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Lily Wikoff
Design Star

Twenty-seven-year-old potter and jewelry designer Lily Wikoff expected to spend just four short years in Greenville, getting her degree in studio art at Bob Jones University before heading to New York, where she had the occasional modeling gig. But sometimes smaller really is better. “I just love this city,” Wikoff says. “It’s a smaller city, but it’s such a melting pot. I’ve been able to surround myself with so many other creative types.” From her Pendleton Street studio, Lily Pottery, Wikoff crafts ceramic jewelry painted in vibrant hues and stamped with her intricate organic designs. But it’s her housewares that have lately caught the eye of national purveyors. She’s in talks with the Urban Outfitters–owned Terrain and with home-goods company Shabby Chic to create outdoor and home lines. “I could not have made all this happen as quickly in another city,” Wikoff says. “The support in Greenville is just amazing.”

Joe and Darlene Clarke
Farmers’ Friends

Though husband and wife Joe and Darlene Clarke struck out for Hollywood and careers in the movie biz, they could not shake their early passions for food and wine, or their love of the South. So the pair eventually left California behind to follow their dream of owning a restaurant. “We had always planned on moving back to the South, but Greenville wasn’t even on the radar,” Joe says. After culinary school for Joe and sommelier certification for Darlene, a fortuitously timed visit to Darlene’s parents landed the couple in the emergent West End neighborhood, where in 2007 they opened American Grocery Restaurant. “We were able to find an old building with good bones,” Joe says. “It just seemed right.” American Grocery became the city's first dedicated farm-to-table restaurant, and it continues to lead the way in highlighting the region’s bounty.