Spring has sprung and we are excited to introduce you to our maker for May. Most of the products that we have from her have total spring vibes and a pastel color pallet. So without further ado, we are pleased to introduce Johana Gutiérrez-Griffiths of JJ Paperie Co, She is a surface designer and engraver based in Conneticut. She explains, “I grew up as a hobbyist that loved trying out new things.” She dabbled in a lot including sketching fashion ideas, creating collages, sewing ribbon belts, and even interior design (aka rearranging her room constantly).
After graduating college, she worked for a number of media companies in New York City and found herself longing for a creative outlet. When she got engaged, she dove deep into the world of calligraphy with the goal of creating her very own wedding suite! After immersing herself in this craft, she realized she could make a business out of it, and JJ Paperie Co. was born. The name of her business is a combination of her first and middle name. She specifically did not put ‘calligraphy’ in the name because she knew she would eventually evolve (so smart), but added ‘paperie’ because she felt she’d always stay in the paper realm in some way/shape/form.
There are a lot of parts about her small business that Johana loves including seeing her designs come to life, seeing her products in stores, and seeing her skills develop as time goes on. She shares one last piece of advice that I absolutely love, “I think if you want to pursue something new you should! It's also never TOO late to try something new - I'm definitely an example of a non-traditional creative who learned as I went with trial and error and that's OK. No one gets it right the first time. It's not easy but if it's something you really want, it's well worth trying at least.” JJ Paperie Co. is her full-time gig now, which she is very proud of and grateful for!
You can find JJ Paperie Co. products in our store, on our website, or by clicking the link below to visit her site directly.
