I’m so excited to announce a new feature on our blog in which I’ll be interviewing amazing artists and craftsters to share a little about their process and inspirations. First up is Patty of Papaver Vert.  She crochets and hand felts vibrant, usuable vessels. She just launched her beautiful new website (www.papaververt.com) and her work debuts on our website today. Stay tuned for part two of the interview later this week, in which we get a sneak peak inside her studio. Thank you, Patty!

 

Q: I love to hear what people wanted to do when they were little. It’s always so fascinating how  the careers and accomplishments we aspire to when we’re young can reveal this other side to people we know only as adults. So…what did you ‘always’ want to do? Where you always doing arts & crafts projects or is that something more recent?


A: I remember wanting to be something different every other month when I was really young. I do remember being around 6 or 7 and thinking opera singers were the coolest people (I was just starting to play piano at that age) and thinking Mozart was really amazing! How did he compose all that music at such a young age and I want to do it too! My mom had taught my sister and I how to sew from a young age (barbie clothes were all the rage in my house) and as I got older I realized that I loved to draw.  I enjoyed visiting museums with my family (we lived in England when I was younger and visiting the British Museum was mind blowing) so at around 10 or so I thought being an artist was something I really wanted to be, even though I don’t think I really knew what it meant. In school my favorite thing to do, and more so than drawing, was putting together these large books on whatever topic we were studying. For example, we had to put together a very rudimentary book filled with colorful construction paper (the teachers would help with the binding construction at the end) to do with the Tudor period in England. I loved drawing all the clothes but really got into designing 3D cut-outs that would pop up once you would turn the page (a very crude pop-up book!). I loved all the making, designing and cutting out of my characters that I eventually ignored what the book was really supposed to be about and ended up handing in an "incorrect" assignment. I don’t think I received a very good grade! After this experience I was really into "making" things as opposed to drawing and I remember getting perfect scores in my woodworking and sculpture classes and getting a "C" in my drawing/painting class.

 

Q. Your creations have such a balance of form and function. Do you weight these qualities equally or does one have greater importance to you?


A. Hmm….that’s a good question. I am always concerned about my designs having a real purpose, so they’re not just "fluff". I wouldn’t call them a bowl or a vessel if they really were not able to be used as one. The very first bowl I ever made I used for myself for a long time on my dresser to hold the jewelry that meant the most to me, and it just grew from there. I liked it’s purpose, it’s look and it’s texture but just those alone can produce something unpleasing to the eye! I like mimicking a shape that can be done in glass or ceramic but using something softer and more unconventional to achieve the same look. I also like the juxtaposition of using wool to make a shape that has angles and a somewhat hard edge, even though it’s soft. That seems like waaaayyyy too much thought into just a bowl, a felted bowl at that. But it’s fun to really get into it! So I guess, yes, I do weigh these two qualities equally.