Today we’d like to introduce you to (Designer & Singer) Emily Peters.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I knew exactly what I wanted and what I liked when I was small and young: I wanted to be a singer and I loved making things. So I did those things to the maximum, with the drive and focus of an adult. Hindsight often appears clearer than the moments we’re living. Maybe this perception is true, or maybe this is because the moments have happened, can’t be changed, and we can make a story about them that somehow feels good, or at least justified. Either way, I feel like I grew backwards: as a child, I was an adult, and as an adult, I am finally a child. That was the level of my childhood focus on the things I loved to do. I worked and worked at making things and singing and tried to get better and better, but always felt that it was never quite enough.
Now, I’ve been alive for almost 40 years, and I can finally make things and sing with the wild abandon and freewheeling joy of a child! In-between my adult childhood and my childish adulthood, I went to college and gained a B.S. in Clothing Design and a double minor in Fine Art and Retail Merchandising at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Atelier E was born first as a jewelry label called Piaz, which I started one day when I went home for lunch from yet another uninspiring, fresh out of college, no experience j.o.b. (this time as a shop-girl at All Saints). I didn’t go back to the shop-girl life after that fateful lunch break, but it wasn’t the end of my side-jobs as I built Piaz from a sculptural wire and bead jewelry label to the full-fledged sustainable fashion house it is today.
And what happened to singing? Well, I tucked it neatly away under a rug until about six years ago, when I found Bhakti Yoga through a Kundalini Yoga practice called Aquarian Sadhana. Since that rebirth of my voice, I’ve made two full-length albums as Sat Sukh in the new age/mantra/Earth song genre and a single as EIY in the ambient/experiemental genre. The single – AIR – was created for one of the short films in PAXy’s series called Into the Wild. The film for which my song is the soundtrack is called TOUCH, and is performed by movement artists Carlota Pradera and Lize-Lotte Pitlo. I also create a monthly live music and movement event called Unfold. It’s similar to an ecstatic dance. Two musicians and I create a soundscape and everyone attending dances and moves as a means of somatic exploration or moving meditation. Unfold happens every third Sunday of the month at Tropotrope Arts Learning Lab in Little Haiti.
My life has been a multi-dimensional exploration of artistic creativity. I do exactly what I love – and of course, some necessary things that aren’t very fun or loveable but totally fuel what I love, so they get done with zest, too! I’m content and excited to see what will unfold as I develop as an artist, a designer, a singer and a businesswoman. That unfolding of development never ceases, and that has been another beautiful discovery of growing into my adult childhood . . . there is no arrival of success, no point where I say “there I did it”, but many moments of total enjoyment and infinite experiences of voicing the art that is inside of me.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The lives of the hyper-creative are unfortunately often sad tales of emotional, mental, and financial struggle. Many of the world’s most famous artists and musicians left us, not only with brilliant art, music or design, but cautionary tales of what can happen when creativity is not supported, and the untreated mental and emotional health that results from that lack of support. I was so fortunate to find Iyengar Yoga at the age of 16. Through that practice and a very strong will, I addressed a depression that came from a childhood of moving, changing schools every year, and not having the opportunity to learn the skill of creating a real and healthy bond of friendship. Yoga class was the first place I felt like I fit with other human beings. Until that time, the only place I felt such an ease of being was by myself in my creative flow or in nature. Because of the tools that Yoga gave me, my life has been easier. I still experience the usual struggles that come with being a creative professional – under-funded, under-supported, over-worked, etc. – but I don’t suffer them as much as I simply experience them, see the lessons, and enjoy life’s invitation to find a way to bring awareness to a more egalitarian, arts-supporting, sustainable world. So yes, the road is bumpy, full of rocks, potholes, road-blocks, detours, cracks, and even gaping holes. But why waste my one magnificent life on seeing those as bad, undesirable things? The rocks guide the way and generously share their energy with me. The potholes make the ride fun and bouncy. The roadblocks keep me from going places that (if I tell the truth) I didn’t really want to go in the first place. The cracks keep me vigilant and present and steer me towards more stable ground. The gaping holes give me a nice place to rest, reset, and re-evaluate my direction. Life comes with stuff, and I’ve done my best to make beautiful art with it!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My creativity is a statement in favor of evolution. When I design, I work with form as a means to uncommon, artful comfort. When I make clothes, jewelry or accessories, I make them with the most eco-friendly materials I can find. When I make music, it’s about appreciating and protecting the earth’s natural beauty, remembering that we are not separate from nature, uplifting women, femmes and the feminine to our natural place of equality and every being’s natural free and sovereign state. When I name my musical and fashionable creations, I tap into their intrinsic cosmic energies; they tell the story of the infinite ways that consciousness expresses through me. I am a conduit of positive change for the Earth and all living and non-living beings.
Atelier (artisan workshop) E (earth-centric) is a mission of beauty, a vessel of sustainability, a conductor of change for the better . . . for everyone, not just the privileged.
In my Earth-centered artisan workshop, I am the artisan. I don’t take advantage of “third world” labor rates because through that industrial practice, we perpetuate the imbalances, prejudices, and injustices that colonization started spreading back in the 1400’s. Craft from all cultures is a fine art and valuable skill, and it should be valued as such. When I say valued as such I don’t mean as an excuse for continued exploitation of Black, Brown, and Indigenous cultural arts, and/or White Saviorism, I mean financially compensated and supported in all spaces and all countries with real-world monies and real-world support programs with the intentions to disintegrate the classist and racist concept of a first, second or third world. So, being a white woman, in the “first world”, being the artisan, is not only the true expression of my life’s passion, but also my statement in favor of equality.
In my Earth-and-People-centered artisan workshop, the Earth and its People really do come first. The raw materials I use are:
– Organic – cotton and hemp fabrics
– Sustainably produced/procured – cotton, hemp, wool, and silk fabrics, and responsibly milled sheet metals
– Reclaimed – discarded natural fiber linens (sheets, curtains and tablecloths) from hotels and linen services
– Zero-waste (as little waste as possible) – eye pillows, face masks and the Spaces jewelry collection are made from the scraps leftover
– Limited edition or one-of-a-kind – my production quantities are mindful, conscious of who buys, and how much
– Non-toxic – dye pigments are either natural minerals or plants, dyed using a modified Japanese method which uses soybeans, very little water, and absolutely no toxic chemicals or heavy metals
My work is a real example of the real possibility of sustainable production practices. Every day I’m proving that a fashion business CAN produce at healthy amounts, not pollute the Earth and endanger the health and lives of people, plants and animals living near the production site, not exploit the underprivileged, perpetuate a reality of equality for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and women, AND be timelessly beautiful. Every day, I’m singing songs that vibrate the truth of our intrinsic one-ness into planes both subtle and gross. Every day, I’m being the multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, multi-talented, multi-skilled person that I am: singing and making things for a world where everyone has equal access to a full, sustainable, regenerative life.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Well, most people who know me as a designer are surprised that I sing, and most people who know me as a singer are surprised that I’m a designer, but all of you reading this already know more than either of those groups because I integrated the two in this story of my creative life! However, there is one more thing that you don’t know yet: I just started a community network for creative reuse called ReCreate Miami. Most major cities have a center for creative reuse – they’re like thrift stores for discarded, gently used materials that can be re-used by artists, artisans, and crafters to create their works. For now, while I await word from some grant applications, I’ve launched ReCreate Miami as an Instagram account – @recreate.miami – where South Florida creatives can connect with each other, have their art featured, and buy, sell or trade materials with each other. Eventually, I hope that ReCreate Miami can have its own space, where re-useable art materials can be traded, artists can create installations, and art education/exploration can happen for kids and adults in our community.
Pricing:
- $10-50 Spaces Collection (zero-waste jewelry)
- $50 – $400 Larger Jewelry Collections
- $10-$200 Material Collection (upcycled clothing and accessories)
- $50 – $200 Reflection Collection (women’s wear made with sustainable fabrics)
Contact Info:
- Email: TheAtelierE@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.ateliere.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/e.atelier.e/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAtelierE/
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/satsukh
- Other: https://soundsofeiy.bandcamp.com/releases
Image Credits
Jacqueline Soir (1st image) Emily Peters (4 additional images)
