Her name is
Emily Chen and she likes to draw. After a 10-year hiatus from her university printmaking days, she began silkscreening her illustrations onto shirts and totes as a side business, and after a few open houses in her apartment, a couple outdoor festivals and some encouragement, she's kept at it. Most recently she has added paper products into the mix, such as greeting cards, featuring her awesome illustrations.
A love of prosciutto, family feud and sleeping in and a hate for peanut butter, tube tops and jogging are only a few things that make this talented artist who she is. Read on to learn more about her inspiration, her favorite music and what the future holds for
m chen wears. You can also
enter to win the piece of your choice from her shop!
Where are you from - originally and currently live?Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada. If you mean originally as in origins, I’m Taiwanese ;)
How long have you been selling on Etsy?Since September 2008.
Do you sell on Etsy full time or do you have a day job?This is very much a side act — I keep overly busy with a day job already, running my own business as a freelance graphic designer/illustrator. I work on the t-shirts in fits and starts, whenever I have the stamina and/or the motivation, or an upcoming craft show!
What, if any, formal art training have you had?
I graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Art from Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario) in 1998. I specialized in Printmaking — lithography, etching, woodcut... and especially silkscreening.
Brainstorming sketches for the "re[VERB]" line
What made you decide to open up shop on Etsy?Though I love my day job, I’ve been trying to grow the illustration part of things in the past couple of years. I decided the only way to do more illustration... was to do more illustration. So I bit the bullet and did a line of t-shirts and totes. After a couple events, I figured Etsy would be a terrific way to reach beyond city limits. (AND I may have gotten a little encouragement & guidance from the lovely
Loopy4ewe ;)
What inspires you? I’m a bit of a tangential thinker. I love words and concepts. My first line of tees revolved around lines from children’s verses (“See how they run” and “Five, six, pick up sticks”). The current line, which is still only half done, is called “re[VERB]”, each design uses a word that begins with “re” then a verb. I was in the Scrabble Club in University, can you tell?
What do you like least about your craft?Hands down, my least favourite part of printing my wears is getting the actual artwork to the screen. It involves putting light-sensitive emulsion on the screen and exposing the screen — it’s a long, finicky, multi-step process. I can’t tell you how many failed screens I had in '07 and '08. I finally got smart this year and outsourced this step, huge sigh of relief!
Emily printing re[TURN] with some help from friend, MeredithDo you have any advice for other sellers on Etsy or those thinking about pursuing their craft?I’m not sure I’m equipped to give advice yet, since i’m a relative newbie... but two most important things that come to mind are:
Go get traffic — with 200,000+ shops on Etsy, it’s tough to get noticed! Drive traffic to your shop by participating in the forum threads, joining a team, blogging...
Look good — presentation is key. A clear, attractive, pertinent banner is important, and good photos are paramount.
Five Etsy shops you loveOnly five??? These (and many others) make me drool:
The Tiny FigWooly BabyFirefluffYokooGet Ready, Set, GO! 
Where is the coolest place you have ever been?Toss-up between Giant’s Causeway (Northern Ireland) and Toroko Gorge (Taiwan).
What is your favorite leisure time activity?Sports... ultimate frisbee and ice hockey these days.
Share some of your favorite musicGomez, Joel Plaskett, Neko Case, Damien Rice, Great Lake Swimmers, The Shins, Chad VanGaalen, Tori Amos... and so many more!
What makes you angry?When people don’t take the time to understand the big picture or to consider how their actions affect others.
What would you like to learn to do?Be a better listener. And play guitar!
On a scale of 1 to 10 how happy are you?10 — the happiest I’ve ever been. That doesn’t mean I don’t see areas to improve!! Hopefully the next time you ask, I’ll be an 11 ;)
What does the future hold for you and your shop?I hope to finish up the re[VERB] line by fall — four designs done so far, four more to go. Maybe one day, I’ll pull out my sewing machine and serger, and also print on handmade garments... you know, in my spare time, ha!
You can keep up with Emily and her work on her blog and by following her on Twitter or Facebook. Also check out her wears site, mchenwears.com, and her design site, emilychen.com.
GIVEAWAY TIME!Emily is offering one lucky winner their choice of any shirt or print from her
shop!
HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:Please a comment on this post letting us know what you piece you love from
m chen wears and some other colors you would like to see in the shop or other items you would love to see Emily's illustrations on.
You can enter once per day and
YOU MUST INCLUDE your first name
-AND- etsy username or email address with every entry, even if I know you or your blogger profile is public, etc. If you are worried about email spam, you can spell out the 'at' and 'dot' rather than using the standard email format.
Receive additional entries if you follow or subscribe to my blog and/or the
mchenwears blog, twitter about the giveaway and/or blog about the giveaway. Just leave a comment/link letting me know!
You have until Sunday, July 5 at 10pm (est) to enter and I will announce the winner on Monday morning. Good luck!
Emily also has a special offer for you until July 31st: Mention “lilyella” at checkout, and get any two
greeting cards free with the purchase of each shirt or print. Remember to let her know which cards you’d like!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out Emily's interview. I hope you have enjoyed learning more about this talented artist and her work!
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