Tell us a bit about yourself name, location,
affiliations, personal stuff.
My name is Shanah Flodstrom, I am 29 years old and I am from Vancouver, BC Canada. I just recently moved back to Vancouver after living in Montreal for a year, and am very happy to be back. I live in my cozy little apartment with my amazing black pug named Olive. I love the fall, right now is my absolute favorite time of year. It makes me feel inspired. I find it hard to get any work done in the summer. I am a total homebody so the cold weather is a good excuse for me to stay indoors.
Apart from creating things, what do you do?
I love going garage sale-ing and thrift store shopping. I get so excited when I find something good. I am notorious for finding old crap in the alley and making it beautiful. My apartment in Montreal was furnished on pretty much all street-found furniture and it was the nicest place I ever lived in. I’m a bit of a coffee addict, and I love to eat. Other than sewing, I love to knit, paint, take photos, and ride my bike around the city.
What first made you want to become an artist?
I have been into Art for most of my life. I never liked school as a kid at all. When I was in High School I hated my academic classes, it got to a point where I would only show up for Art class. I always knew that I wanted to work for myself but I didn’t know how to do it with just a general Art background. So I decided to go to Fashion School and it was definitely the best decision I ever made. I absolutely love that I get to be creative everyday; it is truly the best job in the world. Only having to answer to myself is a great feeling.
Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.
I am always thinking up designs in my head throughout the day. I carry around a little red sketchbook with me so that I can put my ideas on paper as they come. I normally know exactly what material I’m going to use as soon as I decide on the design. I have only recently started making patterns. I used to just drape everything, I found it to be a lot more fun that way, but then once I started to sell the item a few times it became a pain not to have a pattern. I am generally a pretty impatient person so having to make the pattern first is a bit of a challenge for me.
What handmade possession do you most cherish?
In the past 10 years I have moved about 22 times. One of the things that I can’t seem to ever leave behind is my collection of handmade ceramic mugs. I absolutely love pottery and my two favorite parts of the day are morning coffee, and afternoon tea. Each of those requires me to pick which mug I’m going to use, and it is always exciting. I also have this tree stump that I found in the back alley a couple years ago, it was a perfectly smooth, 2 ft high stump that was painted solid gold. I sanded it with an electric sander for two hours and I have been using it as a side table. I lugged that thing across the country and back, it weighs a ton but I absolutely love it and will happily break my back moving it!
Name your top five books, movies, songs/musical groups, and web sites besides Etsy.
If only I had time to sit down and read a book! I actually don’t remember the last time I read a book…
Top five movies are:
The Royal Tenenbaums
Amelie
Dancer in the Dark
The Life Aquatic
Spinal Tap
Songs/Groups:
Beirut
Fleet Foxes
The Tallest Man On Earth
Sufjan Stevens
Decemberists
Websites:
PoodleBreath
Design Sponge
Poppytalk
Something’s Hiding In Here
Apartment Therapy
What advice would you give to artists who are new to Etsy?
Don’t get lazy.
Keep your shop active and updated.
Take good photos.
Heart other shops.
What are your favorite features on Etsy? What new features would you like to see?
I love that you can send images through conversations. I also like how easy it is to search old conversations. A new feature that would really be helpful for people like myself who sell clothing, would be to have a size and color option bar when purchasing.
How do you promote your work?
I honestly don’t do a whole lot of promoting. I used to do a lot of craft fairs, and I have just recently started sending photos in to local magazines. I also have a blog that I try to keep updated.
In ten years I'd like to be...
Happy and healthy… doesn’t everyone want that? |
