Our Story

Civil Alchemy is a lifestyle company offering functional, quality, and inspired goods. We have a storefront in the historic neighborhood of Webster Groves, Missouri located just outside of Saint Louis.

Our multi-faceted store features products from housewares and apparel to specialty foods and beverages. Other items include wine, unique liqueurs, tools, and personal accessories such as leather and jewelry. Along with goods sourced from premier local, national, and international vendors, we have launched our own brand of products designed in-house and created with high-quality materials. Civil Alchemy prides itself on being an open place of inspiration, variety, and community with an ever changing product list as well as ongoing workshops that showcase the possibilities of the store’s goods and materials.

In 2015, Kelley Barr sold K. Hall designs, an international personal care and home fragrance company with multiple company-held retail stores. It didn’t take long before she started planning her next business venture in what would become Civil Alchemy.

Not long after graduating college, Kelley’s son, Ian Van Dam joined the Civil Alchemy project forming a mother-son duo that continues to collaboratively lead ventures for the developing store and brand. From humble beginnings as a Michigan candle-maker, Barr has been steadily crafting home-care goods and building businesses based on the curation of timeless home design since she was a kid. Civil Alchemy is her current entrepreneurial endeavor aiming to accent the lives of her community members, in the St. Louis area and beyond.