Old World meets New…and Falls in Love
A love of nature inspires all that I do. I like to focus on the reverence of place and our connection to it, how we are literally made of the places in which we live. I think that people yearn for that connection, so I try to conjure the enchantment of the natural world and our relationship with it. Each design is an invocation of that connection and a visual prayer for the sweetness of the world made manifest.
I cherish design and pattern, texture and color, and the juxtaposition between old and new, between wild and cultivated, between the natural texture of wood grain and the very refined lines of digital illustration and papercutting. I feel like there's a powerful magic that can happen at the juncture between worlds and that's where I focus my design. I really love folk art but I’m also drawn to modern simplicity. So I have endeavored to combine these loves to create images that embody the spirit of modern design but have a folk heart.
All of my artwork starts from hand-drawn sketches. Then I either spend hours cutting the design into paper or drawing it by finger on my laptop. The cut paper designs are then glued onto mat board and scanned in and printed. After the work is printed, I fold each card, and I package each item by hand putting finishing touches on it.
Though I have decided to do small-scale manufacturing of my art instead of making each individual product by hand, I love the uniqueness that can come through a well-chosen paper or wood. Wood feels good in the hand and it catches the eye with subtle textures, warm colors, and patterns of light. I love how the natural fibers of each different wood or textured paper gives my designs a different character; how the complexity of the grain brings the art to life and gives each product an individual personality. That uniqueness mitigates the repetition necessary to keep my beautiful things affordable and it makes them worth cherishing as well.
