Spotlight: Zoe Castro, Home Goods and Apparel Designer

Zoe Castro studied fashion design in college. Inspired by bedding at an upscale boutique, she and her mom took a quilting class. She now creates custom home goods as well as designing children’s clothes.

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

I’ve always been a sewer, as was my mom before me. I remember her sewing halloween costumes, helping with school projects, making hand puppets for storytime at the library where she worked as a librarian, the list goes on and on.

In 6th grade, a home ec class solidified my own sewing skills and love of making things! I also knew from a young age that I wanted to work in the fashion industry. I had early dreams of living in New York City and working for Calvin Klein.

I earned my BFA in Fashion Design from California College of the Arts where I studied and loved both fashion and textiles. I love the history and cultural significance of textiles and clothing as well as the inherent beauty of both.

A few years after graduating, my mom and I were drooling over some beautiful bedding at an upscale boutique and we both thought to ourselves “hey, I think we can make this”.

We took a quilting class together and I fell in love with this new yet familiar art form, and I’ve been quilting ever since, in addition to working as a children’s clothing designer.

Why fiber? How did you get started?

When I arrived at CCA in 2005 I quickly learned the importance of textiles as the starting point for beautiful clothing. I took as many textiles courses as I could – screenprinting, dyeing, weaving, and wearable art.

In my last year of college, I was lucky enough to do a study abroad course in Guatemala and learned traditional weaving and dyeing skills in the beautiful city of Antigua.

Artistry and craftsmanship go hand in hand, giving me so much joy to learn these handwork techniques. I have a few beloved textile pieces that I collected at the colorful markets in Guatemala.

When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?

I am absolutely a planner.

It starts with an idea – it could be as simple as a particular color combination or singular motif – and I can quickly envision what I want my completed piece to look like. I’m drawn to very graphic and minimal patterns in repetition in offbeat color combos.

I draw and plan everything and don’t cut into any fabric until I know exactly what I’m going to do. Of course, things sometimes evolve – move this here or change this color there – but I take a methodical approach to quilting. One of my favorite pieces of art in my studio is the drawing I did for the second quilt I ever made.

Are you a “finisher”? How many UFOs do you think you have?

Mostly yes! But I have one big UFO right now. I did a 100 day project where I made one quilt block a day, mostly improvised. I got to about 70 blocks and have 4 rows pieced but it’s surely still a UFO.

Describe your creative space.

I have a small office space off my kitchen with two big windows to my backyard. Because it’s quite small and has no door, it must remain quite tidy!

I have one big wooden work table that is standing height, with my Juki machine on one end and space at the other end either for working at my computer or cutting fabric.

Lighting and tidiness are important to me – I can’t settle in and create unless there’s some semblance of order. I also have a garage space that houses my industrial Juki machine, my longarm machine, and various half-started upholstery projects.

Scraps. Saver? Or be done with them?

I am definitely not a scrap saver!

I hang on to them as long as I can, with false hope that I’ll actually use them for anything, or wait until my mom comes to visit and she pilfers my stash for bits to use in her small handwork projects.

Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?

I definitely love to use a sketchbook. As an apparel and graphic designer, I also make use of Illustrator and Photoshop. I find computer aided design to be a marvelous tool for drawing designs and playing with different color schemes with ease.

How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?

I try as much as possible to take one project across the finish line before starting a new one. I also thrive with a deadline, so commissions have been successful for me as there is often a clear date by which I need to be done.

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

One of my favorite pieces, which was featured in Quiltcon Together in 2021, is a quilt that I made to go on my queen sized bed and the biggest quilt I’d made to date.

I was inspired by the art that I saw at the Bauhaus museum in Berlin and made an interpretation of a weaving by Gunta Stolz. The quilt has elements that play with transparency and vibrations of color theory. The drawing for this quilt is framed in my studio.

When I made this quilt, I finished the piecing only to realize that it was about 10″ too narrow on either side to drape properly on the bed. So I had to get creative and add a continuation of the design on either side. 

Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?

Because I’m a designer by trade, the initial birth of an idea is definitely my favorite part. Having that spark of an idea, choosing the colors, selecting the fabrics and having all of my materials in hand is always very exciting.

Because my work is quite methodical, the middle part is the hardest when it’s mostly just repetitive cutting and sewing without much creative thought. Oftentimes, I just want to be done!

The quilting itself is not my strong suit so I struggle with marrying the design of the quilt with the design of the stitching. The process is full of so many peaks and valleys so you have to trust that you’ll pass through whatever rut you’re in and feel proud and accomplished again.

How has your creativity evolved over the years? What triggered the evolution to new media/kinds of work/ways of working?

After quilting for a few years, I became drawn to home textiles of all forms and have started to learn how to reupholster furniture pieces that I’ve found on the road for free or at my local thrift store. I think it would be very interesting to apply quilt-like piecing in industrial materials to 3D furniture pieces.

There was a very expensive sofa for sale at an antique store in my town that had been reupholstered in antique Turkish rugs and it was another moment that I stopped and thought to myself “hey, I think I could make that”.

Have I completed a piece yet? No. But I’m learning and pushing myself to explore new techniques.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work? 

I find that talking about projects with friends or fellow sewists keeps me honest and keeps me motivated.

I’m planning a creative meetup with people in my area that work in design or art as a means of keeping more of us connected and talking about our work.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of my day job so I need to remind myself that one of the most fulfilling things I can do is make things with my hands.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?

The best piece of advice I’ve gotten is rather a motivational quote I heard recently, that is quite well known but I think applies to SO many facets of life – especially art. “Comparison is the thief of joy”. The message to me being “be yourself, don’t worry what other people are creating, and your spirit will shine through authentically”. 

Where can people see your work?

I have a website where anyone can see some of my past work www.lacolcha.co and you can find me on instagram @la.colcha. I had a quilt accepted in the Quiltcon Together show in 2021 and I hope to have a new entry on display one day at one of their in-person conventions. 

Interview posted September 2024