Card Catalog Inspiration

One of the highlights (I just love little drawers) at Building Resources in San Francisco plus they have tumbled glass! Looking forward to working on the garden in the spring…

Interview with Hedy Peterson

Hedy Peterson makes beautiful, well-crafted handbags. I'm very lucky to carry a fun black leather bag with purple, red and brown suede polka dots that she designed especially for me. Many years ago, I met Hedy when I was looking for a bag to carry my portfolio. I couldn't find anything I liked and she designed a stunning black bag with a heavy duty zipper for me.

I get lots of great compliments on my bags and I want more people to know about Hedy Peterson. Read on to experience her inspiring interview and see photos of her work. Check her out on Etsy.com!

Where can you be found on the web? Or out in the real world?
I’m currently working on a website: HandbagBoulevard.com which should be up before too long. I have a shop at Etsy.com under the name of hedilu. I also do open studio in Berkeley, CA on Saturdays from 10-5 so people can come see where I work and buy directly from me.

What do you create?
I design and produce handbags and small accessories mostly in leather. I also make a small collection of Christmas ornaments (mini-stockings and tote bags) that I originally designed for a group of decorators in San Francisco who were doing a charity fundraiser.

How did you learn your craft?
I mostly taught myself how to design and sew leather. There was not a school closer than England when I first started, so I just had to do a lot of trial and error.

Where do you find inspiration?
That’s a question that I have some trouble coming up with an answer for. Since I’m a very visual person, nothing escapes my sight and I think I synthesize much of that input. In other words, a beautiful pointy toed shoe and a brown and white puppy I just met may come together in my creative mind to become a brown bag with white stitching and a pointed flap. But, for me, it’s all about taking a bit from over here and something from over there and spinning it from inside myself. That’s the best explanation I have for it.

What motivates you?
I just love the creative process. I’m very motivated by the materials I use. A beautiful piece of leather or a sublime piece of hardware motivates me to get going and turn it into something else.

When did you start your business?
Sometime around the middle seventies.

What early creative memories stand out for you?
When I was about 14 years old, I asked my grandmother to help me make a purse and together, we made a beautiful little shoulder bag using crocheted pieces and cotton backing. Before that, when I was much younger, I used to gather up every toy and lots of other stuff (small pieces of wood, boxes, old thread spools and who knows what else) and set up my own little town on the floor of my playroom. It took up the whole perimeter of the room and took weeks to make. I still don’t know what that was about. Perhaps I missed my calling as a developer. (chuckle)

Why did you decide to start your own business?
I was working at a bookstore doing accounts receivable. I have no idea how I could have possibly gotten that job since I could hardly type and to this day do not balance my checkbook. But there I was..miserable in a job that didn’t fit me at all. One of my roommates had a booth at a cooperative craft store in Palo Alto called ‘The Artifactory’ and that looked very attractive to me, so with $55, I was able to rent a booth for one month and buy some clothes at the second hand store. I cut up the clothes and made them into skirts, jackets and shirts and sold them at the Artifactory. My first business was called ‘HedTrips’. It was a good name in the ‘70’s.

What do you love most about creating your work?
The feeling of being a creator is a hard one to explain. It’s the flow of creation through me that keeps me going. I guess it’s the connection to all of creation and the energy that created me and everything else. It’s the stepping into the flow. And I’d be lying if I said the outcome wasn’t important. Seeing that finished product after hours of doing detail after detail and working to get each one of those right is so great.

What's a favorite book of yours and why?
I fell in love with the writing of Robertson Davies after I read ‘Fifth Business’. It’s art on the printed page. It’s clever and intelligent and witty and draws on the metaphysical in the storyline. All the things that draw me in.

What advice would you give to women starting their own business?
I don’t think I’d be giving too much advice to someone else other than to ‘go for it’. I feel like I’m still figuring things out for my own business. When I started, I didn’t have any idea at all how to run a business. I just knew how to create and I tried to plug in to marketing that fit my product.
OK -- if I had to give advice, I’d say learn some basic business skills. Or find a partner that has business savvy if your forté is the creative part.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
The previous question spotlighted my biggest weakness. I think I’ll take my own advice and take some business classes.

How do you get unstuck?
I go and do something else for a bit. There’s nothing like gardening or doing the sanding on a wood project to loosen things up. It has to be something that takes my attention off the stuck area. If I just go for a walk, I just stay mired in the problem.

What's your approach to balancing your time between work and life?
I have a set schedule for my work. Sometimes it flows outside of that schedule, but mostly it’s never a problem for me. If I have to be out of the studio for a time, I just make it up later. I have a tv at the end of my big cutting table, so if I find myself working at night, I don’t have to miss watching ‘The Office’ or any of my other faves.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I enjoy anything outdoors. I have a couple of bikes that I like to ride. I also really like to go dancing. Cajun/Zydeco is very cool. I’ve always been athletic, so any kind of sports or games is fun for me.
What are you working on right now?
About half a dozen different things. I always have a few things brewing in my mind, so when I finish with a project, I can pluck out another and get going on it right away. I’ve been producing a series of woven bags and I know I haven’t made all of those that will be in the collection, so for today, it’s that. Tomorrow, I may have a different answer.

What's one thing you wish you knew when you started your business?
How to be absolutely fearless in the face of great obstacles. I now believe that nothing is worthy of fear.

What's your favorite quote?
All my favorite quotes seem to be set to music. I don’t have just one, but for the sake of answering the question, it’s this: "and, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" ~the Beatles. Brilliant.

Anything else you'd like to say?
Thanks, Leah.

Art has a (personal) voice

"Tom Rocks City Council" was Regina Schaffer's subject line in her email out to Woman's Will Board Members late last night. We left Oakland's City Hall after 10:00 p.m. last night with the meeting still in session. The question of cutting funding for Oakland's Cultural Arts and Marketing Department was the matter at hand and Oakland's art community – at least 300 supporters and 200 speakers at the podium – came out in full force. It was an exciting place to be.

I initially signed a petition on the matter and with Tom's help and inspiration wrote a letter to Jean Quan, Oakland's District 4 Council Member. Tom volunteered to go and speak at the City Council meeting last night on behalf of Woman's Will. With only a minute to speak, he got some laughs and acknowledgment from council members, an anomaly in the Bay Area's all-female Shakespeare company. He related the art community to a tapestry that the government has a choice to weave together or unravel. It was very poetic. I feel very lucky to be a part of this man's life and to witness his support and passion.

Taking part in politics like this at a city level can be really exciting, and it definitely helps when your view is in the majority. I'm proud to be a part of Oakland's art scene. It feels very personal.

Visit here and here for more information on the details of Oakland's budget.

The relativity of time

My mood was down and now it's a bit up. Mostly just interesting to notice.

Time is relative. It's something we've made up and in many ways it's more about our beliefs about time than the actual time itself. I think "Oh I don't have enough time" and sure maybe there isn't but maybe if I thought differently that time could actually show up. That's when prioritizing and values are important.

I experienced time in a really rewarding way this weekend. A postcard for the upcoming Frank Bette show came in the mail this weekend and some of my work would work perfectly with their theme. I've had some ideas that I wanted to finish… I wanted to complete an aluminum series. Except that I had to get the work done… Tom and I had a busy and fun weekend with family so there wasn't a lot of "time" for additional things.

Tom challenged me and asked me if I wanted to do the pieces and submit them the next day. I'm totally up for a challenge. We worked together late Saturday night til almost three o'clock in the a.m. for about six hours. (I don't think we've ever stayed up that late.) It was such an incredible experience working together for a common goal challenged by the clock, desire and fatigue. The pieces came out beautifully. The concepts were fun. Unfortunately, the glue didn't actually stick and the aluminum pieces came up off the panels even more as I poured resin on them the next day. The resin took longer than I expected to dry.

This was the last thing that I thought I would encounter, a challenge in materials. It means more practice… we went out Sunday to buy more panels, glue and a different type of resin-type coating. I'm looking forward to creating more… It was so awesome to see the work we'd created even though it didn't turn out exactly how I'd anticipated. It was pure joy to catch a glimpse of the body of work that I'm longing to create, come together.

I'm grateful for the challenge, Tom, and for that exciting energy that we created together.

Various Musings

The ART door leading to my studio! Thanks to Tom for installing the letters.

Lots of stuff on my mind… I'm excited and have really good energy. It's 12:52 p.m. (luntime when I wrote this) I'm thinking that's a bit important because I was bummed last night and I knew it would pass. Needed sleep. My mood can be all over the place. Right now it's up and I'm very grateful. I blogged a while back about getting trees from the City of Oakland and this morning they were digging up concrete in front of our house. I'm so excited. I'm hoping for PINK crepe myrtles. Fingers crossed. We get four trees! Our lot so needs some color badly!

I'm so proud of my friend Hedy Peterson who makes beautiful leather handbags. She has her work on etsy.com. Check it out. I have three! One she designed especially for me. Actually two. I first met her years ago when I was referred to her and she made a custom bag for my portfolio. Her bio is great.

I'm teaching my Artist Business Circle and overall I'll say it's going really well. I have three incredible students. I'm inspired by how they all want to help each other. It's so enjoyable to witness. I feel privileged. Lots of things are coming up for me in this process. Stuff about myself that I don't like, but also stuff I do. Lots of new ideas, thinking bigger. I work to change the things I don't like. It's a powerful place for me to be. I'm creating something that's bigger than me and exposing myself at the same time. A vulnerable place but I'm very grateful for the growth and chance to be here.

I'm noticing with self-promotion how important it is to express what you do. I believe that people have a desire to help others succeed. I believe this in the biggest sense. Not everyone is going to give you what you want but they may be taking care of themselves. By them showing you this example, they may be giving you what you need.

Side tangent there. Anyway, I'm a collector and I love color and great design. Claudia gave me this great bottle. I think it's fascinating that she thought of me. Part of why she gave it to me was because I expressed my interest. Cheryl and Stephanie give me aluminum cans. Karen saves empty wine bottles for us for our garden. My friend Sarah sent me, among others, a great map of Oakland art galleries. My mom has come to all of my art shows and purchased my art. Tom has also come to all of my shows and encouraged me (multiple times in fact) to first exhibit at FBCA. It's so important to me to honor these people who contribute to who I am. When you express your passion and love for something, people want to connect with you. I think that when one witnesses passion in others, it connects them to their own passion. My own thoughts on why it's so important to express your passion. You're actually helping other people as well as yourself!

Cool house numbers!

Cool house numbers from Fred at the Alameda Flea Market. I worked hard to get a bit more interesting shots. Thanks to Tom who put them up. He also put up ART letters on the garage door. You'll have to wait for those photos…

Labor Day Weekend Insights

So much it seems! It's all good. I have a great cup of coffee this morning that Tom made and I'm up early. We went to a free CORE Training (Citizens of Oakland Respond to Emergencies) last night in our neigborhood. Feels good to be part of the community and to be getting prepared.

My mom told me about the coach Dave Ellis. Very inspiring.

Tom and I cleaned the gutters this weekend. I didn't realize how much fun that could be. I enjoy the physical exertion. For some reason when I work really hard outside, my sleep is so much better and I wake up without an alarm the next day. Such a great benefit.