Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Vendor Spotlight: Home Sweet

 
List your shop name and give a brief description of your work and process.
My name is Jennifer Nelson, and I run Home Sweet, where I offer block printed, sustainable fabrics and home goods. The process starts with a design that's usually inspired by old houses or my local beaches. These same sources tend to inspire the ink colors that I mix and use. I cut the design into a printing block, and use it to transfer the inks onto sustainable fabrics like hemp and linen- there's even a new recycled hemp fabric that I'm really excited about! Then, the fabrics are made into pillows, lamps and drum pendants, table linens and other goods. People can also buy just the fabric if they want to cover a bench or chair seat, or make a bag or something that requires a hefty sort of fabric.
  
What type of music do I listen to when I'm hard at work?
I love Pandora. I think it's a modern marvel that I can tailor something to play Harry Belafonte, the Drifters, U2 and Ray LaMontagne in the same stream of music. It's not always 100% awesome, though. Because I have an AC/DC station and also a station for a Christian artist named JJ Heller, Pandora thinks that I must also love Christian Heavy Metal, which I don't. I have to give a lot of songs the thumbs down, but the anticipation of what's going to come on next is energizing in itself!

Describe your studio. What makes it a creative space?
My studio started out in a spare bedroom of our house, and moved into the basement when we had our second baby. Even though I've sort of outgrown the space, I love everything in it. There's a bright green set of stairs that leads down into the studio that puts me into the right mindset right away. There's an industrial sewing machine that we acquired from an old sewing factory that was being renovated. There's also a big printing table and lots of space to hang fabrics to dry. I also made the studio inviting so that people would keep me company! There's a comfy chair for my husband, and a small table and chairs for my kids to work on creative projects of their own- I try to engage them in the process as much as I can.

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