Zazzle Blog

Leonore, from the Zazzle stores 220Clothing and 220Luxe, talks to us about her art, her inspirations, and what brought her to Zazzle.  Check out the interview below and don’t forget to check out her stores 220Clothing and 220Luxe!

Zazzle: First off, tell us little bit about yourself.

Leonore: I’m a graphic designer and co-founder of 220 Clothing and 220 Luxe, along with my boyfriend, Brian. I’m addicted to using Zazzle as my creative outlet and enjoy every minute of it! Each day I give thanks for being able to do what I love and love what I do… and Zazzle definitely plays a big part in providing me with that opportunity.

Zazzle: When and how did you first become interested in art? How long have you been making art?

Leonore: For as long as I can remember, I had always been interested in creating, designing and making things with my hands. My mother was probably the first to inspire my creativity as I would sketch side by side with her when I was a child while she was designing women’s apparel during the infant stages of her clothing line. While most of my early (kindergarten) sketches were of dinosaurs, I’ve created a slightly more diverse portfolio since then. Outside of Zazzle I’ve been a Graphic Designer for about 7 years now and in the last year I started dabbling in handmade clutches and purses.

Zazzle: How would you describe your style?

Leonore: I’d say my style is a mix of crisp lines and graphic images juxtaposed with organic textures and a painterly style. I like the contrast and visual interest that type of juxtaposition creates.

Zazzle: Any artists you look up to when it comes to designing?

Leonore: Since I especially love the Art Nouveau style, I’d have to say Aleadro Villa, Alphonse Mucha and Henri Privat-Livemont to name a few. More recently, I’ve been inspired by the art Braulio Calaustro, my boyfriend’s father who was an amazing artist. I didn’t have the opportunity to meet him as he had passed away before I met my boyfriend, but I did have the privilege to see some of his work. His talent is undeniable and I can only hope to be half as good an artist as he was.

Zazzle: What has been your favorite design you’ve created, and why?

Leonore: It’s a bit difficult for me to pick just one because each design represents a different stage and aspect of my development as an artist. However, if I had to choose one design, I’d have to pick “Eat, Sleep, Breath MUSIC” as one of my favorites because I was experimenting with a new technique and style at the time and I had a lot of fun creating it while adding to my design arsenal.

Zazzle: Do you have any fun stories about being a seller on Zazzle?

Leonore: Being a Zazzle seller has been a wonderful experience and it only gets better with time. I’ve made some friends along the way and I never cease to be amazed with the reach and exposure that Zazzle has provided for my shop, without which I would not be able to make my designs available to people all around the world. I’ve had too many fun “Zazzle” moments to list here but the top 3 would have to be:

1) When I made my first sale because that’s when my little known shop became “real” to me, which also happened to be on my birthday!

2) The day I found out I was a ProSeller. I remember opening that envelope and shrieking in a fit of joy.

3) When my “I HEART Nerds” shirt was featured under Zazzle’s “Funny T-Shirts” category. I was very honored to have my design featured and I believe that exposure really propelled our sales on that design, which I am still so grateful for.

Zazzle: What’s your favorite Zazzle product to create?

Leonore: T-shirts in my 220Clothing shop and invitations in my 220Luxe shop.

Zazzle: What got you interested in selling your art on Zazzle?

Leonore: For a quite some time I was trying to find a way to make use of some t-shirt designs that I had created, but never got around to printing because of the minimum quantity required in screen printing and the burden of storing inventory. These thoughts flooded my mind at a time when my boyfriend and I were living 3,000 miles apart and we were trying to find a way to earn some supplemental income to save up so one of us could make the cross-country move and finally share the same time-zone. After about an hour of brainstorming and researching, we came across Zazzle and then the lightbulb switched on. Zazzle provided this wonderful opportunity for me to make my designs available to the vast market of Zazzle users without having to deal with production and shipping and the other aspects that would take up time that I could use to create new designs.

Long story short: My boyfriend and I now live in the same time zone after 4 years of flying back and forth to see each other and I can say that Zazzle had a little something to do with that.

Zazzle: What tips can you give someone who is just starting out on Zazzle?

Leonore: Be patient, be kind, stay positive and have integrity.

It was months before I made my first sale (probably because I had only one design available in my store at the time and I had not yet taken “Zazzling” seriously), but then I saw that someone from across the world bought a product with my design on it and this really opened up my eyes to the potential of my little shop and the opportunity that Zazzle was providing me with. That’s when I started to ramp things up. I added more designs and started to get some TBAs, within about a month or two my store was featured on the homepage and later that year I got the letter in the mail saying that I became a ProSeller.

My point is… if you believe in your designs, stick with it! It takes some time but it will be well worth the wait. As you begin to build your Zazzle shop, take time to explore all the tools that Zazzle provides and be sure to peruse the wealth of knowledge that is available to you in the forums. There are plenty of awesome sellers on there that share a lot of useful information.

Thanks Leonore!

This entry was posted on June 9, 2011 at 9:55 am and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.