My name is Anna and I start my business Annalaura in July 2006. I am never good at deciding on names and spend a few days trying to think of something to call my Etsy store, but everything sounded silly, so I thought I would keep it simple and look to my parents for inspiration and call it Annalaura.I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2001 from the University of Ballarat. My majors were drawing, painting and public art and my minors were photography, printmaking and multimedia and communication. My work is held in various public and private collections and I was awarded the 2001 University of Ballarat Travel Award and travelled to South Africa and Scotland. I also lived in Belgium in 1998 as an AFS exchange student and attended the Secundair Kunstinstituut in Gent.
Since finishing art school I spend some time in a bit of a creative wilderness. I had a horrid job working for customer service in a call centre. I decided I needed to get out and enrolled in my Diploma of Education. I have been a secondary teacher for two and a half years and it got me back into creating things rather that listening to people who cannot read a telephone bill.
The products I make are all in very limited editions and I treat each item as an individual artwork. At the moment my focus is on tote bags with screen prints, smaller pouches and wallets and my felt lady badges. The process I use with my screenprinting is very simple as I cut out my stencils from cartridge paper. Although there are some limitation with this style of printing it creates a beautiful print and can still produce intricate detail. My felt badges are hand stitched and one of a kind. I love using a needle and thread and often incorporated stitching in my artworks.
Since starting my business a year ago I have seen it grow and formed fantastic relationships with other artists both in Australia and overseas. I am always proud to see more and more Australians selling on Etsy and the talent always impresses me.
annalaura.etsy.com
