journey on a new path

For thirteen years my life revolved around my retail business that I grew from an idea.  I enjoyed most aspects of this path, especially the people that made it what it was – customers, staff, and suppliers.  To have a career that blended business and creativity was a perfect match and I am grateful for that journey. 

I made the decision to close the retail shop for a myriad of reasons this past year.  A perfect storm of family issues, sagging economy and post-covid practices met with a lease up for renewal made the decision, although difficult, a sensible and necessary one. 

If we look at our life in stages, which is really what it is, then I entered the next one – and without a solid plan.  Post-retail store has been awkward, sad, and liberating all together.  It has also been enlightening and allowed me to see and experience creativity and my industry from a new perspective.  For thirteen years much of my own creative practices were focused on my business; creating shop and teaching samples and helping my customers reach their creative goals and potential.  My ideas and my own creative path have always been present but hidden sketch books and seldomly seeing fruition. 

Anyone who is running a business does so to make money.  Rent, staff, utilities, and goods are not free so a profit must continuously be made to cover costs.  The industries that make our products are wanting us to sell bigger, better, new, and more.  There is no real account for collateral results – whether or not being a customer needs it and the environmental impact that it makes.   Selling sewing machines was a perfect example of this constant production of new and the requirement to sell them, being tasked to entice customers to want the latest and greatest. 

While I loved making quilts and sewn gifts and appreciated that fabric and thread was a consumable material, the plethora of plastic rulers and accessories that we were encouraged to purchase to create was too much.  I am as guilty as anyone who owns too many craft supplies and I love surrounding myself with them.  But where did it stop?

 One of the first things I do post-shop ownership is to volunteer at a creative reuse center.  It is an amazing nonprofit facility whose goal is to give materials a second chance and keep them out of the landfills.  Much is art and craft supplies, design materials, bits and pieces and small resaleable goods and it attracts teachers, artists, makers, and people who are smart enough to ‘look there first”.  It has also given me a new perspective into what people buy and don’t use – or get rid of. 

I have been lightened from the burden of constantly selling and plying people with product because of expectations and necessity on my end.  I have been enlightened with the possibilities of creating with what I already have or what I can get second hand prior to hitting the shops or internet.  I am proud to be learning more about the environmental impact and sharing this with others.  That is certainly not going to make me not purchase more supplies – no way!  I just look at things differently and look in different places first. 

An art piece that I created using at least 70% recycled/upcycled materials will be part of the Waste to Wonder exhibition at the gallery at Resource Depot in West Palm Beach.  It was a thrilling challenge to create something that came from within without the result being for consumerism.   I have participated in quilt challenges and shows in the past however this is a new direction – and it did not include any fabric!  I will continue to create from within in the hopes of making some of the art quilt sketches in my many Moleskines come to life.   The script for this stage act has yet to be written but the possibilities sing with excitement. 

Have you began a new journey? Share with us and follow my journey as it unfolds.

Appreciate you!

Johanna