Website:  www.sparklecraft.com
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN:  Leo
Trade:  I’m a maker of hip things for hip peeps….guitar straps, belts, accessories, and clothing.
Education:  Bach in Psych & Philosophy. Self taught designer.
Year Your Business Was Founded:  2001
Other DIY affiliations:  Co-producer of the Stitch-Austin fashion show & co-host of the DIY network’s Stylelicious. Member of the Super Sonic Soul Squad & Babes in Business
Myspace URL: http://www.myspace.com/tinasparkles

Favorite Lady Rockstars: The Electrelane gals for sure…. some earlier favs include Slant 6, Bratmobile & Sleater-Kinney. All these ladies really know how to rock with style. I remember watching Slant 6 play in like ’96 and they were wearing pearls & skirts, but at the same time they were really tough and amazing musicians.

Favorite Color for any and every occasion: I love color in general, but pink is my all-time favorite. Also, black has to be present in some form at all times.

How did you get started? Fashion has always been a part of my life. I started messing around with clothes at an early age. I grew up in front of a sewing machine and as far back as I can remember have always been creative in that arena. I can remember making myself a belt and hand-embroidering my name on the back of it when I was 10 years old and designing Velcro bowties when I was in sixth grade. I remember taking shirts and making them into skirts when I was in junior high, and once even reconstructed a sweater for my dad for Father’s Day (although I’m not sure that he ever wore it!). Even though I’ve always enjoyed fashion and its elements, I never considered it as a career option early on. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college, and throughout my life always felt it was my duty to pursue a more traditionally academic career. I was always encouraged to follow careers like law or accounting, while deep down, designing fashion was what I really wanted to be doing. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone (including myself), so I studied psychology and philosophy and after graduating, started a successful career in research. After working at a research company for a year or so, I started a fun accessories business on the side – Sparkle Craft (www.sparklecraft.com) – to fulfill the creative side of me. I started making crafty home décor items after giving a boyfriend , but eventually moved on to designing items like belts, purses & guitar straps. Not long after I started Sparkle Craft, I realized I was unhappy doing research and wanted to pursue Sparkle Craft full-time. I thought research was fun and rewarding in its own ways, but did not like the subject matter or the corporate environment. So I put everything I had into Sparkle Craft – all of my money and all of my time. I read tons of books on business and marketing, and did everything I could to build up my business enough to quit my full-time job.

Most bizarre encounter with a customer? Well, it wasn’t really bizarre at the time of the encounter, but Jesse from Amet & Sasha was once one of my customers before I knew her and before the Austin Craft Mafia was born. She ordered some goodies from my website and since she lives in Austin too, came to pick them up from my house. A year or so later we met at a Babes in Business meeting and I had no idea that I had met her before…..I am terrible with remembering names & faces! Anyway, after awhile (maybe a couple weeks or months?) Jesse was like “Hey, do you remember a customer coming to your house to pick up some stuff…well, that was me!”

Favorite annual DIY fashion / craft event in downtown Austin (tell us about it): Stitch Austin: Handmade Revolution, baby! Stitch is produced by 4 members of the ACM: Jesse, Karly, JenniferP & me. We started it in 2003 as a way for us to show our work. At the time there weren’t really any fashion shows in Austin that catered to independent designers, so we decided to create our own. It turns out that there were gobs of other awesome indie designers & artists who needed a forum to show their awesome-ness, so we continue to produce Stitch annually. But Stitch is not just a fashion show, it is also a craft market….we invite tons of bad-ass crafters to set-up shop and sell their wares on the day & evening of the show. It is totally fun! If you are interested in more info on Stitch, check out our website: Stitch

Future Projects? I have plenty of projects going on at the moment, so I don’t really want to add to the pile…..but I am always working to expand the clothing aspect of my business.

Favorite Indie Business(es)? Of course I have a special place in my heart for all the ACM businesses, but other than my familia, I love fashion designer Chia Guillory, Austin boutique Parts & Labour, production company Super!Alright! and a million-zillion more.

Favorite Indie Magazine? Bejeesus, Bust, Venus, Misprint, uh, is Nylon indie?

Sage Advice? Dance around your living room at least once a week.

Finish this sentence:“A world without excel and spreadsheets would be…”: …madness! I think I would go crazy. I am a mad list-maker and suppose that if spreadsheets did not exist, I would have to find another way to be insane about lists or die trying! Ha.

Best thing about:
Running Sparkle Craft: Being my own boss & making my own rules.
Knowing how to sew: I can make my own clothes!
Having a Sparkle Craft studio: The best thing about having a studio is having a personal life outside of Sparkle Craft. When I was working from home, work was all that I would think about, so I worked constantly. Now that I have a studio, I report to work and get to leave work at the end of the day.
Living in Austin: Austin is the most!! It is full of cool people, activities, art, music, etc. There are always so many cool things happening here.

Worst thing about:
Running Sparkle Craft: Sometimes it gets really stressful & is always a ton of work.
Knowing how to sew: I can’t think of anything bad, except maybe not buying something because I think “Oh, I can make that myself”….and then I never end up making it.
Being Vegetarian: Going out to eat can be hard and/or limited sometimes. It is pretty easy in Austin though.
Living in Austin: The worst thing about living in Austin is that it is soooooooo cool that everyone wants to move here. I mean, I am happy to have more cool peeps to meet and hang around with, but I don’t want it to get too crowded!
 
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