Five Whats- Hortensia Handmade

After a long long long hiatus, my favorite segment of the blog- Five Whats is back! It is a little Q&A with creative and talented people that I admire, some are friends, and some are strangers that I've become friends with. Today's guest is Michelle Peglau of Hortensia Handmade. I am obsessed with Hortensia ever since I first saw their neck warmer (picture below), everything is hand made by artisans in Peru. Michelle is based in New York and she runs the business with her mother who lives in Peru. I am fascinated that she's from Peru, which is well known for its alpaca wool and handicrafts. I was so happy to meet Michelle in person yesterday at the Divine Studio Holiday Sale, and I bought the beanie hat that she's wearing in the pic! She is such a nice and friendly lady that I know I will keep in touch with for a long long time! Without further ado, here are the five whats:

1. What did you have for breakfast?
Can’t start the day without a cappuccino that I make. I use my Bodum French press and a portable foam maker by Primo Latte. I get my coffee beans at Sweet Leaf in LIC. They sell organic coffee from all over the world by Stumptown Coffee, for me the best. I love eggs, any style, with either baguette or tortillas (a tradition I picked up from my husband) or I have some fruit with some good old Greek yogurt I get in Astoria.

2. What inspire you the most?
Colors…no doubt. That’s what gets me started. Then textures. I am obsessed with that now. I’m planning a lot of it for the new fall collection. Mixing colors, creating patterns and relieves. I have always been very drawn to ancient textiles. Ancient Peruvians made amazing textiles. That’s my most inspiring source right now.


3. What are your favorite things to do in Peru? Any "secret" places that we should know about?
I was born and bred in Peru and fortunately I get to go back a lot. I’m from Lima, the capital of Peru that is by the Pacific Ocean.
My old hood is called Miraflores and I love it because it’s near everything. From my mom’s apartment you can see the sea. I also recommend Barranco, a bohemian neighborhood by the sea cliff. There are many parks, old houses that have been restored and are now art galleries, designer studios, cafes, restaurants, bars.
Lima’s center is also great. Colonial architecture is all around. Some buildings are better kept than others but overall the whole center is coming alive. My favorites are the Museo de Arte de Lima, The Hotel Bolivar and The Plaza de Armas de Lima.
And you can’t leave Lima without having a ceviche and pisco sour. My favorites places to go are La Mar and Costanera 700. This last one is owned by a Japanese chef and blends both Peruvian and Japanese flavors.

4. What is it like in a day of Hortensia?
Every day is so different. We all do bit of everything. Right now I am getting ready for the Holiday season, at the same time planning Fall 2010 and doing everyday office work. What I usually do is plan my days and dedicate my creative time to at least a full day. I don’t read my email or get near a computer!
Since I’m in New York and my mom in Peru (same time zone though) we communicate via email, talk almost every day by skype and discuss our ideas or plans for the next collection. And surprisingly we are always in tune.
Hortensia is collaboration, a constant work in progress. I am very lucky to work with my mom and the ladies that are part of Hortensia’s team. We are all learning from each other, we all trust and respect our roles.

5. What are you doing this holiday season?
I will be working very hard through Christmas!. But after that my husband & me will spend our first Christmas in our new place in Long Island City (In Queens, New York). We are spending New Year’s Eve in Lima with my mom & brothers. We are probably going to stay up all night, watch the sunrise and have an “aguadito” in a little restaurant near the beach.

- Thanks to Michelle who took some time from her busy schedule to answer these questions and sending me some pictures of Peru!
- photo of Costanera 700 ceviche: http://www.thousandflavors.com/

My Other Purchases in Beacon

We always enjoy our time in Beacon, even though we only spent about 3 hours up there, we looked at art, went to shops and met lot of very nice people. I visited Kristen from Clay Wood and Cotton and I loved the store! I wish there is a place like it in NYC or Brooklyn. The store looks great, Kristen and her partner have really good selections for the holidays, I'm honored to have my stuff in the store! I bought some coasters by Kristen, and also got this really really beautiful letterpress calendar by Ink+Wit's Tara Hogan, the artworks are inspired by her trips to Europe and across America, the colors are so soft and so pretty, I love it! This calendar inspires me as well, one of my plans for 2010 is to start making letterpress prints!!!

Work In Progress

This year I'm doing 2 gocco holiday cards and 2 laser cut felt ornaments, I was going to make them as ornament/card, but the felt is very thick and won't look very good in an envelope, so I'm selling them as ornaments. As you can see the dove card and the ornaments are 99% done, the brown card is missing 2 layers but is already looking really good, it makes me think that I should always print on color paper. Everything will be available on Thursday in my shop and Etsy.

Skull Crazed

I have a thing for skull, simply because we all have one and it celebrates life and death. We have a little skull collection at home (only human skulls, but none of them is real), these porcelain masterpieces from Nymphenburg are just asking for trouble, especially the simple white one with the gold chain (top pic) by Patrik Muff. Might have to treat myself one of those... Nymphenburg is a 260 year-old fine porcelain maker from Germany, each piece of its porcelain is a real piece of art. They have commissioned some of my design heroes like Hella Jungerius and Ted Muehling (seed vessel, above) to create contemporary pieces for the company. I love everything that I saw on their website but here are a couple of the pieces that caught my eye.

So Good I'm Speechless

It is every kid's (big and small) fantasy to bring his/of favorite story book to life, and Su Blackwell has done that for us with her stunning cut out sculptures out of story books. Sometimes she cuts out the character in the book and makes her part of the sculpture, see below. I also love the negative space, the leftover that was not cut out, it is the foundation that physically and narratively supports the sculpture. photos: Su Blackwell

Useful Or Not?

I saw this at Labour and Wait and thought it's the coolest looking tea cosy ever. Their web shop says that it really keeps the tea hot, hmmm. I'm really into hand-knitted things that are not matronly but rather masculine, this tea cosy looks like a vintage wool hat with a giant pom pom, doesn't it?!
photo: labour and wait

On My Wish List

I'm beyond tired and still have tons to do for my trip tonight, but this DIY Wooden Dolls Kit really caught my eye that I must post about it. Goose Grease sells nothing but these kits and custom wooden dolls, I bet she will sell loads of them on Etsy this holiday season.photos: goose grease

Helle is the Best

Not only is Helle good at making yarn out of plastic bags (as mentioned in the previous post), she is also an amazing artist who makes crocheted corals and sea creatures on a grand scale. It's such a shame that I didn't know about her show at the Winter Garden in NYC this past April, I would have loved to see this gigantic piece (below) in person! Helle also makes affordable and beautiful accessories that are available on Etsy, they are just as special as her art pieces.photos: gooseflesh

D.I.Y. yarn

In the current issue of Ready Made magazine, my friend Lily of Sunshine and Shadow made a crocheted tote out of D.I.Y. yarn from scraps of fabrics, and as you can see the result is beautiful. Wonder if Lily will make more of these days? The technique reminded me of Helle Jorgensen who has a tutorial on how to make yarn out of plastic bags. I would like to try making a tote bag out of plastic bag yarn, but look at what Helle has made with Sainsbury orange plastic bags yarn, and the chartreuse branches are made from Marks and Spencer plastic bags yarn.photos: ready made, gooseflesh

Felt It Up

Felt has become a popular art medium in the last few years, and one that really stands out is Seattle artist Snaggs. These highly detailed, machine-sewn felt artworks are very adorable, but the psychedelic humor gave them some edge. I am upset that I just missed her show at Giant Robot in NYC, hope she will sell more pieces on her Etsy shop soon.photos: Snagg's Flickr page

Perfect Summer Project

What to do with all those popsicle sticks you and your friends left behind? Make art with them, like Blanca! I love the couple in yellow.
photos: blanca's flickr page

Letterpress Fun

I took a letterpress workshop at The Arm in Williamsburg over the weekend and I am now hooked. I may not want to own a letterpress but I can go to The Arm and use their Vandercook letterpress for $15 per hour. Here are a couple of prints that I made, they're simple but I just love the impression it made. The hardest part was to typeset with the wooden and metal printing blocks, it's an art form on its own and would take a long time to master it, but thankfully we can now print with polymer plates which would save a LOT of time! I think I will go back there for my first art project very soon.top photo: the arm's flickr page

Nice Branding

There are over a hundred thousand sellers on Etsy so in order to stand out is to make your shop look pretty with great looking banner and avatar, plus good photography. Jodii is a great example, I love the look of her shop, and some of her products are unique and nicely made. I hope she will get more attention which she deserves and would love to see more great things from her!photos: jodii.etsy.com

Early Holiday Shopping

Well not really, but when I saw these funny and offensive pieces from Subversive Cross Stitch, I immediately knew who I wanted to give them to. Go to their website for more profane pieces, they are sold as DIY kits or just the patterns. It's a good idea to get them soon to beat the holiday rush!photos: subversivecrossstitch.com