I remember pivotal moments in my childhood when a glimmer of the future revealed itself. Moments when I was starting, or more likely on my way to becoming, the artist and textile designer that I now am.
Did it begin at 10 when I received my first polaroid, and spent roll after roll of magical film on the giant elephant ears making a jungly chorus in my parents’ front yard. Perhaps it was earlier still… with my obsession over a certain pair of modern club chairs my parents inherited from my artist grandmother. At an age when most children were playing foursquare, I found myself swooning over a teal chintz toile.
Was it the day I arrived at tenth grade art class to be forever changed by the etchings of M.C. Escher and the phantasmagorical world of tessellations. I was mesmerized to learn how to make one shape morph into another while seamlessly fitting it into its neighbor. Or the day I looked out my 12th floor window at an ad agency in Manhattan and dreamt of my perfect job: that of fabric designer, then went quickly back to work writing ads. Or the random lunchtime sojourn (while working for a modern interior design firm years later) when I found myself knocking at the door of an old hand printing textile mill which I randomly stumbled upon after taking a wrong turn.
Each moment brought me one step closer to where I am today.
Life-altering inspiration comes as often from the mundane as from the pinch-me-now moments. I invite you on my journey of inspiration. That which fuels me to create like so many have before me. That which is the warp and weft of studio bon textiles.
Bonnee Sharp
Founder/Designer, studio bon textiles
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