HOPE WALLACE
Occupation: Owner, Artist and Designer Website: http://www.paperrelics.com">Paper Relics Biography:Hope Wallace is a collage artist and designer who works out of her home studio in the outskirts of Baltimore. Hope’s designs are sold throughout the country in boutiques and on her website. Her work has been featured in several major magazines including Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Magazine and Somerset Studio’s Legacy Magazine. She also has written articles and provided artwork for other national publications. She loves working with antique papers and images that evoke a bygone era. What do you do and how did you start? I am a collage artist and designer who runs my own online shop. I sell my own greeting card line, collage prints, ephemera and design services. I first got started when a friend took me to her rubber stamp club and I found a piece of vintage sheet music on the table. I grabbed it and spent the whole night cutting it up and using it in little collages -- I never even touched a rubber stamp or ink...
JILL BLISS
Occupation: Artist and Designer Website: portfolio and shopping Biography: jill bliss draws, sews and makes things in her studio everyday. her studio is nestled in between two majestic redwood trees and an ancient cherry tree, one hour north of san francisco. jill's small company, blissen, collaborates with others to make beautiful, useful and thoughtful items in limited editions from reused materials. What do you do and how did you start? i draw with colored pens, and sew with various sewing machines! my favorite materials are paper and fabric, though occassionally other types of materials sneak their way into the limited edition stationery and fabric accessories i make. How old were you when you realised you wanted to do and how old were you when you actually began? ever since i was small i wanted to be a grown up, draw or make things all day, have a dog and live by a beach and a redwood forest. i have 3 out of 4 of those things now, almost there! What steps did you take...
ANNA MARIA HORNER
Occupation: Artist and Designer Website: Anna Maria Horner and Anna Maria Horner Blog Biography: I am a mother of five, wife to one and designer of many many things! My career in design started as a clothing designer and has slowly worked itself into designing just about everything else. I've had many interesting stops along the way in my artistic path which include gallery shows of paintings, a line of handbags, a line of handpainted bowls and then theres the mothering, which is truly an art form. I currently work with many companies to form related collections of product all based on my artwork. What do you do and how did you start? I am an artist and designer working in the gift, home and textile industries. My first line of work was for my own clothing label, Handmaiden, which I started a few months after I earned a fine arts degree in drawing. These days I design related collections of art which manufacturers translate into everything from ceramic tabletop items and table linens...
TERA LEIGH
Occupation: Designer and Author Website: Tera Leigh Biography: Tera Leigh is the author of The Complete Book of Decorative Painting (North Light Books). She is spokesperson (and co-developer) of the Paintability line of painting products, and the Robert Simmons Sapphire brush line. She also writes columns for four painting magazines, and has had her designs published in many craft and home decor magazines. What do you do and how did you start? My first book, The Complete Book of Decorative Painting, was released in October 2001. I currently write columns for PaintWorks and Decorative Artist's Workbook, and will be adding columns in Quick and Easy Painting and Tole World magazines. I also freelance for many other magazines. I committed myself to becoming an artist in 1999. My first creative goals were to create a product line and write a reference book to make it easier for people to learn how to paint. I have a real passion for creativity and I want to create products that encourage people to use and explore their own...
PAMELA BARSKY
Occupation: Designer Website: Pamela Barsky Biography: pamela barsky is designer known mostly for her creative take on journals and photo albums. a big believer in letting ADD work for her, she tried her hand at many endeavors before settling on manufacturing products of her own design. in her 20's, she flirted briefly with life as a ski bum, but gave it up for the glamour of writing cereal box side copy. her time spent owning a gift shop that catered to Hollywood's most creative led her to start designing and she hasn't looked back. After stints in Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Evansville, Indiana, Pamela now calls los angeles home. she lives in a tiny spanish turned modern house with her husband, steve and her dog, radish. What do you do and how did you start? I design and manufacture a number of different items including journals, photo albums, clothing, fashion accessories, basically whatever I am inspired to create. My latest project is screen printed tee shirts. I started after the '94 earthquake destroyed...
JULLIANNA ARDEN
Occupation: Owner/designer Website: Parlez Vous Cards Biography: Julianna Arden is the designer and illustrator of her greeting card company, Parlez-Vous. She sells her products wholesale to boutiques and card shops across the country as well as through her website. She lives and works from her home studio in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children. What do you do and how did you start? I design and produce a line of hand-embellished greeting cards, notes, and invitations. My cards are kind of girly, kind of old-fashioned, and a little playful. I started my business in 2001 when I decided to print my first run of cards. I got the bug after I made my daughter’s birth announcement and thought it might be a great way to earn some extra cash for our growing little family. At first, I submitted my designs to large greeting card manufacturers like American Greetings and Sunrise, and I was rejected by all of them. I was crushed and confused but also tenacious and optimistic and I decided to...
JENNY HART
Occupation: Embroidery Goddess Website: Sublime Stiching Biography: Jenny Hart is an embroidery artist and craft designer living in Austin, Texas. She began working in embroidery as a means to deal with stress and anxiety. Wanting to introduce others to the therapeutic effects of needlework, she realized a perfect opportunity to introduce updated embroidery patterns. Meant to encourage anyone not turned on by 'country-cutesy' craft themes, Sublime Stitching was born. What do you do and how did you start? I run a craft design company offering needlework patterns of my original designs, and project kits. I also end up fielding constant "how-to" advice from beginners, so I've started doing some instructive (and I hope, fun and motivating) writing as well. How old were you when you realised you wanted to do what you're currently doing and how old were you when you actually began? I've always been drawing. I was really fortunate to have parents that encouraged me and my brothers to explore art, music, theatre, which wasn't easy in a small town. But, they're...
ALICIA PAULSON
Occupation: Handbag/Product Designer Website: Posie: Rosy Little Things Biography: Alicia Leronemo Paulson is a designer who develops, manufactures, and sells a line of vintage-inspired handbags, accessories, gifts and crochetwear. Her company, Posie: Rosy Little Things, offers its collections through a web site and her brick-and-mortar boutique, Ella Posie, in Portland, Oregon. What do you do and how did you start? I design and manufacture a collection of handmade, vintage-inspired products that I sell on my web site and in my little boutique. I started Posie five years ago by offering custom silk-ribbon embroidery on a commission basis to fashion designers and interested individuals. That evolved into selling a line of embroidered sachets and photo albums wholesale. Selling handmade things wholesale on that scale proved to be kind of a nightmare for me -- it required sales reps and showroom fees and road samples, not to mention a very low price point, since boutique buyers will double the wholesale price when marking up to retail (customer) price. Since I was paying my reps and my...