Greetings from Morris & Essex!
Morris & Essex makes beautiful hand-printed goods, including soft, sustainable bamboo scarves, organic cotton tote bags, letterpress greeting cards, cotton tea towels, and t-shirts for babies, kids and adults. Everything is designed by artist and printmaker Eliza Jane Curtis, in a farmhouse studio in Maine, and hand-printed by Eliza with some help from a few other talented crafters and carefully chosen makers.
These colorful, original and practical goods make perfect, thoughtful gifts for loved ones. (Or for a special treat to yourself!)
Designs are inspired by a rich mix of sources including vintage ephemera, nature and fantasy, geometry, folk art and traditional patterns and textiles from around the world. Eliza says, "I choose to work with organic, natural and sustainable materials as much as possible. I love creating a world filled with pattern and color and fun, turning my designs into useful products that serve a need and make someone happy, and that last for years and years. I believe that the things we use everyday are important and valuable; rather than contributing to a culture of disposable goods, I aim to produce durable, meaningful, beautiful items that last beyond the first impression. I hope that the pleasure I take in designing and making is evident in the finished products."
Eliza is also available for custom design projects, including gorgeous, personal wedding invitations.
Follow Morris & Essex on Instagram and Facebook.
SouleMama: Welcome to sponsorship on SouleMama! Please tell us about the beginnings of your business, and how you've come to be where you are now?
I've always loved making things! My grandmother gave me my first lessons in printmaking with dried leaves, potatoes and vegetables at our kitchen table when I was a little kid growing up in the country in Maine. Years later, I was an art student in New York City when I started making hand-printed t-shirts. I took a printmaking class and completely fell in love, spending all my spare time in the printmaking studio and started making a few t-shirts for friends and family. A friend asked me if I wanted to sell them in her East Village boutique, so that was the start of my business.
Over the years, it's slowly grown from a weekend hobby to a full-time job, and it's evolved as I've moved and changed. After graduating, I moved to Brooklyn, rented an old house with some friends, and built my own silkscreen shop in the basement, where I would happily print for hours after work and on the weekends. When I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, I found it was harder to get some of my favorite supplies there, so I started doing more work with paper, and began designing and printing greeting cards. In 2010, I moved back to Maine with my partner and we bought an old, abandoned farmhouse and started renovations. I picked a bright, sunny room above the kitchen to build my printmaking studio, and began taking small-business classes, learning how to grow my passion into a real business. Once my first daughter was born, I hired a friend to help me with a bit of my work in the studio and now that I have a second baby on the way, I'm working hard to balance a growing business and a growing family at the same time! I am so happy to have built a job that lets me work at home and spend time with my daughters, letting them be part of the creative magic and the real life workings of a small family business.
This weekend, Morris & Essex is generously offering the following gifts to THREE lucky SouleMama readers:
I had a great time making up these fun packages of goodies for you! One lucky reader will get a colorful selection of Morris & Essex goods including one super-soft, hand-printed bamboo jersey scarf and six different letterpress greeting cards, and a little organic cotton zipper pouch, all packed neatly in a big, sturdy hand-printed cotton canvas tote bag. Wow!!
Two other lucky readers will each get one hand-printed tea towel, two letterpress greeting cards, and one hand-printed zipper pouch.
I also wanted to offer a special treat for everybody - 15% off everything in my shop for one week, using coupon /code SOULEMAMA at checkout, now through November 6.
To enter today's giveaway, leave a comment below (one entry per person, please). Comments will close by 9 am EST on Monday. Winners will be chosen by Random Number Generator and announced in this post shortly after. Comments closed. The winners are...
Fingers crossed!
Posted by: Emily
Oh my. This is quite generous. Thank you for the chance.
Posted by: rosesmama
Just gorgeous, I love everything!
Posted by: Sherri
