Brunch with Ashley G.

Janaina had brunch with Ashley G. a while ago. We are both in love with her work. Whimsical art, that lets your imagination flow, letting you come up with your own story. "Come on in" would have to be my favorite illustration of hers. What's yours? Ready to come up with you own story? Let your imagination flow... 1. Tell us a little about yourself My name is Ashley Goldberg. I'm 25 years old. I live in St. Louis, Missouri with my boyfriend and creative partner in crime, Drew, our cat, Isadora, and a ton of shipping and art supplies. When I'm not at my apartment drawing or making things I can usually be found getting coffee, dragging Drew to thrift stores, or telling myself I am going to clean my apartment (right after this one last episode of the Wire or whatever show we're currently watching on DVD). 2. What is your craft? Mostly I draw, paint, and with the assistance of Drew, create prints from my illustrations that we digitally color. That part is my job (which I love) but if I had more free time there would be more sewing, perhaps more knitting, but definitely more experimenting and learning new crafts. 3. What inspires you? I am hugely inspired by nature, the weather, and the time of year. For me, nothing is more inspiring than an overcast fall day when the leaves are changing and people are just beginning to bundle up. To me, that time of year just feels creative. I am not inspired by a hot, bright summer day. And even if nature isn't always present in my work, it inspires me to get more done. When I can have all the windows open and there is a breeze, or I can draw while I'm outside, I get about 10 times more productive. And of course magazines, vintage children's books, my own childhood memories and fantasies of animals and creatures and talking houses. Childhood camping trips and playing outside. And I love vintage photographs. I like to research images from different times in history. Lately it's been the 1930's and the dust bowl (you can thank Carnivàle). 4. Do you have any advice to give to other indie designers? I wish I had more advice to give, but what I can say: no matter what you do, make the effort to just put it out there. If I waited to feel like everything I was putting out there was perfect or exactly what I was trying to say, I would be frozen and not do anything ever. Be proactive. 5. What is your favorite thing that you have created recently? Oh, that's such a hard question to answer. I have trouble liking anything I do but I have a few limited edition prints that I've done for an upcoming show and I feel pretty good about those. 6. What is the first thing you can remember making by hand? Drawing, drawing, and more drawing and then carving creatures and animals out of bars of soap. Sounds strange but it was really fun even if they never really worked out. 7. Where do you sell and when did you decide to start selling you work? I sell my work on Etsy (ashleyg.etsy.com), Velocity Art and Design (www.velocityartanddesign.com), Artstream Gallery (www.artstreamstudios.com), Shana Logic (www.shanalogic.com), and other brick and mortar shops. 8. Apart from creating things, what else do you enjoy? Ummm… thrifting, reading magazines, and poking around the internet at design, art and craft blogs. Hanging out with my best friend. I would love to travel now that I am self employed but really working and creating things takes up most of my time. 9. What three words would describe you the best? A bit neurotic :) 10. What/Who is your latest indie crush/designer? I am really love everything Christopher Silas Neal does. Guh… his work is amazing. 11. Anything else you would like to say? Thanks so much for this opportunity! You have a great website!

Brunch with...

will be on Monday (Midnight Sunday for those who have got isomia). Sorry about this guys! Stay tuned, you're in for a treat. :)

indie music

With only a few bands I like, lately I have found myself being rather bored with mainstream music. With frustration at its fullest, the other day I found another world... INDIE music! No, that does not mean teenager boys with dodgy hair and aftershave playing in their parent's garage because they just found out they can get girls that way. We're on a search for awesome bands just for you. Got one? Share! First I found Shrug who is in Columbus Oh, who have got a voice like cameral, then I found Little Red, who is an aussie group. I listened to "Waiting" 42 times today, with the last one I found myself in a daze from their coolness and starting singing "sweaty armpits I lose my calm" instead of "sweaty palms I lose my calm" - niccee. Let me know what you think of them!

brunch with mirjam

Today I had brunch with Mirjam and her gorgeous kids! She designs her own patterns and of course, creates all of her pieces. A while back I made a collection called flower girl with one of her dresses in it - I just can't get enough of them! Whether you're from the 70s or just 70s at heart, this shop is perfect for you! And we love that they are actually made out of vintage materials. 1. Tell us a little about yourself I graduated ten years ago from Fashion School as a designer in Amsterdam. I've had my own small woman’s wear label for a few years and worked freelance in fashion. I've always been interested in 3-dimensional, sculptural ways to construct clothing and experimented a lot with patterns and working with fabric right on the mannequin. My work used to be conceptual, minimalist, often asymmetrical and with details like folds and pleats, but was always quite wearable. Now I do something totally different. I'm having fun making kids clothes out of my treasured collection of vintage fabrics, making pleasantly clashing combinations of patterns and using funny appliqués. It was relieving to notice that when I could get rid of my mind when I was making things I became immensely productive and had so much more fun! It was like my brain had been in the way all the time. 2. What is your craft? Both sewing and pattern making. Now that the design and fabrics are doing most of the work, I keep the shapes and silhouettes simple. And to think I hated sewing when I just graduated! I now can see all the endless seam ripping and trying again and again did lead to something. I enjoy it immensely to be able to make all the things that appear in my head. 3. What inspires you? Right now it's the amazing fabrics I can get my hands on. I love making combinations, standing before my huge four-door closet, pulling out different pieces, and just let the ideas evolve. When I have a golden combo I make several different items in it, also because it can be hard to say goodbye to my work when it sells. And to feed my head and have fun I try to find solutions for the restrictions in shape, size or condition that my fabrics usually have. Like I did with the seventies ovenmit in the 'warm hands pants'. 4. Do you have any advice to give to other indie designers? Ha! Well I'd say, make sure you use materials that you have unlimited access to, in case you'd like to have your work produced in series. (my problem right now :() And, although these two things don't always go together well, I think and notice recycling is very hot. As it is becoming fashionable to 'buy and think green', I have a feeling it won't be long before there will be a big demand for items that help buyers express that they think and buy green! This is an area where we can still beat the bigger companies, because in our products it will be directly visible and not only on the label. Another tip: For designers that feel they get a bit stuck in their routine, as we all do sometimes: Switch off your brain when you're making things from time to time and let coincidence or unforeseen circumstances be your set of boundaries to work with, just to have fun and see what you'll come up with. It will be like entering in your own contest, where you will win if you can surprise yourself! 5. What's your recent favorite item you've made? My Swiss tea towel Cow dress. I found a super cute vintage swiss souvenir tea towel with Shepard’s bringing their cows up the hill along a winding road. It was nice and rare enough to frame. I combined it with two other fabrics and made a dress out of it. I wanted to keep it for my girl, but she preferred a variation I made of it, so I will list it in my shop soon... 6. What is the first thing you can remember making by hand? I was six and I was sewing a flat fabric structure from different scraps, symmetrical, like a tiny patterned rug or quilt. I remember my mom asking me why I didn’t make anything real. I guess she meant something 3 dimensional. When she had a good look she saw what I was doing and praised me for my creativity, which made me glow with pride. 7. Where do you sell and when did you decide to start selling your work? I have my simple but sufficient website where I sell my stuff here in Holland and I sell on Etsy, which I love! My customers are so sweet and enthusiastic it always gives me energy and inspiration to make new things. 8. Apart from creating things, what else do you enjoy? Photography, relaxing with friends, vintage fabric hunting, going to Amsterdam, which I miss so much! And going on outings and picnics in the weekends with our kids in the 'bakfiets', a 'boxbike'. 9. What three words would describe you the best? Creative, feminine, impulsive. 10. What/Who is your latest indie crush/designer? Roshekie's dolls I found on Flickr, and Etsy shop too.

golden stars in the midnight collection

I've always loved mixing gold and silver together, it's such a nice contrast, but a lot of people are scared to do it, I've noticed. This outfit is a softer approach. I've started with a lovely dress from the wonderful Seed Clothing; it has got a gorgeous grey metallic finish. Accessorize with a sparkly gold vintage clutch that has a gold chain so you can swing it around (weee!), gold/brass captures the pretty pinks in the lovely hairpiece, and of course, an oxidized silver anklet with gold balls gracefully jingling on it. NOTE: anklet is actually a bracelet, but if you be a little creative, it can be used as an anklet (yay! two things in one!). So... dress ::: Seed Clothing clutch ::: Vintage Closet hairpiece ::: Be Gurple anklet/bracelet ::: Jenna Appleton