If I had a big sister I’m pretty sure I would want her to be like Amy Shutt of day-lab. Amy seems like she would be that cool older sister who would ask you along for shopping at thrift stores, take you to art galleries, help you put on backyard musicals and then pack a picnic lunch to eat in the tree house she helped you build. Alright, I have an overactive imagination and a long established desire for an older sister…I don’t actually know what kind of big sister Amy would be or even if she is a big sister, but I do know that I love her shop day-lab. I’m super excited that Amy agreed to be interviewed for this week’s Indie Artist Fixx.
If you’re already familiar with day-lab, then you know Amy has a wonderful eye and a sixth sense for style. In her shop you’ll find her own jewelry creations, fabulous vintage finds and goods produced by indie artists and small independent companies. Offerings include jewelry, accessories, housewares, paper goods and more. Amy goes on periodic buying trips for vintage goods and is constantly adding her own jewelry designs, which often made with vintage pieces, so I check out day-lab almost weekly to what’s new.
It doesn’t hurt that I am one of Amy’s LJ friends, so I read about her shopping trips and updates there. Amy also shares her other creative pursuits, updates on her home redesign and photographs of her kitties and the gorgeous nature around her southern home. It’s one of my daily reads. 
Here’s more about Amy in her own words.
1. What’s the name of your business and what do create and sell?
My business is www.day-lab.com and I mainly sell vintage dead stock jewelry, accessories, housewares etc. and jewelry that I design from vintage jewelry parts. When day-lab started the main focus was consignment goods that were hand made or independently designed. While I still sell some things along those lines, I do now sell more vintage items and other items produced by smaller companies and distributors than handmade products.
2. When did you get started with your business and why did you decide to open your own indie biz?
My business was started in 2005. Initially, day-lab was something that I had abstractly in the back of my mind for a year or more prior to its opening. At the time I was a single parent and student about to start my last year of college. I was waiting tables, while not at school, to make ends meet. At the end of the day I was always sick and tired of coming home to only spend a depressingly short time with my daughter before we both went to sleep, only to wake up again to the same cycle. day-lab was my first attempt to break away from the waiting tables income, in hopes it would provide enough of an income to do so while I finished my last year of school. I also thought day-lab might be able to provide the time I wanted and needed at home to be with my daughter more often and extra time to devote to school work. And, in that first year it did eventually allow me to quit waiting tables, finish school with better grades, and spend more quality time with my daughter.
3. What’s the creative process like for you?
My mind works constantly in some kind of creative process overload. If I am not creating or finding or researching or figuring out how to do and make things I will get depressed. My creative process is very much automatic and necessary for me. I can’t turn it on and off. It’s how I get through the day, process information, and see the world at all times.
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