Meet Etsy Owner Christy from ZIEHL

I am from Sakatoon, Sask. I have always worked in creative fields, my mother encouraged me to study piano and dance as a very young child and later study the perfoming arts more formally including working in Radio broadcasting off and on for almost 20 years and more recently an art Gallery & in art consulting.  I live in Calgary with my fiancé, a fucifur panther chameleon, and a cat.

I started my etsy shop because I had been laid off from a radio job, then also from a job at an art gallery following my fathers death, both due to the economy.and I was tired of relying on other companies for income, etsy seemed like an ideal venue for me.

I decided that I wanted to challenge myself to design clothing, having been artistically inspired by fashion and music for most of my life.. and combine that with some of the other multi media art & craft that I do… and put it out there..  Especially since I had been previously selling & promoting others works in the gallery.. thought I should just do it for myself .  I thrive on independence in a way, so this is ideal for me as an artist to have control of the works in all aspects .

I came up with my shop name because it is my last name, and the name I sign on all my artworks/paintings,etc. It is also my fathers last name, and he died of cancer 6 months before i opened the shop, and I wanted to pay tribute to him in some small way, so that he knows his name will live on somehow, even when i get married, I will probably keep my name in some part.

I think my favourite item right now is any of the stretch velvet dresses or day dresses. They are part of my latest fall winter collection, which is now available locally here at deva dave in Calgary or devadave.com , and I guess it is just special because i put alot into creating this line , and it is one of my favorite dresses in terms of how it fits and makes the wearer feel. Color is also very important consideration when i work as well. So the jewel tone colors have a signifigance of their own..

Memorable stories.. well, probably the items with the most memorable stories are the art pieces, photography etc. Something interesting always happens while Im doing any form of photography, whether it’s fashion or art based, and I try to encorporate some of the stories into the descriptions when possible.

The first piece I sold online in my shop was a handmade denim bag with white leather fringe and rose embroidery.

The inspiration for my pieces is rooted in a desire to create, influenced by color, fabric, texture,photographic & artistic composition and other artists works, designers(rodarte, john Galliano, mcqueen, lagerfield, Lucian matis,) pop culture and subculture & music(Joni Mitchell, 70’s music, 80’s pop music, 90’s clothes from the tv show friends.. hehe) among other random things.Sometimes I am instantly inspired and can endlessly sketch new creations, and sometimes it is a challange.

You should buy handmade because it supports a whole network of ridiculously talented people who may otherwise not be able to put their work in the public in a traditional retail way..

Stick with your gut, and always be open to constructive critiscism, but do what you know, and do it to the best of your aility. Always try to learn something with each new work..

As far as expansion, some of my work is recently sold out to a local boutique, and that is so exciting. (Devadave in Calgary or devadave.com) 

I was also featured on bloglovin.com on a blog called fashion fixation,as well as a few other blogs, facebook sites, etc.. I was recently nominated as an emerging trends designer for Boston Fashion week 2010, and invited to show in the castle in Boston, however, it was a bit much in terms of timing and being so new for me to quickly be ready enough to go& show there at that point(only having been open a couple months.. so they have said they will hold an invite for me for next year/season )

**Please take a moment to visit ZIEHL If you comeback here and leave a comment with your favorite item you can have a total of five extra entries to leave on any or a combination of my current giveaways.  You MUST leave the comments for the extra entries on the giveaways you would like to be entered into.  This offer ends on 11/10 at midnight.