Sunday 8 November 2009

Introducing: Nice Day Designs

Hi all, my name is Ruth Crean of '...Nice Day Designs', and I'm one of the new members of the Etsy Ireland Team. If you've got a few minutes to spare you can fritter them away while I self conciously babble about myself and my work.
I'm originally from Celbridge in Kildare but I moved down to wonderful Limerick 9 years ago to attend the art college here, and a mix of a great social/cultural scene and the love of a good Limerick man has kept me here since. I originally studied Fine Art: Printmaking, but in my final year I dabbled in photography and model making. Since graduating in 2004 I have tried my hand at many aspects of visual art, having a few exhibitons in photography, painting and digital collage. I spend about two years working with a great company, Impact Theatre, doing all their graphic design for them. With them I learned tonnes about design and creativity as applied in practice in the real world. It was while working with them that '...Nice Day Designs' was originally born, as a label for my design and for my handmade cards that I had started making.

In 2007 I started selling my cards and illustrations at a local craft market here in the city. It was after a year of this blind optimism that I realised that I would never make my first million selling cards, so I decided to capitalise on my life long hobby of sewing and customising clothes. My mother is a dress maker and it was something I always did on the side, either brightening up a jacket with a few buttons, or making halloween costumes. Things started out very small and tentatively, with one rail of clothes, and a few listings on Etsy. But quickly things grew and there was a growing demand for the clothes I was making.



At first to be honest I didn't have much focus but after a few months I realised that I should promote the fact that they were recycled clothes, as I started to see the growing trends in greener products. Since those first couple of steps I have started selling in a few boutiques around Ireland, and I was lucky enough to be on RTE's Nationwide earlier this year. In Autumn this year I had my first fashion show, which was a daunting and amazing experience. Since the show finished I've been catching up on custom orders and trying to get my cards and accessories sorted for the Christmas rush. Since then I also got my hands on a large lot of vintage buttons which led me to set up my second Etsy shop nicedaysupplies. I was really fortunate to find them, and I know it will take me years to get through them but I am a complete button addict!
It's been a tricky balance with all the different things that I work with, but that's what I love most, one day I could be sewing an evening dress, the next designing my pocket mirrors, and another day making Christmas cards. It means I never get bored and all the different techniques keep me inspired for the next project. I know this sounds nuts but I'm happiest when I'm working away in my studio, with a hot cup of coffee, and listening to a good audiobook.

Unfortuneately I don't have any of my clothes in my Etsy shop at the moment because I have prior commitments to shops to get through first, but check out my blog for more pics from the fashion show.
http://www.nicedaydesigns-ruth.blogspot.com/
http://www.nicedaydesigns.etsy.com/
http://www.nicedaysupplies.etsy.com/

Thanks for reading!

10 comments:

  1. Loved the video! It was great to see the footage about what you do - the whole recycling thing is great! Love seeing the variety of your wares :)

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  2. Aawww love that black & white/red number and all the cool applique detail. Gorgeous stuff Ruth! ;)*

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  3. Ruth, nie to see you're enjoying our little group! It was lovely to meet you in Galway, hope your business goes mad busy for Christmas. Will have to give the West Coast another chance to meet up early next month ;o)

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  4. That brown jacket is beautiful and looks very Avoca.

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  5. Great to learn a little more about you Ruth. :)

    Welcome to the team!

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  6. thanks for a great blog post! how cool that you where able to have a fashion show!

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  7. Thanks everyone for your lovely comments!

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  8. excellent items, you are an inspiration xoxox

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  9. Beautiful items and a lovely post Ruth! And the video was great! Congratulations x

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  10. great video!
    congratulations, very inspiring post! ♥

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