Conversation with Carrie

 

Vibeke: I am so happy that you said yes to do this conversation post together with me Carrie! First do you think you can tell us a little bit about yourself?
Carrie: I grew up in New England, went to college in NYC, then moved around a bit before landing in Maine where I now live with my husband, daughter, and three cats. I work as Art Director for Quince & Co. during the week and spend time with my family on the weekends (and occasionally, I get to spend time in my studio!).


Vibeke: Five words that you would choose to describe yourself?
Carrie: Shy, day dreamer, caring, and motivated yet lazy.


Vibeke: Can you tell us about Madder?
Carrie: Madder has been a few different things depending on the time in my life. It started out as a possible shop with my own clothing line using hand-printed fabric (the day dreamer in me). The brick and mortar shop never came to life, but Madder continued to evolve in my mind—I just couldn't give up the idea that we were meant to be together. Now, Madder is a little online shop where I sell my knitting patterns. Even though it has morphed, Madder has always been about a way of life that includes making clothes, celebrating the hand-made, and being inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds me.

Vibeke: I have SO many of your designs on my-want-to knit list!! Are there one of your designs that you are extra proud of?
Carrie: Oh, thank you! I'm really proud of my Camilla sweaters. They are fairly easy and quick to knit. The pretty fan stitch down the center front is hugged by garter stitch on each side. I LOVE garter stitch.
Vibeke: I LOVE your Camilla sweaters!!! I find them very pretty, (and as you already mentioned) fairly easy and quick to knit.....in other words the perfect design...*smiling*..


Vibeke: How is the process like when you create a new knitting design?
Carrie: I spend hours looking at my stitch books--Barbara Walker's books and a few Japanese books. I ponder them. I make sketches of silhouettes I'm interested. I spend a lot of time swatching.
Sometimes the design comes together quickly. And other times it's slower to take shape and this is when I get a little obsessed. It's a puzzle I need to figure out. Like right now, I have a swatch on my desk. It's so beautiful but what does it want to be?


Vibeke: I have noticed that you sometimes make moodboards. is that something you often do when you work with a project?
Carrie: The mood boards I make are not usually specific to any particular project. I use them to help me define my style or to stay generally inspired. I love putting colors and textures together. It's very pleasing--both to assemble and to look at (until I take it down and start all over again).

 

Vibeke: Who taught you to knit and do you remember how old you were at that time?
Carrie: My mother gave me knitting lessons throughout my childhood. I can't remember the first time, but I was probably in middle school. It wasn't until after college that I kept knitting by my bedside. I worked on a stockinette stitch scarf for about a year--I'd pick it up here and there. I learned how that stitch rolls if you don't have edge stitches. Oh, the things you learn!


Vibeke: Your favourite piece that you have knitted for yourself?
Carrie: My Camilla and Annabel sweaters. Simple to knit and easy to wear.


Vibeke: What do you have on your knitting needles these days and i am also curious to know if you have anything planned next?
Carrie: Right now I'm making a cardigan, cowl, and hat for my daughter, Imogen. And, I have lots of things planned! But, I'm trying to be more realistic about what I can get down in my minimal free time—for Madder, at least. I have some fun designs planned for Quince. I'm hoping to have more Q time to design again. I'm excited about this year!


Vibeke: I just LOVE seeing other poples creative spaces/studios, can we get to see yours?
I would also like to know what kind of athmosphere you like to have around you in your studio.
Carrie: My studio is quiet. It's in my backyard, beside the garden. This is the place where I like to listen to music, look at my books, knit swatches, and relax.

Vibeke: What inspires you?
Carrie: Light, color, texture. Travel, creative people, music, love. Children.


Vibeke: You are a designer, knitter and photographer. what other things do you enjoy doing?
Carrie: I love being outside. I love being in my garden (I have a lot to learn in this department, though!). I love watching the birds in my yard. I love to cook and eat. I love to be home in the evening with a glass of wine or a cup of tea.


Vibeke: If you were going to explore a new craft what would that be?
Carrie: I'm really interested in sewing and embroidery. And, I'd love to learn how to design fabric. Also, I'm desperate to learn letterpress printing. Lots to do. Lots to learn!


Vibeke: Are there any artists that inspires you in a special way through their work?
Carrie: My friend Karen Gelardi is very inspiring to me. She's quite prolific. I'm always amazed to see her work in a variety of mediums. But no matter what the medium—textiles, painting, clothing—they always feel like "Karen".


Vibeke: What is your favourite season and why?
Carrie: My favorite season is the Fall. The colors are so appealing and alluring. I'm drawn to the idea of a harvest--collecting your hard summer's work before the long winter season of rest.

Vibeke: What means beauty to you and where do you find it?
Carrie: Beauty. I think about it everyday. It's a kind of fuel that keeps me going. And the wonderful thing is—it is everywhere: My daughter's eyelashes, my husband's hands, the feathers of birds, fallen pinecones on the ground, a garden of flowers or vegetables, morning light, evening light...

Vibeke: How do you relax?
Carrie: Being in my studio is relaxing. I also like going to the Audubon to walk around—it's so lovely there.


Vibeke: It has been a true pleasure to talk with you Carrie, so lovely and inspiring!
And just a final question, what are you most grateful for in your life right now?
Carrie: I'm most grateful for my family and friends and the time I get to share with them.


Links:
Blog,
Madder homepage
and
Pinterest.

  

A conversation together with Miranda

Vibeke: Hi Miranda! I am so happy that you said yes to doing this conversation post together with me. First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Miranda: Well, I’m Miranda van Dijk, and I live in the Netherlands with my husband and son. I’m the designer and maker of Puur Anders . I create fabric flowers and leaves with (vintage) photographs.

Vibeke: Three words that you would choose to describe yourself?

Miranda: Poetic, dreamer, impassioned.

Vibeke: You are the designer and maker of Puur Anders (means pure different in Dutch). I have been admiring your beautiful pieces for quite some time and I am curious to know the story behind the choosing of this specific name?

Miranda: The idea behind the name is that you can find beauty everywhere. Even in the normal things, they could be right on your doorstep. So common, but so extraordinary. Different. Pure different.

Vibeke: How were the idea of Puur Anders "born" and how where your path from making the idea into reality?

Miranda: Well, it started during my second year of the Styling Academy. I quit my dayjob for this school. I really thought being a stylist was what I always wanted. But what I loved most was the creating process. And doing something of my own and not working for a company. Now I think I’m more an independent artist than a stylist, but then I didn’t realized that. I felt a relief when I graduated and I remember saying to my husband: ‘Finally, I can do the things that I like.’

Between the school assignments I’d already created the story concept ‘Abandoned by Nature’ about the last woman on Earth who is abandoned by Mother Nature. For this concept I crocheted dark rubber flower jewelry. I started selling these items on markets and galleries and Puur Anders was coming to live.

Vibeke: What are for you the biggest blessing about beeing an artist and what do you feel are the most challenging about it?

Miranda: I like the creativity process. At the same time it is the most challenging. It can be a struggle when I have a clear picture in my head and it doesn’t turn out to be. During these down moments I’m starting to think I have to find a decent job. I’ve learned that I have to do something completely different to get my head clear. Fortunately, I’m still an artist. Independent and working in my own home. It is truly me.

Vibeke: Were you a creative child and what was your favourite thing to do?

Miranda: I can’t remember being very creative as a child. What I do liked was playing with the LEGO and Playmobil of my two older brothers. I created complete cities and whole stories. I was always busy changing my room, so maybe there is a bit of stylist in me, haha.

Vibeke: Can you tell us a little bit about how you work?

Miranda: Everything starts in my head after seeing an inspiring photo, magazine or something on the street. Sometimes I make a drawing of the idea in my notebook or make a note. I start collecting information, most of it are pictures to get a complete picture. And then comes the most difficult part, to start making. There are a lot of experiments lying in my drawer, unused. Or I leave them on my workspace. To look at it again and again when I’m not happy with it. I’ve realized I have to share these experiments on my blog and on facebook. Reading positive words about it, makes my heart sing and it is just what I need to finish it.

Vibeke: I LOVE the wrappings you do when one has bought something from you!! is the wrapping something you find especially important?

Miranda: Yes I do. My pieces are mostly a precious gift for someone. I want it to look like you’ve find a little treasure in your grandmother’s chest of drawers.

Vibeke: Are there any other crafts that you enjoy? Maybe there also is something new that you would have liked to learn/explore more?

Miranda: Well, I like crocheting and embroidering, but it is hard to find time for it. I would love to learn screen-printing and sewing. I got a sewing machine for my birthday last year, but it is still unused.

Vibeke: How do you relax?

Miranda: I always create time to be with my son. Playing with him makes me forget about my work. We go out for a walk with his bike or drink some coffee and tea at a nature visitor center here in the neighbourhood.

I have to deal with peaks in my work, like Mothersday and Christmas. During these months it is very busy and I have to work in the evenings. Than it is very relaxing to have a free weekend with my husband and son. Going for a forest walk of have some fun at sea.

Vibeke: What means the word creativity to you?

Miranda: Creativity is finding solutions, having an idea in your head which you can make for real and making things with your hands.

Vibeke: What inspires you?

Miranda: Everything, but most of all nature. Nature is such a wonderful artist. Every leaf is different, every flower has his own imperfections. I can’t get enough also of poetic and dreamy pictures of women in rough and romantic landscapes. I love the combination of these two. My pinterest account is full of these images.
Vibeke: I hugely enjoy your Pinterest, a collection of beauty and inspiration!

Vibeke: I LOVE your online catalogues, so beautiful! I read a quote there: "observing others is finding yourself"...really like these words. Do you have some quotes that you especially like?

Miranda: I love quotes too, but I’m not really good in remembering them. There one hanging in my living room: "Follow your dreams".

Vibeke: I know that nature is an important thing for you. can you share a little bit about what beeing in nature means to you?

Miranda: Beeing in nature is finding energy and peace. I find it very relaxing to walk down the river only 3 minutes from my home. I need it the most when my head is too full of ideas or troubles. It feels like the river takes everything with her. 

Vibeke: I know that you work with a lot of custom pieces and i would believe that there sometimes are some emotional stories behind many of them....are there a special one that you would like to share with us?

Miranda: Every item is special and sometimes you hear the story behind. Once I made a leaf of a birthcertificate. It was a motherday gift. The paper was very old and full of medical terms and it said that the little boy died direct after giving birth. This little paper was the only proof that this little boy had existed. No pictures, only a name and a date.

Vibeke: I am lucky to have some lovely penpals around the world and especially a couple of them are often sending me the most pretty dried leaves and flowers (i love nature treasures like that). The last leafs i got were some yellow ginko leaves, i love their shape. Because your pieces often consists of leaves and flowers i wonder if you have some favourites?

Miranda: I love tulips, snowdrops and daffodils. I always buy them in the grey months. They remind me that spring isn’t far away anymore. 
Vibeke: I also buy fresh flowers in the grey/dark and cold months so that i get a reminder of spring...it uplifts and refreshes me.

Vibeke: Where can one buy your work?

Miranda: You can buy my work online in my Etsy shop or in my Dutch shop. A couple of stores in The Netherlands sells my work too.

Vibeke: Are you working on any new ideas these days and if you do can you share a little bit about it with us?

Miranda: I’ve had many questions lately for framed work. Not everyone prefers a brooch or necklace, but want it to be an object in their home. I’ve always said no, because of the extensive shipping costs. But it gives so many more opportunities, like a whole branch with photographic leaves. I like the idea that you can have your own ‘family-tree’ on the wall.

I’m also working on new flowers, which you can put in a vase. And on a butterfly brooch. And…

There will be a lot of new stuff this year in a completely different concept. Just wait till spring!
Vibeke: BUTTERFLY brooch!!?? Oh, i can't wait for this one Miranda...*smiling*...

Vibeke: Winter is slowly starting to turn into early spring here in Norway now. I have learned to like winter more the last years but i am passionate about spring......i LOVE spring! What about you?

Miranda: I’m not very fond of winter actually. I love the winter days which are not so cold and with a lot of sun. Yesterday I heard the birds sing in the morning when I woke up. Finally! My favourite season is spring. Seeing the green come to live.

Vibeke: This has been such a lovely and inspiring conversation Miranda! And lastly i want to ask you about what you are most happy about in your life right now?

Miranda: Definitely, my family life. My son and husband. 


Links:
Blog,
Pinterest
and
Etsy.

Conversation with Susan

 

Vibeke: Hello Susan. I am so happy that you said yes to having this conversation together with me! I have been admiring your work for quite a while now and i am very excited to get the chance to learn more about both you and your work.

Susan: Hello, Vibeke, and thank you for inviting me to talk about my life and weaving here, on A Butterfly in My Hair.

Vibeke: A little bit about you...what you do?

Susan: I am a design weaver with a weaving workshop and retail store called Avalanche Looms. The store and workshop are on my farm in a valley town, Avalanche, Wisconsin. There are just 10 houses here on the West Fork of the Kickapoo River. Avalanche Looms seemed like a good name, and a little funny. I work by myself, but my store is open several days a week, and people come in to shop, and visit. I like this arrangement very much.

 
Vibeke: When did your interest for weaving start and how long have you been doing it now?

Susan: I can tell you how I got here. More than 30 years ago, my husband and I left our jobs north of Detroit. I was a book editor, and he owned an art gallery. But we were tired of our suburban life, and wanted to live in the country where we could live more self sufficiently, grow our own food, build our house, make our own clothes. We bought a run down, beautiful 100 acre farm in Avalanche, the farm we still live on. We didn't have a clue about what we would do for a living, but we were confident we’d think of something. We had many naïve and romantic ideas.

At first we farmed, until my husband found work he liked better as a builder.  I was at home, taking care of the large garden, the chickens, and some heifers.

I was  also writing fiction, and frustrated with what I was doing. We hadn’t made many friends, or much money, either. I began to think I was a person who would never be satisfied. I was lonely. Though I was still glad to have left our old life behind, the new one didn’t seem so promising.
Then, everything changed.  I was pregnant with my first daughter, and I taught myself to weave on an old Norwegian immigrant built barn loom. We live in an area of Wisconsin settled by Norwegian immigrants, and there are some of these old looms around, built by hand, with trees they cut on their farms 100 years ago. My neighbor had one, and asked me if I would store it for her. We had just built a new workshop for my husband, and I had said I wanted a studio upstairs. I set the loom up there, and learned to weave. Learning to weave is not rocket science, as people have told me, but it was still a  big accomplishment for me.  Having a baby and becoming a mother wasn't rocket science, either, but it was the most important and hardest work I've ever done. 

Vibeke: When you first started with this craft what did you make and how did it develop?
Susan: I started out weaving with rags. I always loved old rag rugs, their soft worn textures, and colors. Rag weaving offered so many possibilities for color, texture and design. And rags are not precious materials. They were available in every thrift shop, or rummage sale.

In the end, I had two floor looms in that studio, my sewing machine, a book press, along with book shelves, toy shelves, a hammock a double bed, a dollhouse, and a little Jotul wood burning stove, with a Japanese teapot on top. When they were young, our three (!) kids, and the dog, and the cat, stayed with me while I wove. It was a cheerful, bright place, and I was so happy to have that place to work. It was a very important change for me, to have a separate studio. I spent at least four hours a day weaving, and I got better at it. I didn’t do so much housework, or laundry, or clean the bathroom too often, because it was out of sight in the house. We all survived. Oh, and I never wove our clothes. Good, because with the little time I had to work on it, we would have been mostly naked.

Vibeke: And how do you work now many years after you first started this craft?
Susan: These days, I like to work on  three looms at a time. I like to start my weaving day on my old barn loom, weaving linen and paper flower weaves.  I call them, transparencies, like the Finnish make. I also call them House Blessings. I don’t change this design, and though it involves many steps, I don't have to think about them, at all. I like to hear the rustle of the white paper yarn flowers, the sound of the brush swishing in the cup of water, that I use to open the yarn into petals, the click of the shuttle,  the swing and thunk of the heavy beater on the old barn loom. It  is very calm, and ordinary. Outside the window, birds fly in to the feeder, and the sun comes in the east window. No matter what time of year it is, I am in my white paper flower garden, with the taut spaced linen warp,  and the simplicity of plain weave. 
 On another loom I may have scarves. I have been weaving a series of inlaid "Cross" scarves lately. The bast fibers, mainly Swedish linen, cotton and hemp are my favorite yarns. I start each scarf with a section of design that I repeat in every scarf, changing some colors. I use some of my favorite designs from the previous scarf in the next one, and I improvise with color and pattern for the rest of the scarf, and so the design transforms.

 On another loom I usually have a rag weave. Instead of weaving rag rugs, though, I've been weaving long bolts of fabric made from rag strips and yarns, with inlays. These are very improvisational weaves. Some of the inlays are rosepath patterns that fill squares and crosses.  With these bolts of fabric I sew cushions, or curtains for my "bachelor cupboards", made from old honey-bee boxes. The inlay squares and cross designs hold many different meanings for me. Sometimes the squares are bee boxes filled with the activity of the hive, or sometimes windows into an imaginative landscape, revealing the pattern that is hidden in the threading of the loom. Once, a square was a television screen with bad reception.  

The cross I weave is a design that has a long history in ancient weavings and not one that I associate with the Christian symbol. Native Americans used it to represent the 4 cardinal directions, which is more what it means to me.  Mainly, it is an easy block form to weave, and I like to fill it with a diagonal goose eye design. 

Vibeke: Have there been a specific artist that has inspired you and why?
Susan: Pia Wallen, the Swedish modernist who designed the iconic Crux blanket, has been my weaving hero. She said she worked with felt because it was one of the fundamental elements in a sub-polar climate, along with grain, potatoes, salt, herring, wood, furs and iron ore. She called the Nordic countries the Felt Belt. She has also said she is not inspired by nature, but by things made by other people. Folkloristic textiles filled her with passion, and she refined elements from that in her work.  She also felt it was her mission to carry on cultural heritage, develop it, bring it up to date, and to contribute to elevating the status of textile art, shamefully low, she thought, because textiles have always been women’s work.

I felt the same way about making things on the loom, traditional, simple, rustic, and modern. I like to make textiles that meet at the threshold of art and function. That is what I hoped to do, anyway. I am also inspired by things made by other people, old rag rugs and contemporary artists. And I agree with Wallen, that the status of textile art is shamefully low, because it is mainly women’s work. All of my grandparents were immigrants. My grandfather came from Northern Sweden, at the Arctic Circle, and I do think of myself as a Northern weaver.

Much of what I weave comes from a curiosity about the story of their coming to America in the late 1800's and early 1900's. What it must have meant to leave their families in uncertain lives, and not ever to return. Post cards and letters weren't frequent. So many things were never said, or written. How difficult it was for them to live here, once they had made the decision. I have a paper weave called “All My Eggs in One Basket” which is inspired by my grandmother, who had to leave her family behind in Finland, in a terrible civil war, to come here, alone, when she was just 19 years old. How brave, she was. She has not been the only one to come to America to escape a war.

  

 Vibeke: In one of your blog posts you have written these words, i find them very beautiful:

"A rug is a path. It is a record of many choices (color, texture, mood, balance) made by the weaver as she follows her hunches of which is the best way to go, what next, and next, and next. Off of the loom, and on the floor, the rug is an actual path. Wide enough for a person to walk its length, for a moment or two, along the path the weaver made. Choosing to weave rags is also a path."

I have always had a special thing for rags! It is so much history in them. My mom have some of the old rags that my grandmother weaved herself (some of them she made together with her own mother) and both my mom and i look at them as treasures. Do you have a special feeling about rags too and also about the process of making them?

Susan: I’m interested in the paths we all take, the choices we make, and our stories.

A rug is a path. It is a physical record of many choices (color, texture, mood, balance) made by the weaver as she follows her hunches of which is the best way to go, what next, and next, and next. Off the loom, and on the floor, the rug is an actual path. Wide enough for a person to walk its length, for a moment or two, along the path the weaver made. Choosing to weave rags is also a path. I’ve learned to pay attention and trust my eye as I weave.

Vibeke: Other artists that have been an inspiration to you in your weaving life?

Susan: I’ve been inspired by many artists in my weaving life, Chiaki Maki, Reiko Sudo, Anu Tuominen, Jokkum Nordstrom, are some of the artists whose work ignites my imagination. Imagination is the best part of being human, and I believe everyone has an imagination. Our imaginations are meant to meet and make sparks. All of our minds together will bring new ideas into the mix, new combinations. I’m so grateful to meet and know the artists I have found through the internet and blogging. To be able to connect with other artists around the world, as you arranged so well in your Advent project, is simply wondrous.

 
Vibeke: Dear Susan this has been such a wonderful conversation, SO interesting and inspiring! I want to thank you for taking the time and also for all that you have shared here with us. I have always had a love and interest for weaving but now i feel even more inspired and drawn to this craft than ever before. AND i also have to say that i find your work deeply beautiful, soulful and unique....just as i find you as a person too!

Susan: Thanks for the chance to talk about weaving here. I hope that someone reading this may feel more confident to start weaving, if they have considered it. It’s not rocket science. Weaving allows so much to happen. In weave you can build textures, create contrast, blend colors like painting. Color, light and shadow are shifting and dynamic. Appearances constantly change, day, night, sunshine, shadow, liquid, transparent, opaque. Trying to capture this mysterious changing realm, and make it into richness in the surface of a weave is endlessly fascinating. I believe a weave, even a plain rag rug, can be like a poem or a painting, making something meaningful, and possibly beautiful, with what you have.

Links:
blog,
etsy
and
flickr.

Conversation with Phoebe

Vibeke: First Phoebe could you share a little bit about yourself?

Phoebe: I was about to dive right in and then my fingers hovered over the keys for a while after thinking about this question. It’s tough to know where to begin and end. I grew up in a small town- Wyoming, Pennsylvania. I had an amazing childhood. My parents liked to travel and do interesting things so looking back I feel really fortunate for the values they instilled in me. They shaped who I am today. I moved to New York City (my dream) when I was 21 and spent 17 years studying and working in the textile design industry. I never thought I’d leave NY. I love that city, but a subtle change happened within me a few years ago that made me examine what I wanted in life. I left my job, and started designing my own textiles. Before long I decided to leave New York as well. It was absolutely life changing and scary in the absolute best of ways. So, here I am, back in Pennsylvania. I’m reconnecting to my roots and appreciating things that I took for granted when my younger self lived here.




Vibeke: "Untold Imprint", what were your thoughts behind the chosing of these words for your art label?
Phoebe: My sister Zoe was actually the one who accidentally came up with the name in the end. I had settled on Unfold after months, and I mean months, of deliberation. I called her to run it by her and get the stamp of approval. I was still hesitant, something about it just didn’t feel right. My family, being my greatest focus group, always weighs in and I trust them. When I told her the name, she misheard me and said, “Untold. I like it.” As soon as the word left her mouth I knew that was the name. It conveyed the feeling I was searching for in such a simple way. My work is very inconstant. It changes as I change and most of the time I don’t really know how a print will look until I lift the screen. It’s like the untold part of a story that one is waiting to hear. The best part. I added Imprint to distinguish it a bit more and also because I love the word. It seemed like the two belonged together.

Vibeke: What have you learned about yourself through the process of starting up your own business?
Phoebe: Starting my business just happened to coincide with a personal shift. I was delving into who I was being and who I wanted to be in the world. The two never seemed to meet and it wasn’t until I realized that, that things started falling into place and making sense for the first time. I didn’t realize how important it was to be truly ‘me’ in both my work and personal life and then the realization that the two should blend seamlessly was a revelation. I thought for a long time that I could be good at my work and make money and not need to love what I was creating. I hid that part of my life from my personal interactions and then dimmed down my true self in my professional interactions. It was such an unnatural and insincere way to live. It was almost like I was two different people. It’s difficult to put into words how much I’ve learned about myself in the past two years. I’ve learned to feel worthy of good things. I’ve learned that not everyone needs to like me or to like what I’m doing but that I need to love me and love what I put into the world. If I can do that, I feel like a whole person.

 

Vibeke: I am passionate about the topic of beauty and my favourite quote is also about this topic: “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul.”.John Muir.
i would love to know what beauty is for you and what it means to you?
Phoebe: Of course I find beauty in majestic things like the Taj Mahal, but I find the most beauty in simple everyday things. Beauty is everywhere. I’m most affected by the quiet moments. The little things that go unnoticed a lot of times as we rush through our days. When I stop and slow down, that’s when I find beauty almost everywhere. I started kayaking last year and my favorite time is just before sunset. This summer I was sitting in a cluster of lily pads in my kayak watching the birds and I noticed a Bittern (a medium sized Heron) a few yards away from me. He was so beautiful, bright chartreuse legs with a brown and white striped throat. He stretched his long neck out to catch a dragonfly in his beak and my eyes filled with tears because I couldn’t believe I was there for that moment. The sun on the water and the blue sky above me. It was simple and real. I’m fascinated and in love with nature. I think living in the city for so long has definitely given way to this. It’s a privilege to be amongst all these gorgeous creatures.

Vibeke: I know that your greatest joy in life is to travel. Can you share some special moments from your trips with us and i am of course also curious to know if there is a place you have been to that has a special place in your heart now?
Phoebe: I did a lot of traveling with my family growing up. I cherish those memories. Our first big trip that I was old enough to remember was to Italy. I was 12 years old and didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to leave my friends. We were going for seven months and that seemed like a lifetime to me. My parents took sabbaticals from teaching and we were home schooled. I cried when we left but then cried even more when we had to come home. I grew to love it so much. That trip started it all. My passion for travel began and it will never end. I did a lot of solo traveling for my jobs over the years which gave me plenty of opportunities for those quiet moments of beauty I spoke of. There’s something about traveling to another country by myself that gives me a sense of confidence and independence like nothing else. Of course there were times that I wished someone was with me. You want to turn to someone who knows you and say, “Can you believe that we’re standing here?!” My most favorite place is India. It’s been several years since my last trip and my heart really aches for it. India is the most inspiring, beautiful, heartbreaking, joyful, love-filled, chaotic, peaceful place I’ve ever been. That’s a trip I’d like to take with my family some day. My Mom and one of my sisters have been and love it just as I do. I can’t wait to get my niece and older sister there. A girls’ sojourn to India would be incredible.



Vibeke: How does it make you feel when you see a person wearing a piece that you have made?
Phoebe: It’s thrilling to see someone connect with my work. I cherish emails from customers who tell me how happy they are when they wear one of my necklaces or that my towel hanging in their kitchen brightens their day. People send photos of themselves and I’m really proud and grateful when I see them. Because my designs and materials are so personal and I myself love them, I feel a link when someone gets my work. It means that they get me too.




Vibeke: What other things do enjoy spending your time on?
Phoebe: My most serious endeavor right now besides Untold Imprint is sign language. I started taking classes last year after studying on my own for a few months. I love it, it’s such a beautiful language and I hope to work with the Deaf community in some capacity when I’m more fluent.
I have a difficult time staying focused on one hobby or project at a time so I usually have a few going at once. I can’t even sit down to watch a movie without doing something while I’m watching. Knitting is one of my recent pastimes. It’s so relaxing. I particularly like knitting with hand spun and hand dyed yarns because of the imperfect quality to the material and the finished product. Imagine that!

Vibeke: Do you have a quote that means something special to you?
Phoebe: I had a binder in high school full of my favorite quotes. Now I have a word document on my laptop but I do still have that binder somewhere. I look at my collected quotes once in a while and take from them what I need in the moment. One that came to mind today is a quote from artist and author Janeen Koconis. I found it on a really cool card a few years ago, which I purchased for a friend. The quote speaks to the feeling that welled up in me when you asked me to share a bit about myself. We’re all so many things that it would take a lifetime to really know someone, if ever. She talks about all that we’re capable of and our “many parts”. The ending is very special to me.
“We are here. We are everything that is real…and everything we could ever imagine.” –Janeen Koconis

 

Vibeke: Lastly what are you most grateful for in your life right now?
Phoebe: The love of my family and friends. It really is the most important thing. I mourned the losses of three very strong and wonderful women this past year. When someone you love is no longer here, it puts things into perspective and makes it easy to see just how insignificant things are when compared to loving each other. You just want one more moment to love them enough.
I watched a film this week, very fittingly called Love. The story focuses on an astronaut who finds himself stranded alone in orbit around Earth for what I’m guessing is at least a decade. It explores the importance of our memories, human connections and of course, love. In addition to it resonating with what I’m grateful for in my life right now, I was completely inspired by the spirit and determination of the writer/director. I read that he and his then teenage brothers built the entire set for the film in their backyard using mostly salvaged materials. Took him four and a half years to finish the movie. I thought that was incredible. A true labor of love and a beautiful message.


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