Patricia and husband Eric Shaikewitz launched a limited line of 38 ornament styles in 1994. That holiday season, just eight stores carried Patricia Breen Design Group ornaments. So how did these young Americans, with no manufacturing experience, find themselves producing holiday designs in Poland, a country synonymous with the ornament industry? Credit the MBA Enterprise Corp, a Division of Citizens Development Corps, for providing the opportunity.

The company has no showroom and no sales force. The designer doesn't advertise and carefully reviews the handful of retailers and museums that are selected to represent the ornament line. No photographic catalogues are produced, only a portfolio of artist renderings. The designs lure collectors to order ornaments sight unseen. Each fall, a loyal cadre of collectors attends signing events from coast to coast. Who is this magician of glass and glitter? Who else could it be but Patricia Breen?