Etsy Interview

Juuuuuuuuuust in case you missed us on the front page of Etsy as a featured seller, or maybe just because we miss being the center of attention......

Tell us a bit about yourself name, location, affiliations, personal stuff.

Natalie and Ben met and fell in love after Natalie’s sail boat “The Beja Flor” capsized on a tiny island in the South Pacific, where Ben was the only human inhabitant. He was living peacefully with the parrots, potbelly pigs and squirrel monkeys for almost 2 years after a freak tsunami surfing incident. Natalie moved into Ben’s tree house that he had built nestled into a giant monkey tree. Ben made Natalie a mustache key hook one day because she kept losing her keys to the tree house, and she said “WOW! This is Great! You should make these for the rest of the civilized world!” This is when Suddenly, It’s Real! was born! Together they made a flying machine from banana leaves, coconut shells, sand dollars and parrot feathers and decided to return to the mid-west, their native land. Now they live in a tiny tree house with their little cat named Olive in a small forest in Wisconsin.

Apart from creating things, what do you do?

We spend most of our time kicking ass and being awesome, and riding bikes when it’s not twenty below zero.

What first made you want to become an artist?

Who decides to become an artist? Has anyone ever said that? They decided to become an artist? If so, we don’t think they can be trusted. They are definitely a scam and have way too much time and money. On that note, we really wanted to be a professional roller skating team, but it just didn’t work out, so we fell back on being artists again. Maybe someday we’ll fulfill our dream. BUT, if we had to credit ONE PERSON… we’d have to say Mr. Rogers.

Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.

Wake up, Eat, Kick ass, Drink tea/coffee, Stretch, Make stuff (wood, fabric, ink, silkscreen, pencils, pens, parrot feathers, paint, paper, glue, scissors, banana leaves, tape, computer and whatever is laying around or being thrown away), Eat, Drink coffee/tea, Kick ass, make more stuff, Sleep, Dream of new and interesting ways to Kick ass tomorrow, Repeat.

What handmade possession do you most cherish?

Food, shelter, Michael Jackson and the internet.

Name your top five books, movies, songs/musical groups, and web sites besides Etsy.

These are always in flux, but here are some favorites.

BOOKS

(Natalie) The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan
Touch The Earth Compiled by T. C. McLuhan
What Shall We Do Without Us? Kenneth Patchen

(Ben) Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Chuck Palahniuk’s work
Christopher Moore’s work
Cats Cats Cats Cats by John R. Gilbert

MOVIES (10 favorites between the two of us)
Survive Style + 5
Anything by The Coen Bros.
Night on Earth
Anything by Wes Anderson
Groundhog Day
Science of Sleep
Grindhouse-Death Proof
The Shining
The King of Kong
Hot Rod

MUSIC (10 favorites between the two of us)
We’d have to say that this changes the most often…
November (Swedish)
Half Way to Gone
Sasquatch
Brant Bjork
The Sword
Hot Chip
The Black Keys
The Monks
The Kinks
Kool Keith

What advice would you give to artists who are new to Etsy?

Be original. And remember, it takes many years of intense training to kick ass everyday.

What are your favorite features on Etsy? What new features would you like to see?

We really love how user friendly Etsy is. Pounce is a lot of fun. We would like it if we could organize our Convo area better. It would be nice to have folders and what not. Also, an option to automatically Re-List something would be great.

How do you promote your work?

Sky writing, messenger pigeons, smoke signals, secret code, subliminal messages, morse code, ad space on city buses, body painting, infomercials, full page ads in Sky Mall Magazine, to name a few.

In ten years I'd like to be...

Wasted away again in Margaritaville.

Comments

[Zana]

Congrats on the front page!
I'm giggling cause my husband and I think 'Hot Rod' is just hilarious...
Love your stuff~
Zana

[pixie]

My husband and I are laughing our kicking asses off at your interview. We plan to wake up and kick ass tomorrow, as inspired here. We will start training immediately!

:) !

pixie & brandon