Welcome to this limited series of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast. In these six episodes, we’re focusing on a single company, looking at it in a variety of ways. For this series, called Powering the Creative Economy with Spoonflower, we’re focusing on artists and makers who have created innovative businesses using Spoonflower, the world’s largest custom fabric, wallpaper, and home decor digital marketplace.
Spoonflower provides on-demand digital printing using an eco-friendly, sustainable and scalable manufacturing process. They like to say, “If you can dream it, we can print it” and, in the first five episodes, we talk to artists took them up on that offer. These are creative small business owners who have harnessed the power of Spoonflower to truly propel their businesses forward.
In the sixth and final episode, we go behind-the-scenes at Spoonflower headquarters in Durham, North Carolina, to learn about how a fast-growing company like this does business. From brand marketing to research and development, to sewing custom items for customers, it’s a fascinating look at business development.
We hope you enjoy this podcast series!
Nancy Mac
In this interview, we’re taking a deep dive into creative embroidery with our guest, Nancy Mac. Nancy is the founder and owner of Freon Collective, an eco-conscious, minimalistic beauty and lifestyle brand. “Freon” comes from old English, meaning “friends or friendship and she’s incorporated all facets of her interests in beauty, design, and art into this label.
Jo Kalute
In this conversation, we’re taking a deep dive into surface design with our guest, Jo Kalute. Jo works lives and plays in Clovelly, a small idyllic coastal suburb of Sydney, Australia. She is a surface pattern designer and illustrator and her work is inspired by her Kenyan heritage.
Melissa Quaal
In this interview, we’re taking a deep dive into making shoes with our guest, Melissa Quaal. Melissa is a business owner, sewing instructor, feminist, creativity advocate and sells DIY shoe kits called The Espadrilles Kits. Melissa has brought the magic of making and sewing to students across the country and collaborated with a variety of sewing professionals including fabric companies, pattern designers and prominent bloggers.
She also joined her love of sewing with her passion for social justice by creating a mindful wardrobe consisting of only handmade or thrifted clothes. In short, she completely stopped buying new clothes.
Robert Mahar
In this conversation, we’re taking a deep dive into creative embroidery with our guest, Robert Mahar. Robert Mahar is an artist and designer who teaches imaginative do-it-yourself projects through high-quality video tutorials. Robert is also a proud season one alumni of NBC’s crafting competition show Making It! Co-hosted by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman.
Andrea Geer
In this conversation, we’re taking a deep dive into clothing design with our guest, Andrea Greer. Andrea is a Rochester, New York-based fashion and clothing designer. She creates original artwork through painting, photography, and digital drawing then has those designs printed on a large scale. She and her team take those fabrics and create a line of women’s clothing that is carried by boutiques all over the country.
This podcast series is sponsored by Spoonflower, the world’s largest custom fabric, wallpaper, and home decor digital marketplace.
