Sydney-based sisters’ Maricor and Maricar Manalo‘ describe themselves as “˜Makers of Things assorted’. They’re designers, illustrators and animators by trade, but in recent years have gathered somewhat of a cult following due to their incredible embroidery skills. ‘ Their hand-stitched typographic works are playful and geometric as well as bursting with color, and have earned MaricorMaricar commercial and…
Category Archives: PIONEERS
The first of our embroiderers is Emily Jo Gibbs,’ a British artist specializing in hand-stitched textiles. A member of the 62 Group, she became internationally known for her exquisite luxury handbags, but has recently found more artistic acclaim for her embroidered portraits. Her unique ability to bring objects and drawings to life with embroidery means…
Similar to our exploration of the Bohemian Modern trend, we’ve noticed a revival of artisan craftsmanship across the western world. Young people are stepping away from technology and learning a more traditional craft – be it woodwork, beer brewing or knitting – and turning that craft into a business. The last few decades have seen…
Our next inspirational business mother is Sharmadean Reid, founder of WAH Nails, who is pretty much entirely responsible for the boom of the brightly colored nail art trend we’ve seen over the last few years. She’s got two salons, two books, countless pop-up stores across the world, beauty products and an MBE under her belt…
You may have heard of our next inspirational mother thanks to Google and it’s feature in one of their adverts. It’s a pretty special story so it’s no wonder the internet giant thought it was worthy of sharing. Julie Deane was a stay-at-home mother of two in Cambridge, UK. Julie had just found out that…
It would have been very easy for Natalia Vodianova take her millions and status as one of the world’s greatest supermodels and rest on it, living happily ever after with her partner and gorgeous children. But she didn’t – after only 5 years in the industry she realized that fashion was not her everything and…
You may remember our next inspirational mother from her “˜controversial’ modeling days where she, Sophie Dahl, graced billboards and magazine covers with her size 14 figure. Granddaughter of the famous children’s author Roald Dahl, she flew the flag for curvy girls everywhere, celebrating her shape and changing the face of fashion. That was in 2000,…
Maryam Nassir Zadeh is best known for beautifully curated, downtown NY store‘ as well as her own fashion designs, but at home she’s known as ‘mom’ to two beautiful girls Anais and Luna. We’re huge fans of her impeccably styled retail space as well as her own pieces, but most of all the fact that she’s…
When people ask me about craftivism,* I love to talk to them about what’s happening now and who’s doing what here in the present. However, I also try and remember to make the point that craftivism is nothing new, as like with The AIDS Memorial Quilt, which I mentioned last week, many amazing craftivism projects…
After donation and beautification, notification is the third tenet of Craftivism.* Compared to the other two tenets, notification tends to garner the most discussion. Unsurprisingly, it is also the one most likely to hit people with the biggest punch, as it features a juxtaposition between the “soft” world of craft and the “hard” world of…
This post is the 3rd in a series about craftivism. If you missed the previous posts, you might want to check out the Introduction and Part I. The second tenet of craftivism is beautification, or making your surroundings more beautiful by using your craft skills. As yarn bombing is what people think of first when…
A finger puppet from Craft Hope’s project with Country Woman magazine Last week on the blog, I wrote an introduction to craftivism, an international creative movement that I started in 2003. As I noted last week, within craftivism, I created three different tenets to help illustrate whether something falls under that umbrella:’ 1) donation (creating items…
In late 2000, I lived in New York City and learned how to knit. I just wanted to learn a hobby with which I could connect to others, I didn’t want to create a movement. But that didn’t mean I didn’t need to change my life. It wouldn’t be until later that I fully realized…
For us, the people behind the clothing’ and stores we love are just as, if not more important than the things they create. It’s the people that inspire us and add to our overall experience of a brand. One of such people is Jesse Kamm, an example of a modern woman who is intuitive about using’ modern…
Beautiful Dreamers sits on an unassuming street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Inside, rustic wooden tables are piled high with unique objects and jewelry and tree branches-turned clothing racks hang garments from local independent designers. Plants and foliage are nestled between the handcrafted furniture and native American wall hangings adorn the shop’s walls. Behind this dreamy store…
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06 May 2025 @ 7:09 am by Nancy Gruber
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