Etsy Around the World: rephilosophy

This week's artist was spotted on Flickr and I was excited to see that they were on Etsy too...

Who are you?

I'm Paola and my shop is Rephilosophy.

Where are you located?

Milan, Italy , Europe

If you have you ever visited North Carolina, what do you remember about your trip?
I'm sorry to say I've never been there, but I love The U.S. east cost and lighthouses, so I'll visit NC for sure!

What do you create?
I create journals bound in the Japanese stab stitch method, tags, and bookmarks.I love paper and I work to find new ways to reuse every kind of paper or cardboard that usually people throw.

Why did you choose your shop name?
RE is the begin of Three important words for me: REuse, REdesign, REduce.So RE it 's become my life philosophy, so REphilosophy.

What is your favorite place to visit in your hometown?

I love to be surrounded by books, so my favorite place it's a bookshop close to Scala teather, call "Milano libri" (Milan books). I love the second floor, dedicated to interior design, illustration and fashion. I can spend hours and hours on the couch close to the window get inspiration or just relax browsing through the pages.

What inspires you?
I get inspired from every object that surround me, I try to look to discarded materials in a new light. Sometime I spend days looking to an object found on the street, trying to figure out what will be his new life.

What are your goals?

My goal is expand Rephilosophy to the everyday life. I would start to show people that we can live reusing things we already have and throwing nothing away that doesn't have to be.I'm doing this opening a Bed and breakfast hotel completely furnish with reused materials. So people can touch with their hands the RE philosophy.

What do you do when you are not creating?

Since I love cross stitching and I love fashion, too I use to cross stitch fashion items like bags, shoes, hats and so on. I'm going to open a new shop on Etsy with my prefer cross stitch works.I also love to spend times with my black lab, Taz.

--If you'd like to learn more about Paola's work, you should check out these: blog & personal web-site

Etsy Around the World: RedFenyx

This week's artist is from Italy and she creates jewelry that will remind you of childhood fairy tales...

Who are you?
My name is Saori and my shop name is RedFenyx.

Where are you located?
I live in Bologna, a little city in the center of Italy.
If you have you ever visited North Carolina, what do you remember about your trip?

Unfortunately I have never been to the USA yet, but it seems that in North Carolina there are a lot of natural places to visit with beautiful landscapes, and also interesting cultural events in some cities that will be nice to see :) But I'm sure that if I'll have the chance to visit you beautiful country I could ask to You what has to be seen, it's always better to ask to local people instead of the net or travel guide books!

What do you create?
I usually make little cute jewelry and figurines with polymer clay.

When did you start creating?
I did discover this magic paste in 2006.

Why did you choose your medium?
I loved how it could be used to make little details and also that, even once baked, it mantains the exact colour and shape that you like!

What inspires you?
I get inspiration from the two cultural traditions which I belong to, the japanese one and the italian one. From the european part I often make tales/book characters, like "Alice in Wonderland", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Sleeping Beauty", "The Wizard of Oz" (right) etc. which are really well known between western people, expecially I'm sure that they still are in the heart of every girl/woman who passed days reading these tales during her childhood. While I get inspirations also from japanese tales which I used to read when I was a child, or also japanese mythological/folklore characters. I love to make these things with a touch of japanese nowadays cute style, also well known as "kawaii" style.

What do you do when you are not creating?
Actually I attend to Bologna's university, and I'm really busy studying. During free time I love reading, expecially I love latin american writers, taking photos is another hobby, drawing, playing contact juggling... I like studying languages too, I think that being able to talk, exchange ideas and compare yourself with people from other countries is a really important thing in life. That's why I love travelling too! I wish I had more time!

What is your favorite place to visit in your hometown?
There is not only one place to visit in my town, it is not so big so it is possible to walk around also under the rain because almost every street has arcades so that you can calmly walk, give a look to shops, enter in cafes... As in Bologna was created one of the oldest universities of the world, in 1088, and it is the town of the students' nowadays too, there are a lot of things to do in night life too, from dozens of pubs, to concerts and other events. So If you have the chance to, please come and enjoy!