My lifetime love affair with art and design...
At the tender age of six, I occupied a corner table of my parent's booth during arts and craft shows where I would sell my own handmade ceramic mushrooms and owls. (Hey, it was the seventies!) Crudely made but cute, I even managed to sell some - and I think it was then that I was hooked on creating things with my own two hands. I would eventually grow up and earn a BFA in Theatre Design, where my lifelong love affair with all things artistic became a profession. Perhaps what I loved most about designing for theatre productions was the exhaustive research time spent trying to capture the authenticity of a period for portrayal to a modern audience. I later left theatre to start a gift catalog business with my mom - but I never did forgot the thrill of selling handmade products at that first art fair!
In 2011, I took a leap and opened my Etsy shop, not knowing what to expect. I had started developing a line of personal accessories that featured classic, authentic vintage designs with a modern day twist. I needed to get back to creating, to working one on one with customers, and to find an outlet for my deep passion for all things vintage. Etsy was the perfect combination!
Today you will find me happily working in my studio in northern Michigan, creating unique accessory items that feature the stunning and authentic vintage art that I am passionate about. I spend a great deal of time researching various artists and am especially fond of those that no one has ever heard of. (Who doesn't like the underdog?) With each new piece that I decide to use in my work, I start by digitizing it so that I can get up close and personal with every pixel. Without fail, every piece requires a lot of work to clean up, sharpen, and prepare for use in the studio. I often make several adaptations to create a more modern color palette, sometimes enlarging one tiny element of a design that intrigues me, and sometimes I combine multiple images into a fresh and unique design. I also create custom backgrounds and new elements that make altogether new and different pieces. The final product allows you, the user, to hold in your hands a link to our collective art history.
While I love the research and the restoration work, I am always happy when I can get my hands dirty in the studio! Once a piece is ready for production, I get to play with tools like my guillotine metal shear to cut and form the aluminum used in so many of my products, or crank up one of my heat presses to 400 degrees fahrenheit to allow the special dye transfers that I use to vaporize images into the surface of polymer-coated metals, ceramics, fabrics or wood. I love technology, so this dye transfer process is really enjoyable. I liken it to a high-tech version of kiln firing (which I always was fascinated by as a youngster when my dad would fire our big ceramic kiln.)
In the end, my goal is simple. I want to celebrate beautiful art and design that would otherwise have been lost to the dustbin of history - to bring it into our modern lives and ENJOY it! Art does not belong solely in a museum or history book, but rather in our pockets, our purses, and in our hands. I'm having a lot of fun creating these accessories, and I truly hope you will enjoy using them!
