For the feature Fresh Etsy Pixx I choose a new rising star on Etsy to highlight. I either pick a shop that is well on its way to being a rising star or choose a shop that I think has great stuff, but just needs an extra little bit of exposure. Today, I’ve chosen a shop that fits that latter category and it’s called OctopedalArts. OctopedalArts is made up of the husband and wife team, Peter and Jenn, and they just opened their shop about a month ago. Peter and Jenn create their original designs and hand screenprint everything themselves—they also model their work. 😉
My favorite designs include: “Tell Your Mama to Vote for Obama” and “Octopus”. Both are available in both men’s and women’s sizes, styles and colors.
Read more about Peter, Jenn and OctopedalArts in my interview with them below.
1. What’s the name of your shop and what do you create?
The name of our shop is OctopedalArts. We create original handmade silkscreen designs on cool, comfortable, fashionable clothes. Our prints are inspired by our passions and adventures – many from the Greek island of Sifnos where we lived for a time after we got married. Each creation has a story behind it, which you can read about in the Behind the Design feature at our blog.
We also have a Barack Obama print because he inspires us and we believe he is capable of bringing about the change this country desperately needs. Several new designs are in the works that reflect our intense love and dedication to New Mexico.
We have had our hands in everything from start to finish: photography, design, making screens, choosing clothes, the printing, the finishing, the packaging, everything. It’s a holistic enterprise in the truest sense of the word.
Right now at our Etsy shop, you’ll find t-shirts and some one-offs on funky shirts that we found around town, but there is more to come. We want to sell kids clothes, baby clothes, hoodies, skirts, yoga pants and bags, as well as different styles of shirts. We have so many ideas, we can’t keep up.
2. How long have you been in business and how long have you been selling on Etsy?
We have been in business officially since June, although there was a great deal of preparation, anxiety and excitement beforehand. We listed our first shirts on Etsy on June 27th.
3. What made you take the plunge?
Besides the obvious desire to create and play in the studio, there is the ever-driving force to escape from behind the desk and be our own bosses. We love creating designs we are proud of, we love working together and we love hanging out with our pets all day. OctopedalArts was conceived during the summer we spent on Sifnos in Greece. There was a complete lack on the island of something we would want to buy and wear that could remind us of our time there. We knew we could fill the void by making cool designs on comfy shirts that make people look good.
4. What inspires you?
Travel, adventure, things that grow, mysteries of the deep, animals, dreams, forests, the sea, friends, octopi, family, Greece, New Mexico, color, pottery, John Reeve (potter), magic, springtime and each other.
5. Any goals you’d like to share?
We would love to sell our shirts on Sifnos as so many of our designs are inspired by that incredible island. Plus, of course it would give us the opportunity to go back regularly and swim at our favorite place on earth. In general, we would love for OctopedalArts to be our bread and butter, giving us the time to travel. For us, life is about adventure and our designs come from the discoveries we make along the way. This is our vision for OctopedalArts.
We are also potters, another craft inspired by our summer on Sifnos – also known as “The Potter’s Island”. If we can find the time, we will expand OctopedalArts to include pottery later in the year.
6. Share something totally frivolous that you’d love to do if time & money weren’t a factor.
Simon Leach, a well-known potter and grandson of the famous Bernard Leach lives in the south of Spain and gives pottery classes in his studio. He has amazing instructional videos on Youtube! We would love to go and study with him for a few weeks, maybe months.
We also fantasize about living in two hemispheres so that we could skip winter all together.Here’s the plan: stay in Santa Fe from Spring to early Fall and then head to New Zealand. Spring, Summer, Fall… then right back to Spring! Of course, we would also have to work in a month or so in Greece.
Some pics from the OctopedalArts Studio of Jenn and Peter goofing around and creating.
Good luck to the folks over at OctopedalArts with their new business! It’s hard work, but so rewarding in the end when you put so much into your business. I love the Obama shirt =)