Dear folks, my apologies for being long away from the sketchblog, it has been a few weeks of traveling to the National Stationery Show, a mini vacation and the hectic wedding season! However, I have an interesting update from the studio-I will be collaborating with Sarah from Hip Ink, (whom I met through Etsy and Let’s Talk Stationery) on a French/Paris-inspired invitation!! See the elegant save the date here. For the invitations, Sarah will be creating the beautiful invitations themselves and I will be providing wintry painted scenes for it! I cannot wait to see what Hip Ink will come up with so stay tuned for that later this year!
In the mean time, I was so thrilled and excited when Sarah said she wanted to feature me in her Vendor Love blog post. It is really truly so generous of her time as I know she is crazy busy herself as a stationery designer. Thank you again Sarah!! Here is the post in its entirety but you can also read it here at her own blog/site. Be sure to look around the Hip Ink blog, Sarah provides lots of helpful tips and hints for brides, stationers and paper enthusiasts!
Vendor Love: The TreeSpace Studio
Vendor Love is back with a vengeance this Friday, featuring an amazingly talented artist who will absolutely knock your socks off!
First, the background:
On Wednesday, I posted some photos of a French-inspired Save The Date created for Danielle & Stephen, getting married this winter in Quebec City at the historic Chateau Frontenac. I teased a bit about how fabulous their wedding invitations are going to be, and a big part of that reason is…
Amy Tan from The TreeSpace Studio!
Amy is an amazing artist and she was the very first person I thought of when my clients said they wanted an invitation based on our Paris-inspired invite, with custom illustrations depicting their venue (Le Chateau Frontenac) and a quaint Old Quebec street scene.
Why did I think of Amy first? Allow me to let the pictures do the talking:
Gorgeous, right? I first came across Amy’s work on Etsy, and then connected with her on Let’s Talk Stationery (the best resource out there for stationers and designers, of course). I was so impressed by her unique style, stunning use of colour, and just how very *different* her creations were. I jumped at the chance to be able to collaborate with her on our upcoming project!
The TreeSpace Studio offers handmade custom stationery art and cards for weddings and events, but Amy offers so much more as well – the sky is the limit to what she can do. All of her work is highly personal, and it absolutely shows – that’s my kind of girl 
Amy says, “The TreeSpace Studio began as a hothouse for my myriad ideas, interests and experiences. With a background in architecture, a passion for art, fashion and craft and a deep appreciation for the tactility of materials, I wanted to find a way to combine them all under one shady tree. The Studio became then, the ideal creative laboratory of sorts, inspired by childhood notions of reading or playing under a tree, conjuring up fun and crazy ideas to take over the world.
The philosophy behind The TreeSpace Studio is that we embrace art and artisanship, functionality, materiality and activism all at once and we are serious about providing it to people with affordable personalization, great customer service and last not but least with the least imprint on the fragile earth.
I want to be able to create {functional} and accessible artwork for everyday uses, whether it is invitations, packaging for hand-made goods or gift-wrapping-everyday objects that are often disposable, and design them as miniature art pieces, something to treasure and keep because it is just too darn cool. To me, making something beautiful for keeps is the greatest form of sustainability.”
Amy was intrigued by art from an early age. “My mom still has drawings I made of little eyes when I was just 2 1/2 years old”, says Amy. “Growing up, I spent hundreds of hours on my belly on the floor with a thick stack of recycled papers, pens and pencils-drawing from imagination, inspired by the stories I read in books.” Soon her love of art took a backseat to her love of architecture, and she spent 7 years working in the industry after getting her degree. But, a simple request from friends to create their wedding invitations brought Amy back to the world of art she loved so much as a child.
“I love coming up with unusual ways to marry my illustrated artwork with the wabi-sabi world of wood, handmade papers, nature, old things and interesting personal stories. Each project I take on is a multi-dimensional study. Having lived in 3 continents, my travels and adventures in the natural and man-made world keep me inspired, humbled and in love with life.”
What’s Amy’s favourite part of her job?
“My absolute, most favorite part is when a bride (or groom) tells me how meaningful my invitations or wedding stationery have been to setting the mood and exciting guests for their wedding.
Make it Precious. That’s what I love to do the most. I love that I am making an often overlooked part of their wedding day precious, creating something they and their guests would love and hold on to for a long long time. I still feel giddy every time I see or hear that a client has framed the original artwork that I created for their wedding invitation or stationery and it makes me feel really really lucky to have created something for their wedding that they cherish as much as their wedding photographs or memories.”
So why are you still reading this blog when you should clicking as fast as you can over to http://www.treespacestudio.com to check out more of Amy’s fantastic work?
Sadly, you’ll have to wait until the end of the year for the big reveal of our current Hip Ink/TreeSpace Studio project, but I hope there will be many more to come!