The first Designer's Marketplace was a huge hit! The area was filled with creative, artistic hand-made goods, including screenprinted t-shirts, intricately beaded jewelry, decked-out iPod and phone cases and more.

Keep reading for brief, pre-Conference interviews with a couple of the sellers.

Kelly Parke and Darcy Hinrichs
Jess Moss
Kat Feuerstein


Kelly Parke and Darcy Hinrichs
HOW: What do you plan to sell in the Designer's Marketplace?
Darcy: Stationery
Kelly: Conference Survival Kits (find out more about the Con Survival Kits here)

HOW: Can you give us a little insight into your creative process?
Darcy: Most of the time, I work off of doodles and sketches out of my sketchbook for illustrations. There are a lot of times that I just experiment in Illustrator and Photoshop to try different things with my illustrations. I also like to incorporate a handmade feel to a lot of my work. So even if I am done with printing and such, it isn't unusual for me to do more such as rough things up, poke holes, smudge ink with sponges, crumple, doodle with marker, etc. There are a lot of times that I might look at something and think, "I wonder what would happen or how it would look if I tried this...."
Kelly: How I work – there are pads, pens, sharpies and pencils all over the house: in the bathroom, on my nightstand, in the office, in the car, in the kitchen, and at my work station...and in my purse. When I'm at conference, there is a section in my hotel room—near the window—for "art therapy" with colored pencils, sharpies, small paper pads and a mini watercolor set. It all helps.
When – I get ideas and solve design problems or am totally inspired everywhere in the course of a day. I capture these little nuggets at that moment so they can be properly explored later.
Materials – unlined paper (smooth and watercolor) plus a pencil for those first initial thoughts and doodles. Then I'll explore the possibilities with a fine sharpie and some watercolor treatments on those ideas for mood. Another favorite (once everything is scanned in) is to explore those drawings with brushes and effects in Photoshop or push it further into collage work. I like to create interpretive visuals with photos and textures to communicate my message.

HOW: How did you get started?
Darcy: I've been making handmade cards for friends, family and co-workers for over 10 years.
Kelly: Quite the "ahteest" at age 4, I continue freehand drawing even now—gathering other skills and new tools over the years.

HOW: Do you sell locally in your town?
Darcy: I haven't officially made that leap, yet, but I am working on it! I live in a small town and there are a few gift stores and coffee shops and such that have potential.
Kelly: I used to sell my drawings and illustrations at schools and department stores. Fast forward to 2009 and the Designer's Marketplace, where we launch a product created by HOWies, for HOWies: the Con Survival Kit.

HOW: Are you affiliated with any organizations?
Darcy: HOW Design Forum. It's not really an organization but it's been a great place to connect with other designers. There is a huge opportunity to share work, receive critiques, bounce ideas off of each other, join in on some fun projects that help keep the creative juices flowing...I feel that being a part of the forum has definitely helped me work towards some of my goals with stationery design.
Kelly: Currently, the HOW Design and HOW Conference forums. My association and participation there has been a tremendous inspirational jolt to the business of creating. Soon looking to hook up with entrepreneurial organizations if all goes well with kit sales.

HOW: What are your goals for your craft?
Darcy: I would love to learn screenprinting and letterpress. I think that it would be fun to incorporate more of those skills into my work.
Kelly: Well, my goal last year of collaboration has been realized with Darcy—YAY! But I enjoy teaching my craft and helping newbs, so that will always be in my future. Being a mentor has been very rewarding—plus it's great to get all of this STUFF out of my head sometimes! Before my youngest goes to college, I will be taking a few more classes in Advanced Flash and server side technologies for use in UID.

HOW: Where do you plan to go with this?
Darcy: Well, I plan on doing what I love and I hope that it's less "on-the-side" work and more of a full-time adventure!
Kelly: Just one year shy from my 6-year plan to retire from in-house work and launch full-throttle into a solopreneur career.

HOW: Do you have any advice for other designers looking for a creative outlet outside of work?
Darcy: I think that so many people put aside the things that they love doing because of other obligations. Take time for yourself to do what you love to do. I read a quote awhile back that said, "Be what you love, love what you do." I'm inspired by that quote.
Kelly: After almost 20 years in the biz (see juggling man's article about this), I am still happy to do what I do. I firmly believe that we need to be who we are, not what we do. Being in an environment where inspiration is cultivated helps me to do what I do. Participation in fun projects is another example—like the HOWiezine, HOWie Cookbook, HOW Poster—these fuel my passion. Being who I am involves volunteer work, enjoying family, reading all kinds of books, cooking healthy food—full of texture and flavor—and swimming!


Jess Moss
HOW:  What do you plan to sell in the Designer’s Marketplace?
Jess: Super awesome fleece mittens, scarves, patches and oilcloth bags. Yeah, it could be 101 degrees in June here in Austin but you never know, somebody will want to get their Christmas shopping done early! A handcrafted scarf and matching mittens is a closet must have.
 
HOW: Can you give us a little insight into your creative process?
Jess: I get really excited when I see something I could incorporate into a design. Then I think about it a lot and maybe draw it up in Illustrator. Once I get my mind around the final product, I start collecting my supplies. I make decisions based on what materials are available and substitute when necessary. Actually that’s probably the most fun part—seeing the concept in my mind become the materials in my hands. 
 
HOW: How did you get started?
Jess: A friend of mine gave me some awesome vintage fabric. Just as a heap of fabric that really had no function.  It was too beautiful to lay there forever so I bought a sewing machine and made some curtains. In about a month I had completed several other projects, which led to my mittens. Christmas rolled around and people were lining up to get a pair.
 
HOW: What are your goals for your craft?
Jess: Creating something that people will cherish. Something that starts a conversation like “Where did you get that?”
 
HOW: Where do you plan to go with this?
Jess: I look at crafts like vacations; I never want to revisit as there are so many other places I haven’t seen yet.
 
HOW: Do you have any advice for other designers looking for a creative outlet outside of work?
Jess: As working professionals, much of our time is spent creating to the specifications of others. We draw our ideas from a personal place and have it morph into popular opinion. My extracurricular craft allows me to follow through with my ideas without anyone stopping me. I get a feeling of accomplishment without the stress of a guessing game and crossed fingers.


Kat Feuerstein
HOW: What do you plan to sell in the Designer’s Marketplace?
Kat: We will be selling letterpress stationery including greeting cards, postcards and note books. We will also have gift certificates on hand for any designers that might want to give letterpress printing as a gift to themselves or one of their designer friends. What better gift to give a designer?!

HOW: Can you give us a little insight into your creative process?
Kat: We are a design studio with a focus on letterpress printing. We print our own work as well as the work of other designers. Letterpress printing is a centuries-old method of relief printing that has been totally modernized. A lot of today's letterpress printers (with some exceptions) are using photopolymer plates that are made from computer files in place of lead, wood or magnesium. This allows us to design freely using Illustrator or InDesign. Our plates are then made exactly as we have designed to be printed on our presses from the 1800s. Once the design has been created and the plates are made, we then hand mix ink and hand feed the paper into the press to create the finished product. Letterpress offers a rich, debossed impression in the paper that is unmistakable.

HOW: How did you get started?
Kat: I started Gilah Press + Design about 5 1/2 years ago. Before that, a friend of mine had a proof press (a bit different than the style of press we use) that I borrowed to create wedding invitations for another friend. I was hooked immediately. Soon thereafter I found myself with my first platen letterpress and spent every waking moment outside of my full time design job figuring out how to use this newly acquired 1200 pound beast. After a bit of time, I started taking on freelance jobs and printing things for friends. When I look back on the work I printed then, it seems a little bit embarrassing! The technique took quite a while to learn, but over time the quality got better and better. Soon I found myself working way too many extra hours and decided to take the leap, leave my job, and go out on my own. It was definitely a nerve wracking experience, but I have not regretted it for a minute. Now, 5+ years later, the company has left our old 250 square foot studio for a 3,000 square foot studio, acquired tons more of letterpresses, cutters, drill presses, padding presses, and a brand new platemaker! It has also grown from a one-woman show to a team of four.

HOW: Do you sell locally in your town?
Kat: We wholesale our lines to a couple of shops locally as well as other retail stores around the country, in Canada and Australia. The local shops that carry our goods are Wholly Terra Studio and Red Tree. A complete list of our retailers can be found on our website.

HOW: Are you affiliated with any organizations?
Kat: I am on the board for our neighborhood community council as the chair of the Clean & Green committee. This ends up being great for networking. It took me a long time to realize that some day I would have friends, acquaintances and neighbors that were all grown up with real jobs and that some of them would eventually become clients. That's the part I love the most, realizing that business networking isn't nearly as intimidating as I once imagined it to be, it just sort of happens. Being active in my community has opened many doors. It also doesn't hurt that we do a good bit of pro-bono letterpress printing for community events, so once people get their hands on that they always want to know more!

HOW: What are your goals for your craft?
Kat: We plan to continue to grow our line of greeting cards and would love to collaborate with outside illustrators to diversify our offerings. We would also love to branch out into screen printing and use it in combination with letterpress in order to add more dimension to our work.

HOW: Where do you plan to go with this?
Kat: Hopefully continuing to grow, diversify and have more fun!

HOW: Do you have any advice for other designers looking for a creative outlet outside of work?
Kat: Do what makes you feel good. The part I love about letterpress is the meld between fine art and commercial art. It is a hand made way of mass producing things, plus it gets me away from constantly being at a computer!