The textures, colors and shapes of Lisa Peters handcrafted ceramic beads and jewelry components were the perfect match for our Harvest Moon theme! We wanted to know more about Lisa, so we begged her for info in between her trips to Bulgaria and the Dominican Republic! Here is what we learned…

How long have you been designing (selling) beads? I have been selling beads since 2005.

What is your background and how did you get started?
I have a Bachelors in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City where I majored in Photography and spent the first few years as an editorial and commercial still life photographer managing my own studio in NJ. Over the years I juggled all sorts of interesting jobs in the floral industry with party planning and set design, but it was not until early in 2000 that I gave up Photography entirely so I could focus on my art. Happily creating with fiber, encaustic and ceramic sculpture one day I found myself playing around with some clay from a larger sculpture and realized I had made some very cool beads and someone wanted to buy them – I was hooked from that moment on.

Where do you find inspiration for your lines and how often to you introduce new ones?
I have two important creative sessions each year. The one that begins in January and ends in June and one that takes place at the end of the summer. I do not start out with any particular style in mind when I begin to create… I just create and at some point after days or sometimes weeks I create that “one piece” (my ah-ha moment) and it’s only at that point that it all becomes clear where I am going design-wise, but I do not really have “lines” as I very rarely create the same piece over again. When Vintaj asked me to be the Art Bead Partner for Fall it was the first time I sat down and created a line specifically and created more than one piece of the same color and design.

Do you have a similar design process for each line?
I have no protocol whatsoever for studio time. Each time I return to the work table to begin creating I allow myself time to become reacquainted with the medium and allow myself ample time for that ah ha moment to happen.

What kind of space do you design & create in?
A very small, cramped, unorganized temporary one in the basement – changes need to be made to my existing studio to make more room for bead making but there is no time to “anything” since I have started making beads.

How often do you get to design jewelry?
I very rarely design jewelry that actually materializes – I do create pieces, mentally -sculptural pieces if you will, that very rarely see the light of day and I think I do it for almost every piece I make. Generally, I do not share those those thoughts with my customers as their creative path is their own. I definitely create the types of beads that I would want to use if I was designing jewelry.

Is there anything you can add about our theme, Harvest Moon…how your beads and Vintaj work together?
I absolutely love the pieces the Vintaj Design Team came up with. The Vintaj findings combined with my ceramic beads supported and enhanced the design and never competed with each other. It is a difficult job to mix and match elements in any piece of jewelry, especially jewelry that has a seasonal theme – as a bead maker and one that attempted a seasonal line for the first time knowing that Vintaj has such beautiful accessories I would definitely do it again.

To learn more about Lisa, visit her various sites:
Blog
Etsy Shop
Facebook
Flickr
Website