e-commerce, and the severe lack of face-to-face interaction.

“But COVID didn’t stop people from falling in love or getting married,” Lindsay continued. “They were just doing it differently.” Looking back, it was the push that launched Linyage toward what it is today: an incredibly personal, custom bridal experience with its roots in sustainability and one-of-a-kind guarantee. An experience accomplished remotely or by travel.

“This is art, and it’s my art, but it is for you, the bride. You’re essentially commissioning a piece of art, and it’s something you can wear again and again.”

LINDSAY ULNESS

DESIGNER, LINYAGE

The duo have traveled to their brides and vice versa, hand-delivering the finished products, or completing the process remotely from start to finish. Doing so requires extreme attention to detail and communication, things that Lindsay and Sarah became uniquely adept at over COVID. “The Midwestern in us is all about fostering relationships,” Lindsay said.

“I think when you put that amount of trust into an artist, especially to create something for an occasion like your wedding, there’s an almost immediate bond,” Sarah continued.

The bridal-style separates (tops and bodysuits) are hand-stitched, custom-fitted, and utilize hand-picked vintage lace and buttons from Linyage’s personal collection. Their selection of silk skirts that are paired with the tops and bodysuits are hand-dyed to create Linyage’s signature texture and coloring, a process that also makes the skirts travel friendly.

The nature of Linyage’s pieces – all separates – is uniquely aligned with the adventurous bride or person who wants to wear what they get married in, again and again. Created custom to each client’s body for comfortability and best fit, Linyage’s pieces can undergo movement and travel that a traditional wedding dress may not allow for.

Linyage bride in the North Carolina mountains, 2023.

Linyage bride during their rock climbing elopement, 2023.

Sarah said they’ve received photos from their brides wearing their Linyage pieces while rock climbing; after hiking to their ceremony location; worn in boudoir shoots; their bodysuits worn with jeans for a more casual feel; and more.

While Linyage is now thriving to the point of the duo expanding their team-of-two business to search for additional hands to take on more brides, that rise in workload comes with a cost. Perhaps as best friends, Lindsay and Sarah are better equipped to support each other as business partners.

“This sometimes feels like a marriage, with the amount of time, dedication, and trust (we put into Linyage),” the duo laughed. “We had to grow, make mistakes, and grow some more.”

“We’re in a season of, logistically, how do we continue to build (Linyage) up and create an even more special experience?” Sarah continued. “We’ve planted all of the seeds and they’re starting to bloom. Now, we need to make sure we have what we need to cultivate that.”

Molting into a new era as part of that continued growth, Linyage is realigning itself and recentering its original mission: to create art. One week after my interview with Lindsay and Sarah, Lindsay took a flight to Mexico where she landed to begin a one-month artist residency where she could simply create, whatever the process resulted in.

“This season is me finding myself as an artist again. I want to create art for the female form, for and around the body,” Lindsay said. “This is art, and it’s my art, but it is for you, the bride. You’re essentially commissioning a piece of art, and it’s something you can wear again and again.”

In the final months of 2024 and entering the new year, Linyage is on the cusp of a rebirth into an even better version of itself. It’s upwards and onwards now, and the best is yet to come for the small business that once called Barstow Street home.

Learn more about Linyage and get in touch through their website • Keep up with Linyage on Facebook, Instagram, or the Linyage blog