By guest contributor Amy Anderson
When I saw TANGLe & FoLd’s shop on Etsy, I knew I had to track them down and find out more. Jonathan and Charity are the crafters behind the intricate paper flowers, fun jewelry and funky legwarmers at TANGLe & FoLd. The Brooklyn, NY couple has some wonderful one-of-a-kind, eco-friendly products and they were nice enough to chat with me about their latest projects and inspirations.
1. What do you create and how did you get started?
We make everything! We really don’t limit ourselves to anything. Jonathan is known for his paper flowers which are his own design and Charity is known for her legwarmers which are also her own design! We both dabble in jewelry making and other accessories. We started selling on Etsy due to our financial situation. We were both artists long before we opened our shop and even though we were told by friends to do something about our talents, it took a lack of money for us to do so. We are very pleased with the outcome.
2. Why do you sell on Etsy? Do you sell elsewhere as well?
Etsy is just plain awesome. It’s the perfect site for independent artists to showcase and sell their goods. They offer great workshops and virtual labs and are always on hand when you need help. Sometimes we take part in street fairs and markets when time permits and we always have people over our house, which is also our studio. We get good sales there.
3. Where do you get the ideas for your pieces?
Junk: we love the idea of taking trash and making it into something beautiful. A lot of the times we just make stuff that we would wear or stuff that we would want lying around our house.
4. Where do you go or what do you do when you need inspiration?
We stick around home a lot, play some old records and just stare at our supplies for a bit till something pops up. It’s really fun when your materials are endless. If that doesn’t work we just ask each other what we should make. There’s always a project we’ve been meaning to work on that hasn’t been started yet.
5. Where do you see your work going in the future?
Who knows? The options are endless!! We would love to see our flowers all over—they’re a great alternative to real flowers and they’re so good for our planet! Whatever happens we’re happy with the customers that have admired our work.
6. Describe your artistic style in three words.
Junky, Funky, Indie.
About the contributor: Amy Anderson is one of the Indie Fixx interns and is also a student at Northwestern University. Amy has wanted to be a journalist since she was just 5 years old and she is also into the indie design and crafting scenes as well. In addition to writing the occasional post, she also helps me coordinate Feed Your Soul: the free art project.
