Artist Artist of the Month: Lisa Seyfried, Color Me Reckless

 

The following post is by Lisa Seyfried, Owner of Color Me Reckless, the Herban Lifestyle May 2013 Artist of the Month.

Color Me Reckless started 3 years ago.  I had just finished grad school, was unemployed, and scared.  My stress reliever has always been to crochet, so that summer, I wound up with baskets full of crochet hats, scarves, and blankets.  It seemed like a good time to start selling it all!

It took me a while to find what I really liked to make for people. When I boiled it down to what I liked to make, and what people liked, it was housewares and blankets.  So the new version of Color Me Reckless was born! Now I sell carefully crafted crochet housewares, and create beautiful custom blankets for baby showers, weddings, and birthdays.

 

What I love the most is seeing the reaction when people unwrap a blanket that has been made just for them. I try to factor in anything I know about the person (their favorite colors, snippets of their history) so the blanket becomes a story about them.

 

I think that’s the same for the housewares. Yes, it’s simpler, colorful small items, but those items tell a story too.  A Soap Saver Bag can tell the story of what mood I was in when I made it (you can tell by what colors I selected!), and then it continues to tell that story when those colors resonate with someone else.

 

You can find more about Lisa’s crochet creations on her website and Etsy store.

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Found Art in NYC

I spent the weekend in SoHo. I was there for the BUST Magazine Craftacular and Food Fair, which was held on May 21st. I spent most my Saturday surrounded by awesome artists and crafters, taking in their amazingly creative works. On Sunday, my husband and I walked around checking out the various boutiques. I took note of the use of fabrics, shapes and textures displayed throughout the neighborhood, inspired with ideas for new designs and packaging for my products.

But what surprised and delighted me the most was the art I found on the streets. My favorite was the discovery of a bicycle that had been ambushed overnight with a cover of pastel crochet in a camouflage pattern. I marveled at the beauty and awesomeness of the work, while also sympathizing with the owner who would have to do quite a bit of snipping to be able to actually use it.

On one wall, I saw a magnificent graffiti mural, which I didn’t photograph (I didn’t think I could do it justice with my iPhone). But I did capture this sweet piece that I found on a door. I love the simplicity of the lines, and it sparked my imagination to think of things the girl and her rabbit might be looking at.

Later in the afternoon, we headed up to Central Park to check out Japan Day. There were several things to see, but what caught my eye was this collection of origami cranes that people were folding and donating, with the goal of sending 1000 paper cranes to Japan to show solidarity with the victims of the earthquake/tsunami.