Tommasi Craft is a family owned and operated since 1983. So here is how it all happened... my Cuban Mama took one look at my VERY Italian suspender wearing Papa and that was it. They were destine to sell seashells by the seashore together forever! They started out in St. Petersburg, FL opening over 4 stores and a showroom. In 1992 they moved to Tampa, FL where they built a factory in our backyard, literally the backyard was a full blown warehouse with over 20 employees! My brother and I grew up around lots of hard work, Spanglish, family, sand and tons of shells! When I was 2 years old I would sit on the warehouse tables with a pacifier in my mouth and corks in my hands placing each cork into bottles filled with sand and shell. My brother well he has always been a worker bee. I am pretty sure he popped out of our Mom sanding, drilling, taking things apart, and building displays with our Dad. As a matter of fact, when palettes would come in my brother (maybe 11 years old at the time) would hop in the fork lift and whip that thing around like it was a go cart to get the palette out of the UPS truck then place it where it needed to go. Surely it had to be a sight from the outside looking in.
Many people in the family at one point worked for Tommasi Craft cousins, uncles, aunts, family friends, and anyone my parents met that needed a job. Our house was a magical place I remember being so little that I could sit inside the barrels of tiny colored seashells thinking "this is exactly what mermaids do." I would dig my hands and feet in the shells and watch everyone work. Often times I'd spy on the employees with a notebook taking careful notes as to who was not working or using the bathroom to much to report back to my Mom... what a little nark! Our house was a wild place, a place where there were stairs to the roof. My brother and I would go to play on the roof with the dogs! There were bridges for the dogs that connected our two houses and warehouse so the dogs could bark at anyone who tried to get in. People would drive by our house just to see "the house with the dogs on the roof." But as many things go the fun came to a end in 2010 when my parents closed Tommasi Craft to start a new business... LAME!
So in 2018 I found myself with two babies and all this determination to work from home and make it work just like my parents did for me. So Tommasi Craft began again with the help of my two "business partners" who also wanted to start something new again... my parents! While my parents and I run the business we couldn't do it without the help of our long time employees and our family. They do a good job at not only helping us but mediating my parents and I through our constructive arguments... We don't just sell souvenirs we produce a gift that will turn into a memories for people to take them home from their beach vacations. Follow our Instagram and Facebook for a look inside our wild life together!
But back to business... Tommasi Craft is mainly are a souvenir manufacturing company. We make everything by hand in Tampa, FL. You can find our merchandise in just about every beach store and orange grove shop in Florida and up the east coast of America. We take pride in our work and take pride in knowing we can stamp it with made in the USA. We sell specialty items and select regular merchandise to the public only on this website because even if you are Floridian we think you will enjoy our stuff too!
