The Stigma Story

Stigma Guitars is a family-owned and operated business based in Boise, Idaho specializing in hand-crafted ukuleles. What originally started out as a senior project in high school building my first acoustic guitar, eventually became the thing that really made me tick and became my passion: lutherie. From 2010-2014, I built custom instruments under the name 3GWOODWORKS, the family business my dad and I were both running at the time, before taking a near 7 year sabbatical away from woodworking to really take a step back and focus on improving my personal mental health after realizing I was in the midst of a deep battle with anxiety and depression. The plan was to always “one day” get back to it, though at times that seemed more like far-fetched dream than a plan that would actually come to fruition; attempts had been made to do so, but would always end in the same way: reliving the moments that I still needed to learn, heal, and grow from.

During the lockdowns of 2020, I found myself finally getting back into the woodshop and re-finding the love for woodworking that I thought had been lost forever. The more time I spent out there, the more clarity of mind I found and, along with that, the more joy I also felt in my soul. It soon became clear to me that it was finally the time to begin again and spread that joy with those around me. I also knew that if I was going to do so that I would also need to give back in a couple of different ways: One, to organizations advocating for causes that both literally and figuratively saved my life - mental health research and suicide prevention - and, second, to society by publicly standing up for those fighting that fight and saying that there is no shame for what you are going through.

It was through a meaningful conversation that I had with a friend on the subjects of mental health and seeking help through therapy from which inspiration for my company name arose, a conversation I will forever cherish and be thankful for as it really had a profound impact on me and really got me thinking in a way that I otherwise hadn’t before. It really put in perspective to me that there were other people out there who shared the same wish that I did: seeking therapy sooner in life than one actually did. Too often there are things that hold people back from doing such, it could be the thought that by reaching out for help you're showing a sign of weakness or that it would bring shame on the family name to admit you’re not perfect and are in need of help. It could be that admitting you have a problem makes you feel like less of a human being or that by admitting you almost ended it all would make you a bad person. Whatever it may be, there is a certain ‘stigma’ associated with doing so, a stigma that needs to be broken. So I chose the name Stigma with the hope that it would serve as a conversation starter to get that conversation started about mental health and suicide and also be a beacon of light in a dark world to those facing it.

- Garrett Gardner