Tell us a bit about yourself name, location,
affiliations, personal stuff.
My name is Ericka and I’m a recent transplant to New York City but grew up in a big ole’ plantation style house in the mountains of east Tennessee. I consider myself a funny amalgam of both Caribbean and southern culture. Like France and Africa and the Appalachian mountains all at once. My parents were both born in Haiti and moved to the states for different reasons- my father came to the US to work as a physician, and my mother’s family left everything behind and fled Haiti in the early 1960s as a result of the Duvalier regime. Spending time alone with my mother before the birth of my siblings had a great effect on me, I think. She is very curious and artistic by nature, so I picked up those traits from her and spent much of my childhood consumed with writing, drawing and sewing things. Later I spent many happy years in art school, taught painting and drawing for a couple of years after that and just recently started grad school. My label was formerly called Suki and I’ve been creating pieces for it, big and small, since about 1999.
Apart from creating things, what do you do?
Right now I’m a full time graduate student at New York University studying visual culture and costume. I’m also working for Thakoon, a womenswear designer that uses colors and bold prints in a fearless kind of way. Being in school and working and creating can be challenging, but I’m constantly being stimulated and bending my brain, which I like. In my free time I’m a nerd for films (take myself out on movie dates at MOMA), dance parties, museums and yummy international foods.
What first made you want to become an artist?
My family always nurtured and encouraged creativity. There have been a number of artists in my extended family. My grandfather Alberoi was a painter. And my grand-uncle Castera Bazile was a painter active during Haiti’s golden age of artistic output after World War II and painted several murals in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince. One of my earliest memories is of my dad teaching me to draw elephants on my bedroom floor. My mother is an uber-creative renaissance woman who taught me to sew at a very young age, and at home introduced me to the world of fashion, culture and decorative art. I pretty much grew up in fabric shops, antique stores and remote thrift shops in obscure southern towns. When you find discarded treasures you can use your imagination to make them into something new. I have vivid childhood memories of climbing on piles of bolts of satin, spandex and rolls of stretch sequined polyester in a tiny fabric joint my mom used to spend hours in. I knew they were there to create something. I just wondered what that could be.
Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.
I was formally trained as a painter, and I think that is where my love of meticulous detail was nourished. The relation of making paintings to sewing is a significant one- almost all of my bags have their own artistic identity but visually relate to one another. My process of working begins with mentally collecting interesting combinations of colors. Color is very important. Then I move on to thinking about shape, materials and start sketching. I make all of my own patterns, and have over the course of many years taught myself to do this through trial and error.
I primarily use vintage fabrics, notions and zippers in the construction of my pieces and am the most enamored with vintage textiles because of their top-notch quality and interesting graphic patterns. My favorite materials to work with are linens and wools. Over the years I have stored away heaps of fabric, much to the dismay of my itty bitty New York apartment.
What handmade possession do you most cherish?
When I was born my mother made a series of baby sweaters for me from vintage patterns. They seem so tiny and cuddly and modern now, I think I’ll pass them on to my babies.
Name your top five books, movies, songs/musical groups, and web sites besides Etsy.
Books
The Gift by Lewis Hyde
Seeing Through Clothes by Anne Hollander
Color by Victoria Finlay
Against Fashion: Clothing as Art, 1850-1930 by Radu Stern
The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones
Movies
West Side Story
Black Orpheus
Bugsy Malone
The Gleaners and I
The Blue Bird
I also really love Ingmar Bergman, Spike Lee and Busby Berkeley choreographed musicals.
Music
Stevie Wonder
Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band
The Zombies
M.I.A.
David Bowie
Websites
cupcakeblog
superfuture
nymag
epicurious
google
What advice would you give to artists who are new to Etsy?
Sustain your focus upon something that sets your work apart from others. And, lots of sellers say this because it’s true- slammin’ pictures do wonders to elevate your work for people that aren’t there to physically experience it.
What are your favorite features on Etsy? What new features would you like to see?
I really love the favorite items feature. I’m very much into thinking about things in a curatorial way lately, so it’s nice to see all of my personal favorites and those of others grouped together into a sort of exhibition of interesting objects.
How do you promote your work?
Much by word of mouth and the internet (blogs, etc). And for a number of years now I have done craft fairs, most notably the Renegade Craft Fairs in Chicago and Brooklyn, great venues to promote your work. I love the sense of community and spirit of those events.
In ten years I'd like to be...
Writing and making, moving and shaking. |
