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Hello!
It's always interesting and insightful when you decide to sit down and write something about yourself. Kind of fun... as you get down to the nut of who you are. Here's a little bit about me and my incredible studio mates.
I'm an artist and designer surrounded by great friends, family, nature & animals. I love to travel for inspiration. I love to meet people. I love art of all kinds, and the simple textures of everyday things. Cooking, gardening, yoga, meditation and music are all passions of mine. I spend a lot of time creating and running my business and traveling to meet with new friends and old, - I love it all! My husband David (soulmate, guru and best friend ) and I have been together since 1986 (art school) and married since 1990 and we work together everyday. We have 4 cats - Pete, Birdie, Pip & Smooch. They're ALWAYS close by!
My story is not different from anyone else's, only my experiences are unique to me. I've been " making things " all my life; drawing as early as I can remember and learning to sew at age 7. I've been hugely influenced by my grandmother and my Mom... two dynamic women who shared their love of arts & crafts and always supported my desire to follow my heart. I worked hard in art school to hone my skill and became obsessed with fashion and surface design.I got a job with a large company right out of school and soon started filling my personal creative time with making small passport bags out of vintage fabric and selling them in shops. In 1992 Dave and decided to move home to be near our families and start our studio " Art of the Midwest ". Over the years we developed a breadth of illustrations and products for clients worldwide always believing we would continue to evolve and craft this creative life. Keeping on this path, putting one foot in front of the other one creative experience and opportunity has led to the next, ultimately allowing me to come full circle and create a business that incorporates my biggest passions print design, sewing and connecting with people.
This artistic energy extends into the way we run our business and work to effect positive changes in our community and beyond. Every decision is looked at with respect to how it will affect other people. We want to improve the lives of those whom we touch. Working to live sustainably as part and parcel of everything we do at my studio, and of how I try to lead my life. This philosophy is inherent : reusing vintage clothing and furnishings, making your own beautiful home and fashion items, gardening organically to help sustain your ecosystem, and simply—well, living simply. " Giving back " is also key and is a great privilege. It's a way of life that elevates the spirit and encourages those around you to take responsibility for and ownership of society as a whole. A better world is constantly maintained, not finally achieved. We work to sustain a cottage industry of local seamstresses, engage in fundraisers for our women's shelter and food bank, and support the area's animal shelters. Your community supports you, I believe it's vital to work to maintain a healthy, viable relationship with it. This is essential to the optimistic vision that inspires me, and it is dear to my heart.
One of my core beliefs is that through who we are and what we do, we can inspire great change in ourselves, each other, and in the world. I believe that we can inspire those around us to become happier & more confident through finding their own creativity. That's the wonderful thing about making art! Finding creative fire, love, passion, excitement, and pure joy in the little everyday things... taking note and loving and appreciating every moment. I feel fortunate to be on my path nurturing my creative spark, and I love hearing about other like-minded folks who are finding theirs! It's a beautiful process, we're all in it together... growing, learning and becoming.
If you would like to send me a note, I'd love to hear from you and I especially love seeing what you've created using my patterns and fabrics! You can write to me at amyb@amybutlerdesign.com.
Beauty is in the way you live. Enjoy your surroundings. Let them inspire you. Follow your own path, and approach everything you do with love in your heart.
Much Love, Amy
Now, about my amazing studio!
Since we've expanded a bit into many products and many countries, we've grown into a small studio of amazing people! To keep things fresh and moving forward, you have to not only love what you do, but surround yourself with great friends who share the passion! These are my wonderful friends on whom I rely... thank you, thank you, thank you!
DAVID BUTLER - My husband and partner. David helps to run the business, the brand, design for packaging and collateral, the web, and you may know him as the guy who takes the photographs for all of my lines. (he's incredible!! ) He also cleans litter boxes and takes out trash! A true renaissance man! We have been working together since 1992, and married since 1990. I'm one lucky girl. You can see more of his graphic work at www.artofthemidwest.com and hear his amazing indy rock band Black Owls here www.blackowls.com
DIANE CAPACI - She's our studio manager & runs the show. She is Miss Wonderful. The sweetest, smartest, warmest person you could ever hope to know. There are many balls to juggle here, and she keeps them all going!
JAKE REDINGER - Our beloved Jake! He's our graphic designer that develops the sewing patterns, website, and most anything else with an Amy logo on it. He's also a fantastic illustrator - you'll see his art pretty much every year on our Holiday e-cards.
MOLLY HUSTON - Molly is my angel. She's an amazing designer that helps me handle the "computer" part from my "handmade" world and manage all of my licenses.
MALLORY THEISS - Mallory is our fantastic PR and press, and ohhh, organizer of all things from photo shoots to trunk shows, to media events to, well, everything! She helps keep me and David in the loop, and that's no small task.
I also want to say a special thanks to these incredible friends.
KEVIN REINER - { Kevin Reiner Design } He's one of the best friends I've ever had and an incredible interior and landscape designer! Kevin creates beauty for our studio garden every season. www.kevinreinerdesign.com
KIM METTEE - We've been close friends since college and she's a true creative muse for me! Most of the jewelry you see in my photo shoots are from Kim's hands. www.kimmetteedesigns.com
AMY HAMILTON - Amy is a dear friend and from time to time she's helped style some of my shoots.. She's also an amazingly talented designer & milliner. www.granvillemillinerycompany.com
BARBARA FRANKS of Footloose - for loaning us the fun vintage clothes for my photo shoots. She's got a vintage collection to die for and she's a doll!
Foot Loose 121 South Prospect St. Granville, OH 43023
Our seamstresses
There are many amazing women in our community that work with us on a freelance basis to test my sewing patterns and make up trunk show samples. I test and test and retest the patterns with many different sewers to make sure they are the best possible before they go out. thanks all! You're amazing!!
Our agents of growth
David and I work with licensing and literary agents. They are our window into not only possibilities, but creative adventures! They look after us, they look ahead for us, and they are our dear friends that we're very lucky to have. They often work alongside Steve Contini - he's our amazing attorney who helps us navigate contracts!
Our models
We recruit women in our own community to be our models. Many of them are our friends to start - All of them have their own inner and outer beauty and we love seeing the spark and emotion that they bring to our photo shoots. Thank you all!
Our printer
Chuck at Printing Arts Press has been in business with us since day one of the sewing patterns. They helped us source our 100% recycled papers, they use vegetable based inks, and they do it all with serious commitment to excellent quality and we can't thank them enough for being such great partners all of these years.
Our web guru
Matt Fox who keeps us up and running and acts as lion tamer with the ups and downs of the mad, mad internet world!
Our technical supervisor
Victor Wise who steps in to keep our computer world held together when we're in over our heads. Which is often.
Our license partners
You can obviously learn about them by going through this website. But we have an oath. We wouldn't want to do business with anyone we wouldn't consider to be a great friend first. We've settled on an amazing group of good business friends!
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