[BIO] Abby AKA Azurafae

I lived in Richmond, VA with my highly creative family until I was 18. I have been crafting since I was a toddler with my strength being sewing. There is a long history of fiber arts in our family, so it's thought to be a given that everyone (female and male) know how to at least sew. I moved to Philadelphia, PA to attend The Art Institute of Philadelphia to pursue my passion for Fashion Design. There I refined my sewing skills and fell in love with draping and pleating fabrics into sleek sculptural forms. I also became very interested in the history of art and fashion and how it relates to today's world. After I graduated college, I moved back to Richmond, VA to work on a plan for my fashion designer goal.

After a few months of living in Richmond again, I meet my now husband and fell in love. We got married and had a surprise daughter. As the years have passed and she has grown, I've been refining my art skills which include, machine sewing, hand embroidery, pattern making, pattern alteration, fabric manipulation, crocheting, wire wrap jewelry, beading, drawing and recently painting. I've been applying my skills to new mediums like embroidery and beading on canvas and drawing with paint canvas to produce visually stimulating art pieces.

I'm influenced by Betsey Johnson, Elsa Schiaparelli, Rudy Gernreich, Paco Rabanne, and Issey Miyake. I love the sculptural and quirkiness of their creations. Their innovations and design techniques make me continue to think of new and interesting ways to make my creations come to life. I am fascinated with Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos, Catrinas, Papel Picado (Mexican cut paper), Sugar Skulls and related aspects to the three day ancestral festival. I have no Mexican heritage, but the bright colors and beautiful flowers mixed with the skeletons and skulls is an intriguing thing. I love the fact that they remember their ancestors in such a beautiful and positive way. It's a celebration of life.

I started my blog, in March 2009 to document my art as well as other fashion, art and history related interests.

In October 2009 I opened my ETSY store, Azurafae, to start selling my hand made fashion accessories and soon my art.

In December 2009, I made a Facebook fan page, so people could keep track of when I make new things to sell and when they are listed on ETSY or available for custom order.