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Dennis The Menace ©Al Wiseman - no date. This is one of my grandfather's blue line drawings my mother gave to me. "A Little Bit of Bubbly " - Mixed Media - © 2008 Tristan Benz - all rights reserved. This work now serves as art for my new blog. |
In every nook and cranny of my family there are artists, musicians and writers. My grandfather, Al Wiseman, was the ghost cartoonist for Dennis The Menace (another great tribute can be found here - it includes my uncle Fred Toole, who wrote the copy - as kids, we always thought it was funny that we had an Aunt Millie and Uncle Ed and an Aunt Molly and Uncle Fred and, though I didn't realize what Uncle Fred had done until I was older, I recall enjoyable visits to his house, as a child). My mother is a writer / poet / artist in Monterey Bay (in fact, Pulitzer Prize winning poet / writer, Piet Hein, insisted on buying two of her poems). My brother began composing on the piano at the age of six. One of my cousins is a violinist and has played with some of the world's most famous violinists and his brother is a naturally gifted illustrator.. And so it goes in our family, on and on. It's no wonder, no matter how much I stayed in college, trying to avoid the life of the "starving artist", I still wound up on an artistic path... I'm a mom, first and foremost.. This doesn't always make for the fastest-growing business or put me in the running for entrepreneurial mom of the year. While I truly want to make a difference beyond my doorstep, I'm also trying to ensure my footprint at home is larger than it is, in the business. I don't want to miss out on this incredible time with my children - time I will never get back 'some day'. So, that's the difficult choice - or the easy one, depending on how you look at it. Whatever I am able to do beyond being a mom, I do in time I find in the nooks and crannies of life. I am in an exploratory phase at the moment - writing, painting, design, gardening, cooking, you name it. There are so many things I want to learn - soon, I'm hoping to learn to work with copper, to create large sculptures - there's actually a great educational resource, if you're local - in Port Townsend (Massey Copper - you can find their link on my blog). Anyway- whatever inspires me, I'm willing to give it a try. It's all very undisciplined at the moment. I've got goals- they're just 'fluid'. The only thing dictated by discipline outside of being a mom is time devoted to Maiden America. Because, while I realize it's an ambitious goal we've set and that it may very well be we're swinging at windmills here, I keep the faith that, together, we parents are a force to be reckoned with in this crazy, crazy marketplace - our dog will have his day :-). |
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Our barrettes are individually hand crafted, often by moms wanting to be at home with their children. We use the finest 'ingredients' and produce in America, where we can help the economy best and ensure the best quality control. NO TOXIC GLUES are used in our work, meaning we must hand prepare all pearls, creatures, clay daisies, etc., to ensure superior hold. Our methods take time and our standards are high. All of Maiden America's products are custom, going into production at the time an order is placed (we do not 'warehouse' piles of stock nor do we produce off shore). This is why we say, 'handmade just for you."
Me and My Nigel (1992-2006) |
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I want people to feel special in their own skin - to celebrate their uniqueness and express themselves via their own, personal style, instead of through labels. This is the place from which I design - I'm not thinking about mass production. I'm not thinking about pleasing everybody. I'm thinking about connecting with an individual. I'm thinking about framing the beauty that is already there, within - not overshadowing it with flashy labels, logo hardware, etc. For me, my customer is not a commodity but a human being who, like each and every other person on the planet, has a need and a desire to express the one thing they have that is theirs, alone, to express - their uniqueness. If I can offer women the feeling that, when they receive compliments on their handbags, it's a refection of their own beauty, not a label, I'm in a world of joy as an artist. Also, there is a selfish component to what I'm doing - I feel an incredible pull to be moving on, constantly, to the 'new' - experimenting through the creative process. Mixing textiles and experimenting with what I call 'layers of interest' is my passion. It's where I lose track of time and get totally suspended in a joyful state of being. This joy, along with connecting with the individuals who are moved by my work is 'the ultimate" for me. It thrills me when I see a woman make a beeline, with absolute tunnel vision, to one of my pieces and declare that "this is MY bag.". My goal is never to make more than 99 of anything. This is my art and it's not for mass appeal that I do it. Those of you who have seen my work at shows know just how much is NOT on the website yet! I thank you for your patience while the site continues to develop. And I hope you'll come back soon! Kind Regards, Tristan Benz Designer / Owner, Maiden America |
