Interview by Aubrey Krekeler
Photography by Egan Parks
Tell me about your background and what led you to creating Continuum?
My background is in fine arts with a focus on ceramics and throughout the experiences I had in art school it became the perfect storm for this idea to come to fruition. I did a residency in Maine at a ceramic art commune and met a variety of artists who were at different stages in their careers. What stuck out most was making work for a curated environment that wasn’t necessarily an art gallery. During that time in my life I really started having this conversation, which is almost a debate, of wether or not craft is an art? That was heavily in my mind and that’s where the idea of having a boutique that was kind of this fusion of an art gallery came from.
Where do you feel like your inspirations stem from?
My fine arts background and experience in college was very transformative for me. I would say specifically the combination of philosophy, art history, and being tactile were all very much defining points in where I decided to take my career and mature. Narrative and process are huge to me and that’s something that I do emphasize in the store. With art history, you get this visual sense as to what was going on culturally in a community. That was kind of my way of understanding history and current happenings. Then applying philosophy and understanding how we set guidelines for our own lives. That always heavily influences how I see things.
I never think it’s a good idea to have one solid influence or inspiration,
for me, I think that’s way too limiting. I want my influences to be a broad range of things that I place importance on. It’s like an echo of an idea and that’s where I find my influence aesthetically. I never want to look the same everyday and I don’t want to be wearing the same thing as everyone else.
I want you to be able to go into the store and find something that fits your personality that day. I dress according to my emotions, like what I’m feeling not just this outer shell that you want to be portraying.
How do your harness that creativity into Continuum’s space?
So for the space itself, the inspiration and creation was to make it immersive and just have a space where, if you don’t leave with an object or a purchase that you’re leaving with an experience. Continuum is this mesh of creative ideas that have all been jumbled in my mind at some point and regurgitated, so it’s spanning from all those things that influence or inspire me that I try to interject in the store.
I’m forever finding little nooks or crannies to do ridiculous things that I want to see in the space. I feel like creatively there’s always something to be done and I always have ten different ideas at any given point in time. As I don’t have time to be in the ceramic studio making personal work, Continuum fulfills that
With creating this new space and concept shop, it was essentially the first of its kind in Cincinnati. While sustainable and ethical fashion is not a new concept in the fashion industry, how did you bring it to fruition in a city which is still developing creatively?
With the hope that people care about where things come from. I think that is something which spans all modes of consumption. If you’re questioning where your food comes from you should also question where your clothing comes from. Or if you can appreciate the energy that went into mak- ing anything, I feel like it was natural that I wanted to have and share that conversation with the community. Yes, it’s a higher price point but as cliché as it is, quality over quantity is something that is really important to me. A big part of Continuum is having that conversation and sharing these ideals that resonate with the core values of what we’re trying to provide.
What is it about a particular artisan or designer that resonates with yourself and your customers?
I feel like you’re connecting directly with another human and supporting sustainable conscious fashion and designers. It’s a more personable connection versus a connection to a trend or something that is altruistic in my opinion. For example, Study NY takes a very educational angle on her line. Not only is she doing all these unique processes and supporting independent artisans, down to where the cotton is grown, she is providing that on the label. I immediately knew I also wanted to do this with my customer. I wanted to share these stories and I feel like I would be doing the line a disservice if I didn’t share what makes the line unique. I think that smaller independent designers speak for themselves, that whole niche is an interest in itself and very anti-fast fashion and mass consumerism. Supporting an artist is important to me versus finding something produced in a factory.
Where do you see yourself and Continuum in the future?
The online store will finally be launching. It’s almost three years in the making. I think this whole realm of ethical and sustainable decision-making spans across a lot of things that are applicable to my life and a lifestyle so I think that we will be expanding on that. Expanding Continuum and moving forward. As well as working with local charities or organizations especially in the animal realm.