Finding My Voice in Entrepreneurship and Creativity

As a child, my entrepreneurial spirit was always looking for ways to sell my creations. My earliest experience with entrepreneurship, selling stationery I made door to door, came with a rush from the commission I made from each sale. My creative side developed via yard sale treasure hunting with my grandmother as we looked for clothes to tailor to my style. I was consistently drawn to the more tactile pieces, like velvet items and ornate beadwork garments. These trips were a playful exercise that helped hone the colors and patterns that best expressed who I was. 

When I entered public school at the age of 13, art was my escape from bullies. In my art classes, I tried pattern design, gouache, linoleum block printing, and painting silk scarves as I explored and wondered what a textile designer did every day. I started dreaming about having a creative independent business “when I grew up” as I learned more about how I could combine my skills and wishes.

Discovering Digital Printing 

After seeing how my creative interests had grown over time, my grandma planted the seed of studying art at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), a hop, skip, and jump away from home. So I applied and was granted a scholarship. I transferred to RISD my sophomore year, which happened to start the day before 9/11; it was a memorable and horrific beginning. That year I often felt lost and overwhelmed—the opposite of how I felt when I was making art.

The following year at RISD, I explored digital printing, it was a technology that was then before its time. However, in the years since, print-on-demand businesses like Spoonflower, Hawthorne Supply Co, Society6, and the like have come into their own and flourished. I was elated to learn of these sites through colleagues who were using them in the earliest days of print-on-demand.

A Decade Creating Patterns for Textile Surface Design Companies 

After graduation, it was a struggle to find a job in the textile industry during the recession that followed the passing of the Free Trade Act. However, I ended up spending 10 years creating textile surface designs for fashion, rugs, wallpaper, and a stationery company. (The last job was my favorite one!) 

Right before I took the stationery company job, I was living in Los Angeles and I lost my mom. My grief drove me. I was driven to pull myself up and find intention in my next career and life steps, which led me to take my last full-time job, get married, and formulate my business plan.

I worked out a freelance arrangement with the stationery company, which had worked with another former designer on a freelance basis. I then moved to beautiful Santa Barbara, California, to seed my journey as an independent artist. Riding my bike to the farmer’s market, along with going to yoga class, the beach, and the rose garden was healing for my spirit and ever-inspiring for my budding creative business.

Starting Crystal W Design

After time well spent in Santa Barbara, I was ready for my next chapter—the one I had dreamed about since childhood. In 2015, I started my own business, Crystal W Design, to further my entrepreneurial vision. With a leap of faith, some savings, and an open attitude, I dove in head first leveraging my extensive experience of designing for national retailers, identifying sales trends, and creating top-selling designs. From day one, my designs have consistently been bestsellers for my brand partners and garnered licensing interest.

I am deeply grateful that my artwork brings joy and opportunity to a wide range of customers including interior designers, licensees, national retailers, small businesses, and DIY makers. I love seeing my designs come to life through all these relationships!

What My Business Looks Like Today

Eventually, my husband and I moved to Colorado, had a baby, and bought a second home in New England to rekindle our native roots. My tiny dream back in high school to have my own creative business has grown as it continues to evolve and come into focus as I try new ideas, patterns, and projects. Having my own business has allowed me to create a life that I love and the freedom to decide my career destiny. I can spend time with my family, feed my adventurous nature, and have creative freedom all around. Through exploration and following my interests, I’ve formed a life as an independent artist that has a clear throughline from the creative magic and dreams of my childhood.

Still Reading?

“For a person who has the [poetic] spirit, everything he sees becomes a flower, and everything he imagines turns into a moon...” - Matsuo Basho 1644-1694

“You cannot put together a life willy nilly from odds and ends. Even in a crazy quilt, the various pieces, wherever they came from, have to be trimmed and shaped and arranged so they fit together, then firmly sewn to last through time and keep out cold. Most quilts are more ambitious: they involve the imposition of a new pattern. But even crazy quilts are sewn against a backing; the basic sense of continuity allows improvisation. Composing a life involves openness to possibilities and the capacity to put them together in a way that is structurally sound.”

- ‘Composing a Life’ Mary Catherine Bateson