A Little History

Here is a little Rekoj background which was first prompted by a really great forum thread on the EtsyRain message boards - "What were you thinking?" As in how did you end up on Etsy selling stuff?

I want to post my reply here just cuz it was so fun to think about:

I've drawn my whole life - had parents that happily encouraged my creativity. As a kid I would fully draw out characters, costumes, living spaces etc and make little books about them. Then, as I got older those little drawings turned into paintings which then turned into studying animation. I loved to animate but somehow I got it into my head that in order to actually get an animation job I would be forced to move to LA - which I really didn't want to do! (Little older and wiser about that nowadays)
The line drawings that I paint on everything I do began with that study of animation however. They are my way of capturing movement in a single plane. I had been doodling them for ages on paper, but it took a visit to this interesting little retail experiment that one of my friends was involved in before I made the leap from paper onto fabric. 6 years ago I started freehand painting my line drawings on recycled clothing and I became a seller with the Olympia Clothing Project, which was basically a fashion designer's shared retail space. We all sold our items commission free in exchange for working the store a day or two each month. It was hugely successful and fabulous fun - until a major roof leak in the building we were in forced us out of our cheap rent. Without a place to sell, many of us dispersed out into either traditional brick and mortar shops or BuyOlympia.com. We would occasionally bump into each other at craft shows such as I Heart Rummage or Crafty Wonderland, but overall it seemed like it was the end of us designers taking charge.

And then along came Etsy - and now I've reconnected with some of the other original Oly Clothing Project designers through Etsy such as Ruffeo Hearts Lil' Snotty and PaperDollFashion. And that artist and crafter community I was so sad to have lost? It wasn't an end oh no - it was a beginning of what is now a worldwide community. We all know it - Etsy ROCKS!