Posie

Artist: Alicia Paulson
Website: Posie
Blog: Posie Gets Cozy

Where are you located?
Portland, Oregon

What do you create?
I make handbags, crocheted toys and accessories, fabric flowery stuff, collages, paper mache, dolls, all sorts of stuff. Whatever catches my fancy. And then I move on to something else. I never make one thing for too long.

When and why did you decide to start your business?
I started my business officially in 2000, though I had been planning to do it for about a year before that. I was in a bad accident in 1998 and spent almost a year in bed, where I started doing handwork to keep busy. I had always liked making things, but I’d never considered it to be a career possibility (I worked in publishing). But after my accident I knew I wanted to be self-employed so I could have more flexibility logistically and physically, and I was very motivated to find a way to do that. Making things by hand was instrumental in my recovery, and continues to be a source of great relaxation and comfort.

How did you come up with your business name?
The name Posie: The dumbest name ever on earth. I picked it because when I started out, I actually did all custom silk-ribbon embroidery, and much of it was of little tiny bouquets and hearts and flowers. A posy is a tiny bouquet, and I changed the name to "posie" because my maiden name is Ieronemo, and I've always been kind of attached the the "ie." When I see those two letters together, they look like home, to me. And this was, like, seven years ago, however, and I wasn't thinking about urls or web sites or any of that stuff, or how people would spell something to put it in a search engine, etc. I love the name, but it has caused a lot of confusion out there, which I'm pretty sure has not been a good thing. If I had it to do over, I'd choose some word that had zero associations with it, and buy the url for it immediately.



How do you get the word out about your business?
For a few years I did local trunk shows with indie clothing designers and cultivated a small following in Portland, Oregon, where I live. I did wholesale for a while, and had reps that sold my products on the West Coast. But then I got some magazine publicity in 2003 and built a web site and my own mailing list, and began to sell things exclusively through that site and the brick-and-mortar shop I co-owned. I’ve never been able to afford advertising, so it’s always just been word-of-mouth and occasional editorial coverage in magazines, and newspaper stuff when they contact me. I’m not very good at pursuing publicity anymore, but I used to work at it and occasionally it would happen, which is always very exciting. I started my blog in October of 2005 and blogs are just sort of a magically viral. I have no idea how they spread, but they just seem to.

Where do you see your business in 5 years?
Hmmm. I actually have absolutely no idea. I’m a sucky planner and I rarely think ahead. (Not that I recommend that, it’s just one of my special gifts, to be completely unprepared and planless.) Maybe I'll try to do a craft book, or manufacture on a larger scale. Maybe I’ll be doing something else completely. I’m not sure. I’d be happy to be doing exactly what I’m doing right now, exactly as I’m doing it, actually. Maybe with someone else to do all the packing and shipping and the P.O. runs. That would be dreamy.

Where do you get inspiration for your projects?
I get inspiration from children’s books and vintage toys. Movies. Television. Magazines, especially French and English shelter magazines. Japanese craft books. Vintage craft magazines. Blogs. The fabric store is endlessly inspiring. I don’t really think about getting inspiration – ever since I was little I’ve had a list of projects I wanted to try. If I ever feel burnt out, I just take some time off, and the ideas eventually start bubbling back up. The hard part is having time to do everything.

You work with different materials. Which is your favorite?
Well, I love fabric. I have more than I’ll ever, ever use, but I can’t seem to stop buying more. Sigh. But vintage buttons – I’d be lost without vintage buttons. I only started collecting them a couple of years ago and now I hoard them and routinely fondle them. They are hard to part with but I consider it my duty.

Which of the tools you use is your favorite?
I love hand-sewing because I love to sit on the couch and watch TV. I find it hard to do one without the other, and since they are two of my favorite things, I tend to do them a lot. So I’d say it’s a toss-up between television and a nice, sharp needle as my favorite tool. I love fabric glue, too. I would be lost without glue.



What keeps you motivated?
I do get really burnt out and unbalanced sometimes. Sometimes the “business” side of the business just exhausts me completely and I get really bogged down by it. I tend to elevate all details to the same position of importance on the list – #1 – and that’s a tough way to live. If it goes on too long, I feel completely unmotivated and I start to become hysterical, complaining regularly to anyone who will listen, and many who won’t (mailman, dog). For a long time I thought that if I just got to a certain place, the chaos – that is, the constant juggling of everything it takes to run a creative business and keep it running – would clear, and now I see that the chaos is the business. That is what it is, and you have to learn to love it. So I try and take breaks, and I need to do more of it. Breaks so that things can happen more in “chunks,” and there is time to rest in between, and refill the creative well. Without that, nothing works. If the work isn’t good and interesting, there is no business. So the important thing to me is always the work, and making that the best I can. I can tell when I’m starting to freak out because I haven’t had enough quiet time to devote to the work, and that’s when I screech to a halt and sit down.

What advice would you give to someone starting a creative business?
Um – let’s see. Be prepared to do more grunt work than you are probably imagining. Read books about how to sell your work. Be frugal with your questions and do as much as you can on your own. Learn web design, learn photography – these are imperative. You can’t afford to hire someone to do this for you when you are starting out. Be patient. Be polite. Do the very best work you possibly can and trust that it will find an audience. Enjoy the process and the journey – that’s all there really is, anyway.

If you couldn't be doing what you do know what would you do?
I’d probably still be some kind of editor. But if I had it all to do over I think I’d like to have been an actor. But I’d probably be more interested in the costume design, now that I think about it. I probably would’ve enjoyed being an art historian, too.



Can you recommend a good book or great music?
Hmmm. I just finished reading Everything Changes by Jonathan Tropper and I thought that was great. And music . . . well, I’m not exactly ahead of the curve there. I’m just catching on to M. Ward and Sufjan Stevens, but I am a longtime Wilco fan. I like all the alt-country bands. I didn’t actually know they were called this, of course, but I’ve since been informed.

Who is your favorite indie designer/artist?
I really like Petra Boase and her aesthetic. I’ve seen her house profiled in a decorating book I have and I think it’s just perfect.

What's on your nightstand?
ALWAYS a glass of water. A clock radio that I never use. A lamp. Whatever new little critter I just worked on that day (I like to take them up to bed with me and then look at them right before I fall asleep and right when I get up). And then on the floor next to the bed there is an enormous and slippery pile of about twenty books and magazines, as well as whatever clothes I had on that day. And probably a bunch of dog toys.

What's your definition of a perfect day? Sitting around the house with the pets and my husband, watching movies, cooking, and hanging out, not doing much of anything. Why are those days so rare???


Thank you Alicia!