Laura Amiss combines fabrics and illustrations and sells her fun, colorful work on Etsy.com.
Tell us a little about yourself?
“I’m from the North of England, but I’ve been living in The Netherlands for over eight years. By now I also have a husband and two kids. I graduated in “Textiles” at Goldsmith College at the University of London back in 2003. Nowadays I work from my studio at home, which makes day to day life much easier, but it also makes it harder to know when to quit. I simply adore colors, so there are lots of them in my work. I can try to avoid them, but my favorite colors always keep popping up in my work.”
What is it like running an Etsy shop?
“It’s been a steep learning curve, trying to get the hang of all the different aspects and categories on Etsy and figuring out how to get your work noticed. I must confess I had no idea at first. Luckily Etsy featured my shop in a few newsletters and some popular blogs featured me as well. By now Etsy has become a big part of my day and I’m just thrilled that people have the guts to buy my work without even knowing what it looks like in reality. I do try to give a good impression of what it looks like by taking good pictures.”
We noticed a lot of typically Dutch street scenes in your work. Is that a big part of your success?
“I love that architecture, because it’s so completely different from where I grew up. My city views are very popular indeed, skylines lend themselves very easily to making beautiful perspectives and compositions. Other than that I am also a very positive person and the fact that my work is ‘happy’ is also an important aspect. My work may not be trendy, but but I often hear it makes people happy and that makes me ever so proud.”
