Interviewing Moira Neilson of Paleolochic

We share a lot of things with Moira, she is part of the Etsy in Spanish Team and also of the European Street Team and once I saw this “Choker for the Godess” I felt in love with the African style of a lot of her creations and I proposed her to make this interview.

Apart of being a Jewelry designer Moira also makes Housewares as Aprons (very sexy, by the way) and Table cozies…

Check out her Website, I specially loved the Philosophy section… 

Let’s know her a little bit more…

Personal Information:

placemates

Hello! My name is Moira Neilson and I was born in Canada almost 34 years ago, I grew up and went to school in Argentina; my father is English and my Mum Argentinean.  The past century, in the year 1997 I moved to London and

After five years I’ve decided it was time to put the umbrella away and moved to sunny Barcelona where I am planning to stay until destiny said so…

 

What kind of craft do you make?

I like everything related to crafts but to keep myself mentally healthy I

focus most of my effort designing fashion accessories and different decoration goodies in fabric.  

When did you start?

Summer Island Bracelet

Since I was a little girl I’ve always liked to create with my hands and I was always doing some kind of workshop. When I grew up I studied Graphic Design in Argentina then in London I did a Foundation in Art & Design and I’ve continued doing different workshops in pottery, weaving,etc., all very easy things to do in a flat (ha-ha-ha!!)

What are you inspired by?

The truth is that I’ve get inspired by almost everything, I am very thankful to be able to appreciate beauty in the small things, the everyday life; though I must say my best friend its nature.

 

Afrika Red and Black Necklace

What do you enjoy the most?

I really enjoy the freedom, being able to follow my intuition and initiative, I loved to figure out how to develop a project that seems to be very simple but it’s not, it’s like a puzzle, piece by piece…

 What are your future expectations?

I would really love to live of my work and to have a “real shop” with handmade products, not only mines but from fellow artisans from Etsy, Dawanda, etc. That is why I am dedicating a lot of time to the non-creative area of  everything related to marketing, finance, legal aspects, etc. basically the non fun part but essential aspect to carry on a business , Yin and Yang, like life!

 

Choker for the Godess

Links:

Etsy Shop www.paleolochic.etsy.com

Dawanda Shop www.en.dawanda.com/shop/paleolochic

Web Site Paleolochic www.paleolochic.com

Flickr Photo Albums www.flickr.com/photos/paleolochic/

Become a fan on Facebook !www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/PALEOLOCHIC/104102216154

 *I would like to thank Anabel for giving me the opportunity to show a bit of who I am and what I do to all her readers.

Google Group: Textil Art

  Abonnement au groupe artetextil


  E-mail:


  Visiter ce groupe

Reviewing things I've done this year I remembered that when I was in Granada, Spain,I had launched a Google Group to put all information that we found interesting and was intended for people involved with me on a course of Textile Art at "The School of Art of Granada".  

Unfortunately the only person with networking habits was me, therefore almost all files were uploaded by me. So, a couple of days ago I told myself: if this group does not work this way, could be work in another... and I decided to open it for anyone who wants to participate ...  is as simple as sending an e-mail to the group or via this blog (find a link on the right hand side of page) (if this doesn't work you can do it in my spanish blog http://crearescreer.blogspot.com) 

I would love to see it developed and with a colaborative sense.The idea is taking this group as our library, archive of interesting images, promotional events and a place where we can add all interesting stuff . If you see all things written in spanish don't panic, it is going to be a multilingual group, and I don't want to discriminate anybody...

I hope you like the idea!

A blue sky shawl

I have to say that the project I was knitting with my circular needles was not what I expected to be… so, once I finished it, I decided to take it apart and start a new one with the same fiber.

It is incredible how something that take hours to build can be destroyed in seconds.. very metaphorical but true.

So, I thought in a poncho again, but then I imagined how this piece would be as a shawl, in a “décontracté” style for the nights of summer, when after sunbathe we need to cover our shoulder with something light and soft… and this was the result.

 

Blue sky shawl

*If you want to see more pictures go to my flickr or my Facebook page

Interviewing Sebastian Alvarez aka Bastiano

Texture

Today we are going to discover another artist.I knew him thanks to Flickr and I found his work very interesting, with great design and very ecological.

Sebastian was born in Mendoza, Argentina (like me), and he’s been living around Europe for the last years. I can say in order to the works I have seen, he is a very versatile artist who has

worked with very different techniques and he has very good taste.

But instead of reading my words, we are going to know more about him in this interview.. enjoy it!

Personal information:

Studio

My name is Sebastian, I’m from Mendoza, Argentina. I’m 35 years old (I can’t believe it!) and I live in Stockholm, Sweden.

Tell us what you do and when did you started?

I’ve been working with notebooks for less than a year. At the beginning I made one for me, then people who know me, began to order some for them and at the same time they suggested me to sell them on Etsy.

What material do you use?

My notebooks are 100% handmade, I don’t have book binding tools so just a cutter, a ruler, glue and an old second hand sewing machine. I never took any lessons, I learnt whilst making them and looking at how books are made. Papers I use are recycled envelopes that I generally pick up from the University of Linköping, Sweden. For white pages I use a paper made of recycled ones. It is very cheap but very good quality.

Naiste Hääl (Women’s Voice)

 Have you always worked with recycled materials? What other crafts have you made?

When I was a child I used to make little bags with rest of leather I found in my house because my parents in their”60′s hippie age” made sandals, belts and bags… Then I made bracelets, rings and necklaces with metal… but my major work in crafts yet is stained-glass / vitraux http://designedglass.blogspot.com, that I worked on in Argentina, Spain and Estonia for a long time. In Sweden this kind of arts crafts has disappeared and nobody knows it which prevented me to keep working with stained-glass/vitraux.

What are you inspired by?

R.A.W.

There are other things that are very inspiring to me as old books and other objects, vintage, and everything we can find in an office at any age. Another very important fact for me is that my notebooks not only look old and used but that when you touch them you can have the same feeling as with an old book

What do you enjoy the most in this activity?

I think is the moment of concentration… for me is like an

Signatures

 

 

 

 

interaction between mind, material properties and the skills to achieve an organic concept and this is very pleasant for me. If I don’t reach this point they are never as good as I expected to be.

 What are your future expectations?

Green Edge

What I expect for the future is very simple, being able to be auto-sufficient with my craft work as I once made it thanks to vitraux. 

 

 

Etsy shop http://bastiano.etsy.com 

 Blog(english) http://recycledkrafts.blogspot.com 

Blog (spanish) http://bastianonotebooks.blogspot.com/ 

Indiepublic page http://www.indiepublic.com/profile/SebastianAlvarez

 Photos of my notebooks http://flickr.com/maalo

 Photos of my vitrauxhttp://designedglass.blogspot.com

 Some paintings http://myartspace.com/artistView.do?keyword=Sebastian+Alvarez&sortby=featured

Remember if you want to be featured you can do it contacting me through a comment here or going to my spanish blog http://crearescreer.blogspot.com and sending your info through the form located in the right column. 

My second clutch bag

I’ve just finished a new clutch bag. This was made with a wider range of fibers in cream and peach colour and a little bit of golden acrylic. 

I think is more informal than the first one, what do you think?

Que viva Mexico!!

I listened so much about Mexico the last weeks that my craft has been influenced by this …and I created this set of three crocheted baskets with a little variation on the top of them…be careful.. they can spread a virus……JOY!! I imagine them on a desk to organize all this little things we leave around and I think could be a cool present for our workmates…

So apart of this and some other stuff I’m finishing I have made and published a tutorial of how to set up Google Analytics in my spanish blog . It’s in spanish so if you understand some you could have an introduction of this enormous tool.

Enjoy your day!!

Interviewing Alejandra Arteaga

Today I want to introduce you Alejandra Arteaga a textil artist from Chile. I discover her through Flickr, and I liked a lot the natural style of her accesories. Once I was in contact with her and I had the chance of knowing a little bit more about her I realized her work reflects very well what she thinks. 

*Remember if you want to be featured in my blogs you can contact me trhough my flickr sending me your blog or flickr user to see your works. You can also fill the form in my spanish blog (unfortunately wordpress is not as user friendly as I would like for this purpose).

Personal Information

My name is Maria Alejandra Arteaga Vega aka Ale

I’m 26 years old

I’m from Chile, I was born in Santiago but nowadays I live in Valparaiso

I studied arts and industrial design.

In my free time I make everything you can see in my Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacto

I made more things but I’m waiting to make a photography session.

When did you started?

Since I was a child I have been taking classes of paint, pottery, 

sculpture, drawing  and I went to the “Escuela de Bellas Artes de 

Viña del Mar” Vina del Mar Art School , I still have some works I made at that age.

In the University of Valparaiso I studied industrial design and I took the option of specialize my work in textiles, fashion, photography and the ecological area. In 2008 the University began an investigation in textile area about natural dying applied to wool. 

We were a group of pupils whom participate and expose our work. We also made some seminars about reutilization in fashion.

What are you inspired by?

I consider myself a very urban person. I love living downtown and being in contact with architecture, art, design and his constant movement and assist to cultural events. The urban movement inspires me for my designs but with an ecological point

of view. I’m concerned about living in a clean city, without garbage… more ecologic.

What do you enjoy the most?

The thing I enjoy the most in my activity is the opportunity of experimenting and exploring constantly…searching for new results and of course, doing beautiful things.The photography is other of my interests and I do it all the time. I always travel around with my camera. This is a work I use as a complement of my designs. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28839450@N04/

What are your future plans?

In the short term my expectations are: starting a line of textile jewelry in which I’m working on and in the long term I would like to have my 

own store in downtown promoting ecological design.

Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacto/

 

Free e-books!

This link is very cool! and look at the column on the right… you are going to find lots of more sources..

Site:http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/free-ebooks-to-help-grow-your-studio/

Via: swissmiss

Interviewing Mariana Ciliberto aka Florcita

      

Do you remember I wanted to feature an artist per week? being realistic I realized it was impossible but I’m going to do it every single time I can. 

Today we are going to know more about Mariana Ciliberto aka Florcita. I’m a fan of her and I discover her works in Dawanda, then I realized she is an argentinian as well, and we met again on Flickr, so I asked her for this interview and today we are going to learn her passions and works… Beautiful felted art!

Personal information:

My name is Mariana Ciliberto. I’m married to a Dutch man whom I met on
vacation in Firenze, Italy. A few years later, and after many a romantic
attempt to lure me to Europe, I left everything (including university,
job, apartment, family, friends…) back in Argentina and moved here to
The Netherlands. We have a 3 year old son, Sebastián, whom speaks
non-stop in 3 languages.
We live in a small town in southern NL, only a few meters from Germany
and a few km from Belgium. We consciously chose to live in a little town
because it fits with the way we want to live our life: surrounded by
nature, in an easy going environment enjoying the “good life”.

What kind of craft do you do?

Ever since I was a little girl I have been involved with artsy stuff. My parent’s house’s walls were my first canvas but since then I’ve taken
workshops on ceramics, puppet making, drawing, photography, weaving,
etc. A few years ago I stumbled upon wet felting and I was immediately
hooked. I’ve always liked playing with wool and I even carried my own
loom all the way from Argentina. But this new technique – new for me but
with thousands of years of history- allows me to discover and
experiment the great versatility of such noble material such as wool.

When have you started and why?
A few years ago I received an invitation from our local Cultural
centre to a 3hours workshop on hand made felt. I didn’t know much about
it bit I went anyway. My theory has always been that if I wanted to
adapt to this country, I had to participate as much as I could from things happening around me. So there I went, and I came out with a car
trunk full of wool and very anxious to learn more.
It did fulfil it’s purpose down the line because through wet felting I
have met lots of people and it has helped me made a niche for myself in
this society.

What are you inspired by?
I don’t think there is one thing that inspires me. I find that the more
I work, the more ideas I get. I suppose then that everything around me
inspires me… what I see, read, draw… life itself!

What do you enjoy the most with this activity?
What I like the most about wet felting is that, once you learnt and
understood the secrets of the technique, the versatility of the wool
allows you to produce a broad range of objects: from practical daily
life objects, clothing, shoes…to art installations.
Furthermore, I love experimenting with wool and other materials such as wood, metal, leather or glass. It enriches you as an artisan as you
learn the properties of different materials.

What are your future plans?

I hope to have the chance to keep learning from my work and from
others more experienced in the field. I hope I can develop my own unique
style with which I can feel comfortable and represented.
Finally, I hope to further cement the basis of my craftsmanship and from
there keep exploring the broad world of creativity. One nerver stops learning.
Website: www.florcita.eu
Flickr:http://www.flickr.com/photos/marucs/
Shop: http://en.dawanda.com/shop/florcita
Blog: www.florcitasart.blogspot.com
Non artistic blog (in spanish): www.polosciclotimicos.blogspot.co

Pampa hand-woven bracelets already finished!

Finally I reach the deadlines I fixed myself (cool!! I’m happy with the results), and here I show you the 4 bracelets could extract of one large piece of weaving

This process is a little bit comlicated at first but then when you are used to it it is just as meditation…

 

I can make a tutorial if you are interest it, but I’m going to do it just if I have enough comments, if not is just a waste of time… isn’t it

Hope you like them and enjoy!!!