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Q1 Could you tell us what's a highlight of your recent design career?
It must be a shift in thinking about how one has to consume or maybe a general frustration with big, faceless companies... but especially recently I've been getting very warm and personal feedback from people who have purchased my work. People are going out of their way to contact me, which feels amazing as an artist and a designer. |
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Q2 What are the special qualities of your design?
My hand is really strong in my work, and the warmth comes across, which seems to be unusual in metal. Even though I love to draw, I have a hard time following a specific plan so i feel i've developed the art of sketching in metal. I love exaggeration in design.
Q3 If you were to dress one person, who would that be?
Elvis! He style is incredible, and we could hang out at graceland... or maybe loretta lynn. Just to chat it up and listen to her. Or maybe frida kahlo, to drink tequila and cry. and practice my spanish. and learn from her.
Q4 What do you offer to consumers different than others?
I am very immediate in my designs and even though my work is available through many different venues, I work to stay accessible to the individual. I am absolutely committed to fair trade, eco-awareness and general good feelings and kindness. Power to the people, baybee! |
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Q8 What was the moment you realized you'd made it as a designer?
There's so much bouncing around in my head. I love to create and i love to see my work out there in the world. It's very exciting to see or hear mentions of lovinganvil in press, or catch a glimpse of my work on the street -- but there's so much I want to do i feel like I'm just getting warmed up! |
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Q9 As a designer, who is your muse?
My daughter for her crazy coolness and breathtaking wisdom. My husband for his intense outlook and passion. I love languages and cultures and the fundamental differences that define one from another. It totally excites me.
Q10 Could you tell us about your next collection, any future plans?
I have been working on these kind of wistful dolls that I want to translate into jewelry and adornment. I'm really excited about this -- I love to draw and i'm working on incorporating etched drawings into some designs.
Q11 Music to live by.
I can't name just a few things, music is so important to me. We host a music series in our barn every few months and are so honored to have the musicians play in our home! I wear an image of elliott smith around my neck. His songs always make my heart ache. We learned of shugo tokumaro and meso meso via myspace recently and I can't get enough. |
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Q15 Is there anything you would like to say to your Japanese fans?
Thank you thankyou thankyou! We would love to visit Japan soon! So much beauty in culture and landscape and the Japanese sense of fashion and design is stellar! I really really want to go to sanrio puroland. errr. uhm. I mean, I want to take our daughter. right. xoxoxoxlovelovelove! coco |
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lovinganvil was founded in 1998 in Portland, Oregon, usa. Trained both in the east coast (Rhode Island School of Design) design sense, and the west coast (University of New Mexico) design sense. Moved to Portland, Oregon in the early 90's and further shaped our design sense as well as a social and eco consciousness. We worked hard and had a ton of fun in the young, burgeoning Portland fashion scene. We're involved in the first two Portland Fashion Incubator shows, various boutiques and early renegade shows with Seaplane, Cargo, and Motel.
lovinganvil developed a following for heartfelt, unconventional and completely custom wedding rings. Relocated to southern Maine in 2005. Now, we are a small design house, working out of an 1880 barn in southern, coastal maine. Our pieces play between appreciation of clean, orderly geometry and a love of and commitment to the hand hewn. We love the unexpected, the tongue-in-cheek, and overstating the obvious. Also love custom orders and working with people, and we're quite adept at calming down crazed, stressed-out brides. |
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Q5 What are you wearing this spring?
I live in a place right now that is really cold and icy for a long period of time! I'm so excited to wear simple, clingy dresses and anything that's not big winter boots! it's important to me to support small design houses, and the quality and intimacy is incredible. So i research a lot. I love prairie underground and kate towers. I also really like the simplicity of american apparel for solid color bits and love that it's sweatshop free!
Q6 What do you see people wearing on the streets that you think is not tasteful?
Well. hmmm. There are a lot of things that I wonder about. but for the most part I really support individual expression so if someone's wearing something that they're into, who am i to criticize. What does bother me is complete disregard or laziness like someone going out in clothing that just doesn't fit -- buttons straining or unintentional highwaters... you know. It doesn't need to cost a lot, just try to treat yourself well, and look like you care! |
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Q7 What inspires you to design?
Rocknroll. pop culture and the rambunctious all inspire me. I love color and am usually balancing large, beautiful stones on my fingers, squinting and considering how they'll look as a ring. I love adornment and i love combining geometry and graphic design with something lovingly hand-hewn, in all of it's beautiful imperfections. |
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Q12 Favorite cocktail and where to drink it?
I love a good sipping tequila. Correlejo repasado is my favorite so far and it comes in a beautiful blue glass bottle. It's hard to get where we live so it's even more of a treat when we have it and my favorite place to drink it is in our kitchen while cooking a wonderful meal or after a wonderful meal at our table.
Q13 What is your favorite cuisine? Could you tell us a good restaurant in your area?
I'm really happy when there are lots of little tastes to choose from and mix in front of me so I love spanish tapas or a lebanese mezza plate. When we lived in portland, oregon, one restaurant we loved was olive stick, portland's take on kushikatsu. I loved going in and picking three or four tastes from the nightly list. I daydream frequently about the rice and beans and red chili we'd eat at my favorite restaurant, garcias, in albuquerque, new mexico but we don't live in that area of the country right now. |
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Q14 If you could rewrite your history a bit and take on a totally different career or lifestyle, what would it be and why?
I love science and thought I would leave art school and change to astronomy or geology during my third year. I didn't do it but I get really excited when I start reading about the ins and outs of those things. Even if I don't understand a lot of it. I also lovelovelove flamenco and studied for a while in albuquerque. I would love to be more immersed in that culture. |
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