Students at Washington and Lee University have walked on the Lexington bricks for decades. From the Colonnade to downtown Lexington, the swirling brick pattern is everywhere.

In the late 1990s, Maureen Worth looked outside her home in Lexington at the bricks and had a new idea. What if they could be worn?

Maureen Worth was a dean at Southern Virginia University and used pottery as a creative outlet. She started her business, Sylvan Spirit, to sell her pottery. 

She said she creates pieces inspired by the natural world surrounding her. Her attention to her surroundings inspired her Lexington Brick pottery and jewelry lines, she said. 

The first Sylvan Spirit Lexington Brick was made out of the tip of a ballpoint pen and a small knife, said Rebecca Worth, Maureen Worth’s daughter and co-owner of Sylvan Spirit.

The Worths did not expect the jewelry line to become as popular as it has today, Rebecca Worth said. 

“Kids see [the bricks] on their trudge to class everyday,” the daughter said. “The bricks speak to Lexington. They tie you to the town.”

Many students wear the jewelry around campus every day. Lex Thompson, ’27, often sports a silver brick necklace. 

“It represents to me Lexington as a whole,” Thompson said. “I’m really involved in the community. I’ve made it my home. That’s why I love it so much.”

Sylvan Spirit is part of a co-op of artists at the downtown business Artists in Cahoots. The storefront is owned and operated by 13 artists who all have art in the store, Rebecca Worth said. In addition to gift shops all around Virginia, this is the main location where the Lexington Brick line can be purchased in Lexington.

“Small businesses can be lonely,” Rebecca Worth said. She said creating art one moment, then balancing spreadsheets and ordering plastic sacks the next can give her whiplash. 

The co-op lessens the weight of operations for the artists, according to Rebecca Worth, by delegating and sharing more tasks. 

“It’s a true hippie-dippie co-op,” Rebecca Worth said.

Sylvan Spirit also owns the trademark for designs involving the Lexington Brick, she said. 

“For years, people from W&L Law School said we should trademark,” the daughter said. “So we did.”

It took years to get the trademark, but the mother-daughter duo believed it was worth it. Maureen Worth was the first to turn the brick into apparel, her daughter said. 

Many people still do not know that they own the trademark, Rebecca Worth said. 

Owners of trademarks are tasked with serving as their own watch dogs Rebecca Worth explained. If anyone violates the trademark, the impetus falls on the trademark owners to take steps to protect their trademark, according to the Legal Information Institute. 

Rebecca Worth said the Sylvan Spirit mother-daughter duo has been criticized by local artists for stifling creativity. 

“We are proud of our trademark,” Rebecca Worth said. “We’ve never charged for it sans one dollar. We have freely given it to other artists.” 

Sylvan Spirit also supports advocacy programs and organizations through their art. The Worths believe art and education are key to resolving political turmoil. 

“It’s a way to start the conversation,” Rebecca Worth said. 

The Worths have created jewelry lines for dyslexia, Martin Luther King Jr., child abuse and more. 

Students all across Washington and Lee wear Sylvan Spirit jewelry, especially the Lexington Brick lines. 

“I think it’s something that connects us all,” Claire Hutchinson, ’27, said. “I love that there are so many girls here that do have it in some kind of form.”