Mary Dearing Lazarus has a passion for cleaning. So it’s not surprising that she helped start Caldrea, a company that makes housekeeping products, and hired Luciana Consonni-Pellizzer, a friend, to work with her.

But cleaning isn’t the only thing the two are passionate about. They also share a love of something quirkier and less quotidian: retro souvenir dish towels. So in 2010, they started a company called Vestiges to indulge this other passion.

Katie Evans, 25, is the graphic designer who was hired to work on their first collection of towels, one for each of the 50 states, when she was a student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. “The ladies,” as Ms. Evans refers to them, tasked her with designing things like type and motifs based on local flowers, landmarks, birds and food.

Twenty-eight states are now available, including New York, Minnesota, Texas and Connecticut. Silk-screened on cotton, the towels are about $15 each. Information: (612) 259-8262 or

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