[one_half padding=”0 15px 0 5px”]This week I’ve been speaking to Patricia Larocque, the brains and hands behind the online shop F.F.Embroidery.
Patricia hand stitches monsters, plasters, UFOs and basketballs onto bags and pouches; motifs that stem from her love of horror films and reality TV shows. Her fresh palette and uncluttered designs are like a cross between children’s book illustrations and sci-fi magazines from the pulp era.
Originally Patricia started translating her drawings into embroideries as gifts for friends, but after receiving an overwhelming response to her work on Tumblr she decided to open up an online store in 2014 – Famous Friends Embroidery.
‘I first heard ‘famous friends’ in a movie and immediately thought it would be the perfect name for my future high school electro-duo band. After learning the whole musician scene would take a bit more talent then I was willing to give, I kept the name in my mind vault for years. The band was never started but when it came time to pick a name for this solo project, I figured ‘famous friends’ was too good not to use. So, ffembroidery stuck’.
Patricia works mainly from her home studio in Lyon, France, where she lives with her boyfriend, but she spends a lot of her time in coffee shops embroidering and people watching. [/one_half]In the space of four years she’s moved from Vancouver to Berlin to Lyon, learned two new languages, adjusted to expat life, and somehow has still found the time and inspiration to start her own brand of embroidered accessories; that’s pretty impressive! I asked her what advice she would give to other creatives wanting to make a go of turning their hobby into something bigger:
‘Honestly for someone just starting out with art/crafts/embroidery, I would say Just do it! It is not for people who want instant gratification (embroidery that is), it takes time, hours and hours (years even) and hundreds of mistakes. But if you get past that and have patience, eventually you’ll make something cool. Also when I started I didn’t have Instagram or anything like that, I didn’t search the web for people to copy, I just kinda did it and liked it and found my own style. I think most people who make pretty things kinda have to keep their day jobs to support what they love to do. I’m pretty realistic but also, of course, I dream of this being my only job one day or branching out into other cool things’.
Patricia has big plans for the future of Ffembroidery and I have every faith that her brand will be big. Help support an emerging artist by sharing this post.
See more of Ffembroidery designs on Instagram, Twitter, and her shop.
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