An Interview With....
Melinda Orr
We speak to Melinda, owner and founder of Artisan Whimsy,
Creative Bead Chat and Bead Chat Magazine!
What got you started in making jewelry?
For 17 years I owned a Florist, Gift and Jewelry Store. I remember
buying stock jewelry and thinking..."I could do that!" and so the
concept was born. I started going to bead shows and recall one of
my first Artisan inspirations was Marsha Neal Studios...I grabbed
a pile of her wonderful ceramic components and I was forever
hooked. After I stockpiled beads, I decided to add a bead room to
my store and realized how many others were beading that I wasn't
even aware of. I soon learned that even just basic beading wasn't
all that easy and really required practice and skill. So I took to the
internet to begin learning more.
Your tagline for your business is “Imperfectly Perfect” … what does
that mean for you and your business? How did this style develop
for you? What inspired it?
We are all "Imperfectly Perfect" . It's what makes us ....well, us. My
jewelry and accessory line is inspired by my breast cancer journey
in 2009. Going thru the tests, diagnosis, , surgery, chemo and radiation was the scariest event of my life. My diagnosis was good,
I am cancer free to date. After recovering, I was inspired to get to
all those things I wanted to accomplish. One being to learn ceramics and create components for my new concept; Bandana Girl. This
is my way to support others with cancer. The tagline "Imperfectly
Perfect" is key to this as we need to embrace our imperfections.
This is what makes each of us unique and perfect. Quite possibly,
what you consider an imperfection, may just be the thing that
others think is perfect about you. So be easier on yourself and be
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