Monday, 29 April 2013

Craft2.0 May 2013 interview

May designers: Meet Chromatophobic

What is your name?  Yana / Chromatophobic

What do you make?  Eco-friendly, colour-averse jewellery and accessories that are laser cut from salvaged materials.
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How did you get into your craft?  I’ve been a maker for as long as I remember, despite my kindergarten teachers yelling at me to play with dolls, instead of making cars from twigs and pine cones. Chromatophobic started while I was working as a workshop technician at design school and was given a free reign over the laser cutter, so I could turn my years of doodled characters into physical objects.

What are your favourite tools and materials?  I owe much to a computer and a laser cutter, but I wouldn’t get far without my array of black pens and sketch book. I enjoy working with felt, polypropylene, plywood and stainless steel. Each material has its peculiar fun challenges.
work in progress
Work in progress
How are you inspired?  I think at the moment, it’s the crazy faces that my daughter pulls as she experiments with her expressions. She manages to contort her face into a multitude of grimaces in a matter of moments, and that inspired me to doodle a few monsters. Fortunately they bear no resemblance to the child.
Inspiration face
Inspiration face
Describe your workspace. How does it contribute to your creativity?  My workspace generally takes over most of the house, as it goes where I go to keep up with the best light in the available space; and now the small child who races around on all fours and has to be caged when I use a soldering iron. I keep everything organised and labelled in draws and boxes because I like working in a tidy environment.
Characters
Characters
What is some customer feedback you've kept close to heart?  I’ve had a few gleeful emails from people who’ve photographed their Chromatophobic purchases in use, and I’m keen for more examples!

Why buy handmade?  “Handmade” is probably a bit of a fallacy. Nearly everything is handmade to some extent. In the context of this fair, handmade means that you can be confident that the blood, sweat and tears that went into the items on sale, did so with love and informed consent.
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What advice would you offer to other crafters/artists just starting out?  Keep a record of your process and design evolution. It’s uplifting to see how crap your designs were at the beginning.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?  Buried under a pile of Grimlies on my lounge floor.
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