Wrapture by Inese

http://www.inesedesign.com/Home.html

I travel through different genres of art and design, depending on circumstances... I can easily adapt. People who know me and have seen my work recognize me through my colors and sense of whimsy. My textile design experience grew from working in fashion design. Glassblowing started as ceramics ended. A move to Europe drew me into interior design, but the economy gave me the opportunity to go back to knitwear, this time with all my years of textile design experience to back it up. I welcome new opportunities that give me a chance to use all the knowledge I have collected over the years. I love giving joy whether it is a new life to an old home or the perfect knit wrap that gives your eyes a sparkle and makes you look and feel beautiful.

I designed knitwear as a way of making a living after graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Prodded on by a friend I bought a knitting machine and developed a mohair mobius strip shawl long enough to fit comfortably wrapped twice around the neck. At a craft fair a woman pulled one of the loops of the double wrap up over her head and asked ""is this how you wear it?"" My reaction was, how did you do that, show me, yes of course that's it, that's exactly it! I sold thousands of those wraps.

I moved to San Francisco, worked for others, then five years ago I moved to Riga, Latvia, my parents' homeland, and vowed to never have a full time job again. Freelance CAD textile design work was a joy until the economy crashed. I remembered my mobius wraps of 25 years back, reinvented them, adding width to make a stole, and colorful stripes to make them unrepeatable. 

Artist's statement:  I play with colors, these are my sketches. Each wrap is as unique as the individual who wears it. Distinct and unrepeatable.  If you visit Riga, I often participate in craft fairs in Old Town. My Facebook fan page has the latest updates.

Every day when I go to my knitting machine I have no idea what will happen, what colors will appear, what moods will be revealed. I just go with the flow...

Enjoy!

Location:  Riga, Latvia, Europe

Online shop:  WrapturebyInese

Languages spoken:  English, Latvian and enough German to find the train station and to sell a wrap

 Multi-functional Knitted Wraps by Inese

Tags:  knitwear, textiles, CAD, fashion design, color, textures, wraps, accessories, interiors, home textiles, one of a kind, ooak, hand loomed

dbk design arts

 www.dbkdesignarts.com

i create unique, one of a kind scarves, metal mesh jewelry and accessories. i use a wide variety of materials including ribbons, kimono fragments, recycled textiles, as well as vintage mid-century fabrics.  my customer is someone who seeks out unusual and individual pieces. i have had success with trunk shows and private sales, and would like to enter the retail market.

Artist's Statement:  I have a lifelong love for color, form and texture.  My mother, who studied fashion design, taught me to sew at age 4 and I have loved textiles ever since.  My projects have included embroidery, knitting, sewing and other traditional needle art forms. I have taken these forms and used them in nontraditional ways to change the viewers’ perception of, and reaction to them.  Having earned a BFA in painting, I have worked with oil and acrylic paints, metals, fabric and yarn.  In my fiber works, I now “paint” with yarn, ribbons, and other materials. My experience of creativity is a journey with constantly changing inspirations and forms of expression. I am always looking to learn new methods and materials.

My goal is to create objects of beauty that delight and enhance, and to evoke associations with memories and events in the wearer’s lives. Ultimately, I want to make my art a part of their lives that gives joy and beauty. 

-Debrah Block Krol

Location:  Millburn, New Jersey, United States

Memberships: famm, asid, potomac fiber craftsmen

Languages spoken: English

Knitted Copper Cuff by dbk design arts

Tags:  scarves. mesh,knitted wire, silk, ribbon,woven, embroidery, pillows shawl

Kantara Crafts

www.kantaracrafts.com

Kantara Crafts is a fair trade business specializing in Moroccan rugs and textiles imported directly from women's weaving cooperatives. I began the business in 2008 after working in Morocco for a year and a half on a project that fought against child labor. While living in Morocco, I met several artisans and immediately fell in love with the carpets, which is the only craft performed solely by women. At the same time, I was shocked at how the artisan's lack of mobility and access to the business world kept them subjugated to urban middlemen's pricing whims. I noticed that at the prices offered by these intermediaries the women barely had enough money to pay for their materials, let alone for their time and creativity. At that point, I decided to start Kantara Crafts as a means to directly support the artisans while reinvesting  a portion of the proceeds into education and business development initiatives within these very cooperatives. And the rest is history.

While there is no Kantara storefront, I do private consultations, trunk shows, presentations, and rug parties for those interested in seeing the rugs in person.

-Alia Kate

Mission:  Kantara Crafts is the premiere source for fair trade, handwoven Moroccan carpets in the United States. Kantara Crafts hand selects each carpet from women's weaving cooperatives in Morocco. As a result of its relationship with the artisans, Kantara ensure that its products are of the highest quality and with the most captivating designs.

Meaning “bridge” in Arabic, Kantara seeks to establish local and long-lasting relationships by bridging the gap between women artisans in Morocco and socially-conscious communities in the United States.

Location: New York City, New York, USA

Online store: Kantara Crafts

Blog: Kantara Crafts

Memberships:

   Fair Trade Federation, 

   Moroccan Rug Society,
   Weave a Real Peace,
   New York Guild of Handweavers,
   Textile Art Alliance
Social Media: Facebook Group  (Moroccan Rug Society),
   Youtube, Picasa 
Languages spoken: English, Spanish, French, Arabic

 Moroccan Weaver, Kantara Crafts

Kantara Crafts: Moroccan Rugs on Facebook

Tags: morocco, rugs, fair trade, high end carpets, handwoven, kilims, social responsibility

Vintage Renewal

 

www.vintagerenewal.etsy.com

Jeanne Connolly is the Indie Furniture Re-designer for Vintage Renewal. Vintagerenewal.com is an online green furniture boutique specializing in blending both classic and modern pieces to create one-of-a-kind usable art for your home or studio office.

The furniture and art objects created for Vintage Renewal are inspired by past decades, fashion styles, different cultures, antique furniture, and vintage craft books. The frames covered are found or existing objects that are given a new lease on life. The redesigns are commonly covered in vintage fabrics and upcycled fabrics. We are a green boutique and practice green furniture redesign. We sell fully redesigned vintage furniture online, in boutiques and in galleries and do not accept commission orders.

Mission:  Be Green, Buy Vintage, Buy Handmade.  Saving the earth, one chair at a time.

Location:   Denver, Colorado, United States

Online stores:  Vintage Renewal, Vintage Renewal on Etsy,

     Go Green with Jeanne, Go Green with Jeanne on Etsy 

Brick and Mortar: By appointment only, email first.

Memberships: Team Eco Etsy, Denver Handmade Alliance, Design Style Guide
Languages spoken:  English

Indie furniture re-design by Vintage Renewal

Vintage Renewal on Facebook

Tags:  Vintage Furniture, Vintage Fabric, Vintage Furniture Redesigner, Indie Redesigner, Jeanne Connolly, Vintage Renewal, Texture, Vibrant Color, Retro, Green, Upcycled, Recycled, Revamped, Redesigned

Bazaar Bayar

www.bazaarbayar.etsy.com

A chance encounter in a small Aegean town while traveling in Turkey refocused my direction in life, when I met my vintage textile expert husband Abit. I was a clothing and interior designer in my native California, with stints in design centers around the world. Experiencing new cultures, seeing how others live and create is the best possible design inspiration. Seeking amazing textiles and the cultures which produce them is a joy my curious nature will never give up.

In 1999, Abit and I, each avid Turkish, Kurdish and Central Asian textile collectors before we met, started Bazaar Bayar in Selcuk, the town next to the ancient ruins of Ephesus. We surrounded ourselves with woven treasures from these cultures in a small shop in the exact location where we met. I have degrees in design, but Abit grew up watching the women in his native region of Mardin in Turkey’s southeast weave kilims and other functional yet beautiful items for their homes. Learning to weave was once a prerequisite before woman could marry. My mother-in-law’s generation was the last to weave for themselves.

We spent a decade in our Bazaar Bayar shop, collecting and selling vintage kilims and carpets, embroidered suzanis, and vintage Ottoman and Central Asian jewelry. We also sold the hand-knits I created, inspired by the local women who knit and crochet in profusion. From intricately patterned colorful socks to the exquisite flower and fruit ornaments called “oya” that adorn headscarves, I am entranced by the crafts average Turkish women still make.

So in the summer of 2010, we moved to Istanbul’s Old City, to launch a workshop to support local unsung artisans: women who still weave, knit, and crochet in the traditions of timeless Turkish handcraft. Istanbul is a magical, challenging city with a diverse population of women. Some of these are educated women, reviving crafts as a hobby or a career. There are other women with fewer opportunities who’d like to earn money within a safe community of women. Our workshop will also give traveling women a chance to meet Turkish women through classes we’ll offer and craft tours we’ll host. Hands engaged to learn new skills and teach traditional ones, spinning yarns, clacking needles and drinking tea together, we’ll share the common language of craft with stories from our lives and about our cultures.

Catherine Salter Bayar creates knitwear, seeks textile treasures, and writes from her new home in an ancient city. Visit her blogs:  Tales from Turkey and expat+HAREM, the global niche, where she is a serial guest blogger.

Location: Istanbul, Turkey  
Online Shop: Etsy
Blog:  Tales from Turkey
Languages spoken:  English, Spanish, Turkish...next: Kurdish

Bazaar Bayar: Cutural textiles from Turkey and 

Hand Knits by Designer Catherine Salter Bayar

 

Bazaar Bayar on Facebook

Tags: Handwoven, handknit, Turkey, ethnic (hate that word though), kilim, suzani, nomad, Uzbek, Kurdish, Ephesus, Selcuk