Lila Ruby King by Anna Ruby King

Anna Ruby King, Athens, Greece Brand: Lila Ruby King Shop: http://annarubyking.etsy.com Exclusive print series for sale at The Shiny Squirrel (mid-March) Dreams Gift Shop, Perth, Australia

I've been staring at Anna Ruby King's work for the past hour, sucked-in by the complexity stemming from a very simple, minimalist style. Hmmm, what do I mean by that? Well, there's a truly interesting contrast at work here between the controlled and measured nature of her handiwork, which plays off perfectly against the playfulness and spirit of whimsy that she injects into the final product. The Bleeding Heart Drops is one of my favorite pieces, I can stare at this one for a while and get lost in it!

The Bleeding Heart Drops

Anna sent through one of her latest drawings - Bonsai, which will soon be available in her Etsy shop.

“I really get my best inspiration when I am in bed trying to sleep, I have terrible insomnia sometimes, which I think the root cause is the fact that I can’t always turn off my brain. When inspirations hits it makes the problem even worse because that will be all I can think about!”

Bonsai

I also love her luxury greeting cards. Each one is hand made using collected and rescued fabric with hand drawn details. The card used is between 75 and 100 percent recycled, the majority of which is post consumer waste paper. The envelopes, are 100% recycled.

“...it is so important for anyone who wants to sell a product online to have a good camera, because you are selling the image of that item, so that image needs to be fabulous.”

I'm so happy to see her work being covered on a few blogs this week, especially on one of my favorites - Bloesem.

1. What do you call yourself? (e.g., Independent designer, crafter, maker, artist) I really haven’t settled on anything yet, it changes all the time, 4 months ago I was calling myself a jewellery designer, but you’d never guess that looking at my work now. Lately I have started dropping the jewellery part and just go with designer. Hopefully soon I will have finished setting up my jewellery studio and can get back to work making jewellery as well.

2. What inspires you? How do you get past crafter's block? My work is really inspired by nature, but from the perspective of human categorization of nature. We have to name things and put them in boxes and create diagrams and lists. So I really love looking at scientific drawings and historic maps and visual dictionaries, field guides, reading the names we give things. I also love fabric, the prints, the colours, the textures, it’s an addiction, and until I started making my cards a rather silly addiction since I do not sew (after some high school projects gone wrong!) it is great now that I have something to do with my vast collection. I really get my best inspiration when I am in bed trying to sleep, I have terrible insomnia sometimes, which I think the root cause is the fact that I can’t always turn off my brain. When inspirations hits it makes the problem even worse because that will be all I can think about! I find most of my new ideas come quite naturally, I am very observant when I am outside, analyzing things to see how they might look as a two dimensional drawing, can it be turned into a fabric shape? Always carry a notebook and pen! If I am stuck for a new idea, I go back to my books, I have lots of books, I love them all! I have books on birds on bugs on shells on maps on gemstones on house cleaning on curry on Egyptian hieroglyphs…. Finding something with a quirky name, a strange pattern, it can be enough to get my brain ticking again.

3. What tool(s) can't you live without? My digital camera, it is so important for anyone who wants to sell a product online to have a good camera, because you are selling the image of that item, so that image needs to be fabulous.

4. Who is your idol, current craft-crush? Being on Etsy you get to see the work of lots of amazing artists, right now I am in love with the work of Yaelfran, a designer from Buenos Aires, and the handbags of DrikaB in San Francisco.

5. How long have you been doing this? I started card making in late 2006, I had just moved to Greece from Australia, and Christmas was coming up so I wanted to send out cards to all my family and friends back home, but I discovered this big Christmas card sending that everyone does in Australia, is not done so much here in Greece, and so the choice of cards was really slim. I wasn’t working, so I had plenty of time on my hands, so I decided that my 4 years of art school should qualify me to make my own Christmas cards. In September 2007 I opened up my shop on Etsy, and it has gone really well for me.

6. Where did you learn your craft? I studied art at university, majoring in printmaking and with a minor in painting, and after I finished that I did another year of jewellery design and production. I also keep my eye out for short courses because there are always more skills I want to learn.

7. Do you do this full-time? If not, what pays the bills? Right now I am in a very fortunate position to be doing this full time.

8. How would you describe your style? Simple and sweet, sometimes with a quirky edge.