Saturday, December 22, 2007

Hello, we missed the interview last week, but I think it's been worth waiting for. This week we get to know Kristal of rikrak, who is super sweet and makes the loveliest things which you can buy in her shop. Kristal doesn't have a blog unfortunately, so please do leave her some sweet comments! :-)

Briefly describe yourself and what you make
Yay! I'm so excited to be part of your wonderful blog, wardi! Superthanks! I'm honoured....okee dokee..... I'm kristal of rikrak. These days I'm at home mommying my little sweetie and spend spare moments making lots & lots of fabricy goodies. I especially love: spending my days playing with my young family, beautiful bright colours, blue skies, positivism, vintage mid-20th century fabrics, and fun games! Currently, my *making* projects focus mostly on re-purposed vintage goodies, with lots of fun quilting, and patch crafting whenever possible. I love to experiment making anything I can out of vintage fabric patchwork: scarves, bibs, quilts, books, stationery, magnets, art, etc. anything I can figure out how to cover in fabrics... I’ll try! and I also *adore* fun & fabulous felt!

Who or what inspires you?
Oh gosh.... so much brings me inspiration! I often feel wonderfully inspired at every turn! The wonderful curiousity of little children, bold colours, the glory of 1970’s design, afternoon *dance parties* (as my little one and I call living room dancing!), my fantastic family, sunlight, simple lines, kindness, appreciation of others, that’s a few....

When / how did you learn?
I am most certainly, happily, learning all the time from so many wonderful sources. more specifically, throughout my life, I have been so fortunate to have fabulous parents who really fostered and encouraged creative thinking and the joy of *making* in my life. early on, as a toddler, I had a glorious little wooden craft table in my kitchen – pasteing and cutting and dancing around that kitchen was how I first learned about the glories of open-ended art. My parents also had an amazing appreciation of antiques, teaching me the wonder of the history in an object or textile. My dad, being an auctioneer, would take me ”garage-sale-ing” every Saturday each summer! I came to have a great curiousity for turning one persons’ throwaways into anothers’ treasure – the beauty of patchcraft ! I’ve always loved repurposing!

Certainly another wonderful influence on my art education was from my grandmother. She was a master quilter; master crafter and artisan of so many needle crafts, in fact! I saw in her a love and appreciation for *making*, for making time to make, and a joy to craft through recycling! She really cherished each scrap of fabric saved, and taught me the original idea of re-purposing and up-cycling in art & craft, long before it was a cool & hip new-millennium term. Her generation of home-artisans re-purposed whenever they could: saving fabric scraps, reusing crafty supplies, and re-purposing anything and everything into something new and craftily wonderful! It was a fabulous lesson for me.

Today, I learn so much from my artistically adventurous community of love & support: my husband, mother, brother, child, friends, etc. I am so lucky to have such a community of inspiring teachers around me to learn from! (thanks, nicies!)

Why do you 'bother' to make things by hand?
I think there is something that is fantastically difficult for me to describe, yet wonderfully powerful in the idea of things handmade. Basically, I LOVE making crafts. I love it! The time, the thoughtfullness, the patience, the art, the love, the craft, the appreciation of handmade amazes me. I'm lucky to be part of a family that has always cherished handmade; to make something handmade was always the most special kind of gift in our family, whether it was the handdrawn card on mother’s day, or the wonderfully wonky ornaments every holiday thru grade school. I adore, and try to foster & encourage that in my own little family now. I am so thankful to have been taught the huge value of handmade all thru my life. I think there is something magical in a thoughtful, handmade gift I'm proud that we take the extra time and effort to do that, and I'm proud of others who try to the same and spread handmade love!

Do you use a sketchbook or journal?
Not too often... my favourite place to craft an idea is at the sewing machine – grabbing some fabrics and using an idea in my head and trying something new out!

Why is crafting good for you?
It surely soothes my soul. sometimes I feel a dozen (okay let’s be honest – 3 dozen) crazy designs and ideas jumping around my head! I feel such a wonderful excitement when I can craft and design and bring the ideas to fruition! Crafting gives me energy and for me, there is huge fulfillment at starting (and sometimes, even finishing!:) ) a craft project!

Is your craft a business as well? Any advice on running a crafty business?
Happily, YES! My little rikrak business has been growing wonderfully this past year! I hope that it is always powered by an adoration for making, and it is a wonderfully happy bonus for me that I can also share my love of craft with handmade-forward folks beyond my circle of family & friends! I’ve learned so much about crafty businessing from other wise & crafty women. some of the things I try to keep at the centre of my rikrak-ing: always make what you love, love what you make, try not to put all your eggs in one basket! (Diversify where you are selling– what you are selling – who you are selling to, etc.) surround yourself with creative folks (be it your family and friends, an online crafting community, etc. ) believe in your wonderful, creative talents, keep trying, and when in doubt....add rickrack.

What impact (if any) has the internet had on your craft?
Gosh – so much! I am a very visual learner – and I adore photography! So the internet brings me a supportive crafting community and the opportunity to dabble in product photography (which I love!) and *see* so much inspiring, wonderful, colourful design and craft every single day. Places like flickr (where i met the wonderful wardi!) and etsy (where I house my little online shop) are some of the fabulous junctions I’ve come to .... online! I am so amazed and impressed at all of the fabulous artisans and crafters I have come across via internet crafting! Amazing!

Labels: interview