an overdue "meet me" + a bit about it all
i'm emily, or "em" as most of my family calls me. she/her/hers. i'm the fiber artist, designer, maker + owner of herbert eudora ----- along with many other things. dog mommy, sister, daughter, friend, lover of soft seventies + bread (not referring to the band, but also yes to the band). a few "fun" facts about me : i love summer, summer rides with the windows down, thrifting for home goods + vinyl, good typography, olives, being outside, scary movies, taking photos, painting, i'm terrible at math, one time i got a 2% on a spanish final + my dresser has gone through approximately five colors (including red). i'm sure there are actually fun facts about me, but these are what i got!!
i founded herbert eudora in 2016 after graduating from nazareth college + working as a freelance graphic designer + photographer for several years here in rochester, new york. all while simultaneously being a caregiver to my grandpa ----- george herbert. herbert eudora came at a time when i was still very much mourning the loss of my grandma ----- barbara eudora ----- while preparing to lose my grandpa. feeling the emptiness of no longer having them. i guess the namesake was my way to kind of keep them alive, ya know?
both were so passionate. my grandpa owned his own business for years selling flowers + arranging bouquets / my grandma was a seamstress + embroidered by hand. they had so much appreciation for others who created with their hands + always supported their locals -----always supported me + my art (regardless of how terrible it was). both were so so talented.
it came at a time when i was feeling overwhelmed with all of the opportunity + expectations that come after graduating + trying to figure out the direction of a career. i was struggling because i was going to school for graphic design, but not 100% positive i wanted to do that full-time. i love design + creating digitally, but i was missing the hands-on part of creating physical art ----- art that you could touch + feel + connect with.
six years ago i had no idea what was going to come of this. i didn't have a concrete plan or idea. besides wanting to be a dentist my entire childhood (bad at math), i always thought it would be so cool to own a boutique + be my own boss, but never thought of it as tangible. but i guess not having a concrete plan is the intimidating part ----- the getting started. the doing it + figuring it out along the way. it's scary. try it, make the rules, change the rules, fail, practice, change the rules again, fail, change direction, learn, fail, fail, fail, all the failing, learn, succeed! so much failing. yikes. but when you know you're cut-out of for something + have your heart set on it, you keep going, regardless of how shitty the failing makes you feel.
six years ago i was working as a freelance graphic designer, creating logos, crafting floral hoop wreaths for fun + brainstorming. i was making mock-up wedding invitations to sell, experimenting with every medium imaginable + uncovering an actual obsession with interior decorating. dreaming up things that were so different than what i knew.
in 2019 i purchased my first book on macrame ----- it was fanny zedenius' ----- which started this love of fiber + textile art. it was so functional. it was so different than what i had worked with. it was exciting. it wasn't a painting on a flat canvas or created on a screen + something that had to be printed in order to have it in your hands. i'd say it was a good year of playing around with rope + learning knots from emily katz' "modern macrame" before i was comfortable + confident enough to experiment with it.
i bought a small weaving kit at joann fabrics, including a very small loom (maybe 8 inches) + made my first tapestry. it wasn't great ----- in fact, it was really terrible. there was probably a pattern attached, but who reads instructions before trying yourself first? at that point, i was so head-over-heels with macrame that i wasn't sure i should even bother or if they made looms bigger or if people even did this. i felt restricted by of the size, but also wasn't sure if this was just a short-lived hobby, so i didn't want to invest too much. i remember being in a home store (won't mention name) + seeing a poorly-constructed tapestry + immediately thinking "how are they charging $45 for this it's literally falling apart." i think that's when i realized i could make my own, that it could be more than a hobby, that this is an actual thing that people do. it could be more than just gifts for my sister or art for my walls.
i ordered my funem studio loom + spent months watching youtube tutorials on how to warp it, never actually warping it. it felt so intimidating. i actually remember thinking "this was expensive, what if i break it?" i literally put it back in its box for months. the world shut down + everything started changing for me to take it back out. i made a slightly bigger, odd-shaped weaving ----- actually not terrible!! this time i noticed what changes i would make + was excited to learn more + make more.
this thing wasn't going back in the box.
i remember my art teacher giving me a piece of felt, a ball of some really cheap yarn + a piece of cardboard that somehow worked as a loom (but was the only thing worth wasting on a seven year old). we could make anything we wanted. i made a pillow purse. imagine like a sealed pillow stuffed with cotton + a braided strap + as you can tell, made absolutely no sense. also it was the 90s. besides seeing my mom + grandma's crochet or sew, that was my first real exposure to fiber art.
maybe i knew back then how much i loved it, but probably not.
sometimes i feel guilty because i invested so many years + put so much time + energy toward the other things i love ----- all to change direction. i shouldn't, though. we grow + change + pick different paths all the time. it's how we learn things about ourselves. it's how we fail + succeed. it teaches us what we like enough to do full-time, like forever + ever. what we have to do to get there. s
experimenting + practicing has allowed me to hone in on the things that inspire me most : abstractionism, bohemianism, minimalism + scandinavian design. the blend of loose, casual, clean, neutral is reflected in my art, styling + life. it's taught me how to envision the potential an interior space has, how people decorate it, how they make it a home.
+ i hope to bring all the cozy into yours for a really long time.
means so much that you're here,
em