Spotlight: Giovanna Zara, Crafter and Designer

Giovanna Zara has been creating since she was a young child. Over the years, she has dabbled in a variety of techniques. Right now, she has a self-proclaimed gel obsession for gel printing and slow stitching – and sometimes together in the same project.

How did you find yourself on an artist’s path? Always there? Lightbulb moment? Dragged kicking and screaming? Evolving? 

I was always a creative one. When I was young I wished to follow an artistic path at school but I wasn’t allowed. Creativity never left my side but the real game changing was in 2007 when a friend of mine helped me (strongly pushed me) to open a blog. From then I never stopped creating and evolving as an artist.

What techniques are used to create your art? 

Let’s say that along the years I tried almost any techniques out there, right now I am in a gel printing obsession and slow stitching and sometimes I make a crossover mixing them, stitching on a gel printed fabric.

Is your work more content-driven or process-driven? Does an idea inspire a work of art, or do the materials launch an idea? 

Both, definitely. Sometimes a new material/art supply inspires me, other times I have an idea or found an idea on the web that sparks my creativity.

Where do you find the materials for your art? Do you have a favorite resource or shop? 

No, lately I tend not to buy new art supply or buying in general. I was an hoarder in the past, so I try to use what I have in my stash. I try…sometimes I can’t resist and I buy new stuff, usually regretting it after a bit.

Do you plan your work out ahead of time, or do you just dive in with your materials and start playing? 

Again, both. I like a lot to create in advance, sometimes months ahead, sometimes I just start and finish a craft project on a whim.

How do you manage your creative time? Do you schedule start and stop times? Or work only when inspired? 

I work only when I am inspired and…when I have deadlines. Deadlines help a lot when you are in a creative rut, because I rather be forced to create than to not create at all. I believe in ‘I was working when inspiration struck’.

Describe your creative space. 

Right now I have two creative spaces, my beloved studio at the end of the garden and a corner in my bedroom that I set up last winter because my studio was freezing.

Heat waves hit very soon this year in Italy but I decided to move back to my studio to make some messy ecoprinting.

Working across many different media, how do you organize all of your creative supplies? 

No organization at all.

I have a large space where to store everything (I need to declutter it heavily). About every two years, I do a studio makeover, and then I regret it for the next two years because I spend hours searching for stuff that I was sure it was there somewhere.

My sewing supplies are in a small handmade holder that I bring everywhere, I think is one of the reason I love slow stitching so much.

Do you use a sketchbook, journal, or technology to plan or keep track of ideas? How does that help your work develop? 

For several years now I use a bullet journal. When I started I used it to write things down on every kind of stuff. Now in the journal I have a calendar, books and movie list, a bit of (craft) planning for the month ahead, especially deadlines, and ideas.

A place where I write down new ideas, sometimes how to be creative during the whole year helps a lot. In general, I am a fan of the bullet journal, especially when I worked from home for several years on my own, it helped me a lot to stay focused.

 Do you work actively on more than one project at a time? 

I tend to start and finish a project, otherwise is just there to clutter my mind.

Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?

One of my largest projects ever was a big slow stitched panel that I made last year. It was meant to decorate my headbed. I never put up there. Eventually, to make a photo shoot, this year I hung it on the wall in front of my new craft corner so I can admire it from the bed every night.

It started like ‘I want to make a big fabric collage, I can do it!’ So, I stitched small fabric collages almost every day, in the evening, on the couch, and then after three months I called it done.

It took three more months to take the plunge and stitch everything together and at the end I was so happy about it.

Which part of the design process is your favorite? 

Create! I mean making it. 

Which part is a challenge for you? 

Maybe the hardest part is to find an idea for how to use a product months in advance for planning, since craft companies require that a lot.

If you could live during a different artistic movement other than now, which one would you choose? Why?

I am happy with my era. I feel free to create whatever I like. I wish that women, especially in Italy, dedicated more time to follow their artistic path, but we are very very far away from that .

What traits, if any, do you think that creative people have as compared to people who are not creative? 

Not sure, but for me they have a light, a positive vibe that they bring everywhere they go, it’s definitely a blessing.