How it (All) Began

I've spent my entire life creatively engaged with my surroundings. From a young age, I was always drawing and painting scenes from daily experiences, imagining and creating little inventions and objects, and constantly and completely rearranging everything in my room. I always knew I wanted to spend my life designing and making things.

But my love affair with textiles developed very early on. Growing up with older sisters, I received my fair share of hand-me-down clothes which I eagerly cut apart, embellished, and sewed back together to suit my ever-evolving style. 

I was also raised in an environmentally aware household by parents who were artistic and nurtured my creative inclinations: my dad worked in waste management and expressed his sculptural talents through both his lost-wax cast jewelry and never-ending house projects, and my mom is an avid and prolific gardener and spent countless hours teaching me how to draw, sew, and paint. Through their encouragement and guidance, I grew up learning and thinking about materials from the perspective of circularity and interconnectedness.

After earning a BFA in fiber arts from the Kansas City Art Institute, I spent years traveling around the country attending artist residencies, making art and exploring my personal creative practice amidst a changing backdrop of varying cities and landscapes. Throughout this time, I slowly veered away from what I call "capital A art" and shifted my practice towards what a lot of people call "craft". I used to grapple with the (outdated) debate of "art vs craft," but I don't have a lot of patience for that conversation anymore and don't particularly care about delineating any hard-lined boundaries or theoretical hierarchies between them. And then of course I shifted my work more into the world of design and product, so there are two other conversations entirely! 

While I officially started Hello Hue Studio in February 2020 ((more on that, here)), the seeds were sown (sewn…?) the previous winter when I first started experimenting with creating multi-colored stripe compositions. Applying those patterns to bags and pillows, I sold my pieces at my first official craft fair in December of 2019. I loved it, and wanted more.

Starting a business during a global pandemic and amidst a move to a new state is not an ideal circumstance, but alas, that’s how it went down. I’ve slogged through cabin fever, held on during market season, and fumbled my way through ecommerce. Three years later, I’m proud of what I’ve worked through and where Hello Hue Studio is today.