Emergent Maker Movement Brings Artisan Flair to Design

By Kim D. Shaver

The same dynamics that have fueled “buying local,” customization and DIY have led thousands of people to start their own small businesses dedicated to creating and selling self-made products, often made one-at-atime by hand.

In a world of mass production and mass marketing, online communications and social media have made it easier than ever for a single individual to create and distribute items that are customizable and unique. These creative entrepreneurs are part of what is being called the emergent “maker movement.”

Makers are found in fields including technology, food, fashion and jewelry, home décor and home textiles. In the home space, makers’ products often are influenced by art and have an artisan flair.

This new wave of consumer businesses founded by makers is born from their mastery of skill, creativity and a genuine passion of the makers for their craft. Their passion is contagious, as consumers are intrigued by the personal stories of makers, and motivated to support and celebrate artisans.

MAKER MOVEMENT IS EXTENSION OF ‘BUYING LOCAL’ AND ‘INTENTIONAL CONSUMERISM’

“The maker movement is the next logical extension of ‘buying local,’ like the (farm-to-table) or local food movement,” says Jana Phipps, an expert in the use of embellishment for décor, fashion and DIY who creates and offers everything from decorative trims to jewelry under the Trim Queen brand. “The maker movement is a backlash against consumerism and mass production and a move towards ‘intentional consumerism’ that supports an artist and their loved ones, and makes a personal connection,” she says.

MAKER PRODUCTS ARE ‘SOULFUL’ EXPRESSIONS THAT EVOKE EMOTION

“The maker movement brings in the human element and expresses the ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ behind the work on a personal level for a design solution,” says Jill Seale, an artist, designer and author specializing in marbling techniques. Seale collaborates with upholstery and textile resources for artisanal-inspired fabrics, furniture, wallcoverings, home accents and rugs. Her business model is typical of the collaboration and partnership between handwork and machine work that’s often part of the maker movement. “Everything starts with my marbling tray,” says Seale, who trained in Florence, Italy under master marbling artisans. “From there, I work with manufacturers to implement my designs. Manufacturers and designers get more personal solutions when they work with makers.”

The Florentine Splash fabric design by Jill Seale.

PANDEMIC AND ONLINE BUYING SURGE IS FUELING MAKER MOVEMENT

Jane Pollak, who gained fame creating Ukrainian-styled waxed and dyed eggs and currently creates pillows out of penny-rug appliqued fabrics, believes that the maker movement is “a much more sophisticated re-branding of the craft movement.” The maker movement really took off during the Covid-19 Pandemic as artisans became more driven to creative expression, often from home studios. Consumers also flocked to online channels to purchase products, which helped them discover items made by makers on social media and websites.

Jane Pollak stitches an applique onto a penny rug fabric.

“The pandemic inspired personal introspection about ‘What matters?’ says Seale. “People want to have more meaningful things in their lives, and they want a personal connection to what is around them.”

MAKER’S PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTED ONLINE AND IN LOCAL FAIRS, MARKETS

Distribution for maker’s products is overwhelmingly found online, with Etsy a top site, along with Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. Email marketing and websites also figure prominently as sales platforms for makers, and provide venues for storytelling around the hand-made products. Local fairs, farmer’s markets and trade shows like the High Point Market also are important distribution points. Fairs and markets bring a social and community dimension into the mix, helping makers form connections with other makers. Even more importantly, local fairs and markets give makers a face-to-face connection with a public hungry for the personal, passionate and artisan spirit behind maker’s goods.

LEYLA GANS

Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina | www.LEYLAGANS.com or www.m2cstudio.com

Leyla is pictured with her Charlotte Fuchsia earrings, handmade with silk and metallic cording with a Bohemian flair.

An accomplished artist, Leyla Gans combines unique materials, cultural influences and artisan skills in ways the home and fashion industries have never seen to create trendsetting decorative trimmings and hardware as one of the founders and owners of Classical Elements. Classical Elements is a private label trimming company considered the leading purveyor of fashion-forward passementerie.

But Classical Elements is just her day job. Leyla also is a maker of fiber art-and-metal chandelier lighting through a business she began four years ago called M2C Studios. M2C stands for “mountain-to-coast,” asa nod to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Outer Banks and beaches of North Carolina, where she and her husband, Stuart, make their home. The line of globally-inspired and locally fabricated artistic lighting combining tassels and metal is sold mainly to designers and architects.

Leyla Gans with items from her M2C Studio Lighting line.

But wait, there’s more. In addition to her M2C hand-made lighting line, she also is the proprietor of Leyla Gans Jewelry, an artistic line of necklaces and earrings inspired by art, culture and textile techniques. She sees them all as related. “Jewelry is how you dress; lighting and trims are how you dress your home,” she says. “We all need a little embellishment!”

Her signature style is a “modern and fresh bohemian twist with a touch of femininity and a pinch of edge.”

Leyla Gans with items from her M2C Studio Lighting line.

A dreamer born in South America, Leyla spent her teenage years in South Florida and graduated with a degree in photography. In 2003, Leyla and her husband Stuart founded Classical Elements, a private-label trimming company offering trims such as tassels, braid and fringe used on furniture. Several years ago, Leyla designed a chandelier to decorate their showroom at Showtime. People raved about it so much, that a new lighting and accessories company, M2C Studio, was born.

“The maker movement is exciting because it gives us makers and creators the ability to bring to life a creative culture in our living spaces and lifestyles.”

JANA PLATINA PHIPPS

Hudson River Valley, New York | trimqueen.com | @trimqueen | @janaplatinaphipps

Jana is known as the Trim Queen, an expert in the use of embellishment for décor, fashion and DIY. She customizes textile programs for the home industry and consults for manufacturers. She uses trimmings as a powerful design tool and believes “Embellishment is a creative form of self-expression.” She teaches Trim Alchemy, the concept of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary using trim, via her blog, seminars, hands-on workshops, and on her social media channels.

The Fiori earrings and brooch are examples of what can be made from Jana’s Venetian Embellish Kit, which includes fabrics from Tessiture Bevilacqua and Fortuny, both heritage textile manufacturers based in Venice, also with hand-blown beads made in Murano.

Her current passion is her role as a mentor, inspiring others. “What I really get excited about is getting my luxe DIY kits in the hands of others and empowering them to create beauty ,” she says. In her role as mentor, influencer and teacher, she leads industry design tours during High Point Market and in New York City, and in 2019 launched Maker Tourism, an annual artisan-focused tour and workshops in Venice. While the Maker Tour took a break for the Pandemic, the next one is planned for 2022. Last month, she launched a virtual tour series of European locales with an art historian tour guide visiting such places as a velvet-making factory and glass makers in Italy.

The Trim Queen ornament kit is part of a luxe DIY kit to create fashion holiday ornaments.

In 1998 at Showtime, Jana presented a collection of fashion-forward trimmings that launched her career in home furnishings. In addition to designing and creating embellishments for textiles and home goods, she is an influencer and consultant, and helps companies and individuals leverage their social media for branding and customer engagement.

“The maker movement is the next logical extension of ‘buying local,’ like the (farm-to-table) or local food movement. The maker movement is a backlash against consumerism and mass production and a move towards ‘intentional consumerism’ that supports an artist and their loved ones, and makes a personal connection,” she says.

JANE POLLAK

New York, New York | janepollakdesigns.com | @janepollak

An internationally recognized and award-winning designer and author, Jane Pollak’s creations have captured the eye of collectors, interior designers, magazine editors, the White House and celebrities since the mid-80’s. Currently, Jane is masterfully crafting traditional wool appliqué Penny Rug fabrics with a richly-hued and contemporary palette, making them into high-end pillows and wall-hangings uniquely designed and custom-made by hand from small batch-dyed wools, Perle cotton filaments, glass beads, and vintage buttons. She sells these one-of-a-kind accents to interior designers primarily.

With a highly-publicized career in the Craft Movement for three decades, Jane brought the ancient art form of museum-quality Ukrainian Easter eggs to national recognition and is the author of the book, “Eggs: Exquisite Designs with Wax and Dye.” She and her eggs have been featured in The New York Times, on The Today Show and national catalog covers and magazines, and her eggs were commissioned for the Annual Easter Egg Roll at both the Reagan and Clinton White Houses. The Smithsonian archived several of Jane’s pieces, while Steve Jobs commissioned two of Pollak’s eggs for his collection.

The cover of Jane’s book, “Decorating Eggs: Exquisite Designs with Wax and Dye.”

Jane grew up in Connecticut and has a Masters Degree in Art Education. After a few decades of making decorative Ukrainian Easter eggs to nationwide acclaim, she most recently had shifted her career towards speaking and writing as a certified coach, author, nationally recognized speaker and lifestyle entrepreneur. That all changed the weekend before the nationwide lockdown for the COVID-19 Pandemic. “I took a class in penny-rug making and had enough fabric to make several items at the beginning of lockdown. People reacted so positively, and I enjoyed it so much and fell in love with every stage of the creative process. It was therapeutic and fulfilling.”

The Lumbar Floral Pillow

“There’s something about the gesture of inserting a needle into fabric and pulling it through that is very elegant,” says Jane.

“The materials are beautiful and the colors are beautiful. Every stage of the process, from designing to laying out the template, is pleasurable...My pillows are a contemporary take on a traditional colonial art. They are one-of-a-kind, and when you look at them, you can see the human hand, the imperfect human hand, in each pillow.”

JILL SEALE

Charlotte, North Carolina | jillseale.com | @jillseale

Jill Seale is a textile-based artist, award-winning designer and author specializing in marbling techniques. She has multiple collaborations in home furnishings and textiles, with her fabric designs featured by Norwalk and Libby Langdon, Hamilton Fabrics, Wesley Hall, C.R. Laine and EJ Victor, and she recently launched the Jill Seale Studio Collection for Port 68, a home accessories resource.

Jill Seale in the Port 68 home accessories showroom with her “Black Orchid” fabric design for Hamilton Fabrics on display.

Jill began her career as a graphic designer with clients ranging from the White House to the Kennedy Center to Sir Paul McCartney. It was during a fateful trip to Florence, Italy,where she mastered the ancient art of marbling, that her creative career path was set. She started out by designing marbled fabrics and taking 100 pillows to High Point Market. Her opportunities grew “exponentially” from there. Today, the textile-based artist has products displaying her contemporary interpretation of classic marbling in top showrooms and retailers nationwide. From an early age, Jill was drawn to marbling and collected marbled paper. When she tried the method herself, she found her passion. She rearranged her studio and left her graphic design business. “I knew I had found my voice in textiles,” she says.

The Kate Ottoman from Norwalk is covered in a Jill Seale fabric design.

“The creative process is captivating! One must leap off the cliff of ‘What is,’ into a flight of fancy of ‘What could be?’”

“Everything starts with my marbling tray,” says Seale, who trained in Florence, Italy under master marbling artisans. “From there, I work with manufacturers to implement my designs. Manufacturers and designers get more personal design solutions when they work with makers.”

Jill Seale and designer Libby Langdon are holding a pillow covered in Seale’s Florentine Splash fabric, which inspired Langdon’s design of a Norwalk Furniture showroom.