This weekend I’ll be selling my work at Remodelista Market here in LA! All weekend long, I’ll be selling my favorite Cotton & Flax gifts, alongside 30 fantastic local artisans. I’m particularly excited to shop from my friends at Chaparral Studio, Knotwork LA, and Scout Regalia!
The sale runs from 10-5pm both Saturday and Sunday, December 5th and 6th, at Big Daddy’s Antiques on the westside of LA. Do some holiday shopping, and check out Cotton & Flax goods in person — hope to see you there!
It’s finally time for Renegade’s Holiday Market here in Los Angeles! I’m looking forward to spending the weekend catching up with my favorite makers from around my community, and talking with shoppers about the hard work and love that goes into my work for Cotton & Flax. Plus, I get a chance to buy gifts – it’s always more fun to buy directly from local artists and makers than to brave the mall at the 11th hour.
Renegade’s Holiday Market takes place at the beautiful Grand Park (Downtown LA between Broadway and Spring St.) from 10-5 on Saturday and Sunday. There’s no entry fee, so bring a friend or two, and support local designers while you finish your holiday shopping!
Cotton & Flax will be at booth #164 all weekend, with tons of giftable coasters, tea towels, napkins, trivets, and pillows – plus a special sale section just for Renegade. Stop by and say hello!
I hope you’ll come visit me at one of my upcoming Holiday events in San Francisco or LA!
First up, we have West Coast Craft, a new craft & design show in San Francisco featuring carefully selected artists & craftspeople living and working on the West Coast. The show takes place Dec. 6th + 7th at Fort Mason Center. The lineup is absolutely stellar, so if you live in the Bay Area, you’d be remiss not to stop by and get your holiday shopping started.
I’ll also be participating in Renegade’s Holiday Market in Los Angeles, which is taking place on Dec. 13th + 14th at Grand Park in DTLA. As always, there will be tons of food trucks and free crafting activities, so bring the whole family for a fun afternoon of holiday shopping.
Both shows are free and open to the general public – hope to see you there!
I was invited to speak on a design panel last week as part of the LA Design Festival! The event was hosted by West Elm, and I was delighted to sit alongside Claire and Aaron of MFEO, Eric Trine, and Brendan Ravenhill as we discussed our design process, and how our businesses have grown over the last few years.
It was fascinating to hear the similarities and differences in our backgrounds. My big takeaway from our conversation was that the internet has led to a complete revolution in the way that designers approach collaborations, as well as the way we operate our businesses as a whole. Much of what we do would not be possible without the support of the huge creative community we can reach online!
While I’m taking the summer off from selling my work at the usual round of craft fairs, I hope to find time to do more pop-up events like this. It’s wonderful to connect with other LA-based makers, and to hear their stories.
I had so much fun teaching a custom stationery workshop at West Elm last night! I was blown away by the amazing designs my students came up with in just a couple of hours. So much creativity!
Each attendee received a little gift bag filled with supplies – a small EZ-cut linoleum block, as well as paper for sketching, and multi-colored postcards for printing on. I provided all the carving tools and ink, and after a bit of sketching, everyone just went for it! Love to see creative bravery in action.
Thanks again to everyone who attended the workshop! I’m hoping to teach more workshops soon, so stay tuned.
I’ve been thinking lately that I haven’t been sharing as much of the dark side of running your own business here on the blog. That might be because it isn’t so much dark as it is boring (who wants to read my thoughts on business bookkeeping, really?!) When I first started the Cotton & Flax blog, I wanted to share the ups and the downs, so I thought today I would share a very honest recap of this week.
It’s been almost two weeks since I participated as a vendor at Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco, and almost three weeks since I did the same in Los Angeles, so you’d think I’d feel recovered from the (fun!) craziness of craft fair weekends. But I’ll be honest: I’m still feeling exhausted. I’ve been training myself to wake up early all summer – I realized that if I start my workday at 6am, I can get a lot more printing done before it gets too hot (by 2pm, all I ever seem to want to do is drink ice water and take a nap). Between my early-bird alarm clock, catching up on production after two big craft fairs, and the work I’m doing to plan for the Fall/Winter collection, I’m pretty tired.
I’ve been thinking about wanting to take a little vacation, just a few days to reset my brain. I always find that taking even a little road trip can really boost my creativity and make me feel refreshed. I’m totally inspired by this photo of Joshua Tree, taken by Kate Miss (you can buy a print, too!) I haven’t been to Joshua Tree in 5 years, and I think the desert is calling me… I have been so inspired by the colors of Southern California, it might be just the right time for another research trip.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who offered their opinion on which color I should add to the coaster collection. Aubergine was the clear winner here on the blog, but over on Instagram, Azure was the frontrunner! I’ll post photos once I’ve added the new color coaster!
