Lincoln Center by well worn passport

vintage ribbons at the Tinsel Trading Company

Interview with Deb of Bunnies Can Dream and Harlequin & Lionhead

This week's featured member interview is with Debbie Liu, owner of two of the 5 Boroughs Team's jewelry shops.  Deb comes to NYC via the lovely city of Hong Kong and is also the creative genius and force of nature behind this lovely blog. :)
Interview by Jessica of Hans-My-Hedgehog.

J: Deb, how is it that you've come to have two shops?

D: I have 2 shops, both are jewelry but are quite different.

Bunnies Can Dream features everyday jewelry that combines colors and textures through metal findings, gemstones, glass, ribbons and macrame techniques. With this collection, I want to create versatile jewelry that would brighten up your wardrobe, inspire imagination, and put a smile on your face in everyday mundane life.

Harlequin&Lionhead features fashion jewelry made with precious metal or are 24K gold plated. The driving spirit behind this line is to capture the transient beauty of our everyday life in metal. The process involves wax and metal sculpting and various metalsmithing processes at a New York studio to bring my designs to life.

J: Wow, that's amazing that you have the energy and skills for two totally different collections of jewelry.  I see that both shop names have to do with rabbits. Can you tell us more about this point of inspiration?

D: The names of the shops are inspired by my 2 rabbit friends, Toffee and Charcoal. Toffee was a Harlequin breed, he passed away 2 years ago at a prime age of 8. Charcoal is now an elderly of 10 and he is probably the most handsome Lionhead in the world.

Charcoal

Toffee

J: What gave you the inspiration to start your shop?

D: I started making things because I was quite upset at work and I needed a channel to vent my creativity and to take my mind off things.

I was inspired by the color and texture of amazing gemstones and lampwork glass beads I discovered in findings stores near my work place after we moved our office in 2008. I want to make jewelry that would remind the wearer of the sky, sunshine, ocean, forest, delicious desserts...anything that takes you to a happy place. That's how I started "Bunnies Can Dream". My first couple pieces are the "Blueberry Fields Bracelet" and a now-sold-out piece called "Bracelet of a Mermaid." They were conceived when I was stuck indoors ;)

Blueberry Fields Bracelet

I think if I have a stress-free life I probably would not have started making things. People say creativity flourishes in distress. It is certainly the case with me, so I guess in a way, my slave life at the agency was an inspiration!

J: After working at an ad agency, how did you learn to cast metals? Those two pursuits don't go together!

D: Later in 2010, after I resigned from my day job, I went to a jewelry school for silversmithing. I fell in love with wax carving and casting, which allows me to bring my imagination to life through metal. And I started "Harlequin&Lionhead" with the first collection that features clusters of small roses in different forms.

Adjustable 24 gold plated rose ring

J: Do you regret quitting your day job?

D: Not at all. Although I am not as productive as I was working and I still can't really make a living out of my shops, I have more time to learn and craft.  I am also able to gain an invaluable experience of selling at handmade markets. Interacting with retail customers and learning from fellow crafters really opened my eyes. I have made some very good friends and it is almost strange to have strangers who are willing to help just out of their own good will, especially after all these years in the corporate world and living in HK/NY where no one bothers to ask their neighbor's names! I know I am a lucky girl. This period is probably the happiest days in my adult life.

When you realize that you don't need chocolate to keep you sane at work, you know it is the right job for you.

J: Haha, that's true! Although I think chocolate helps the creative juices to flow as well!  Where do you work now?

D: For Bunnies Can Dream, I make everything on my couch or next to Charcoal on the floor in the house. It is quite crazy...I have a mini tea tray that I bought from Michael's, and inside is a piece of thin foam that catches beads and findings. I usually craft with Bravo shows on TV. But since Project Runaway has been moved to Lifetime, I have that on the list with The Golden Girls, hahahah!

With Harlequin&Lionhead, I make some of the wax models at home on my little Ikea 16" wide folding table. The rest of the work is mostly done out of a studio in Manhattan and 3rd Ward in Brooklyn.

I took all the pictures in my shop by myself on top of my bedroom dresser top, and under the sky roof. All you really need is good light, a camera with a LED display, a mirror and a long arm!

I know, my setup is pretty pathetic. But you work with what you got!

J: Someday you will have a beautiful, spacious studio. I work on my couch as well! Haha. What is your next project?

D: For Bunnies Can Dream, I am recently obsessed with macrame hoops. I am almost growing out of it (I hope!)

Macrame Hoops Bib Necklace in Plum

For Harlequin&Lionhead, I am working on a few things but I am most excited with a new metallic feather series inspired by Alexander McQueen. I hope I can launch it in time for X'mas.
I am also working on a collaborative project with HansMyHedgehog. But that is a top secret...Your readers will have to come to my blog to find out more later.

Alexander McQueen's Black Feather Dress

J: I think I know a little about it :), but everyone else will be surprised! Thanks for the interview, Deb!

Meet Jessica from HansMyHedgehog

Jessica Boehman is the artist who created the top banner of our blog. Her specialty is actually pencil illustration and she has a lovely shop called HansMyHedgehog on Etsy. Behind her art history professor exterior is a sweet person of proactivity, creativity and romance.
- an interview by Debbie Liu of Bunnies Can Dream and Harlequin&Lionhead.


D: Your shop is called "Hans-My-Hedgehog: A Whimsical Menagerie". What inspired you to create the shop and why this name?

J: The shop started when I got inspiration for a theme of animals, in particular, animals doing whimsical things, after I drew an illustration of the Grimm's Fairy Tale of Hans-My-Hedgehog. He's an animal playing music. I knew I wanted to expand upon that line of thought, and so far, it is just giving me more ideas than I have time to draw.

The fairy tale has been my favorite since I was a kid. The drawing was a detailed pencil illustration with a stark white background, so that's been my point of inspiration for new drawings. I wanted everything to look stylistically similar.

Musical Animal Series, inspired by the musical clock at Central Park NYC

Having just moved to NYC, and working three jobs, I felt like I was losing a part of myself.  Drawing always made me feel better.

After meeting a few Etsy sellers and having a few friends who had started a shop, I knew that setting a goal of opening a shop would motivate me to draw, draw, draw! And it did. Moreover, I had started making designs that were being made into invitations and cards by a paper shop in Wooster, Ohio, where I taught as a professor for a semester. They really gave me a creative push.

D: Working 3 jobs? How do you juggle your time?!

J: By day I am a college professor. I teach art history (right now at the College of Staten Island and NYU). I have a few days a week where I do not teach, so I use those days to catch up on course prep, grading, and when that's complete, my treat is working on my shop. I also have a long commute, so I take advantage of the smooth ride on the Staten Island Ferry to add an extra hour of drawing time into my workday.

D: I've never know a professor personally...You must be like a living wikipedia! I can't seem to link the dreamy HansMyHedgehog fairyland with your professional image?

J: When I work in my shop, I feel like a masked menace...like it's an alter ego to my day job-art historian self.  It's kind of fun and strangely, feels a bit illicit.

D: So Dr. Boehman, is there going to be a day your various selves will merge?

J: I was actually a Fulbright scholar in Rome, Italy as I worked on my Ph.D.  I was lucky enough to have the foundation foot the bill for a year of archival research in Rome.  It was a formative year in my life and I'm still looking for the perfect idea to commemorate my year in the Eternal City...

D: Hm just maybe, we can only hope...I heard you travel quite a bit in your childhood?

J: My dad was in the military, so we were lucky to move around a lot. Next to the Hans My Hedgehog illustration, my favorite piece (in the shop) is the illustration of the Bremen Town Musicians.  It was inspired by the three years I spent near that town in Germany when I was a kid.

They fit perfectly into my shop theme while being very personal, as well.  The dog in the illustration is my old dog Merlin, who passed away a few years ago. You can tell by looking at his crooked tail. Merlin's tail broke as a puppy and healed crookedly. That's my way of remembering him.

D: Oh he was a handsome one...Looking forward, what is your next project?

J: Right now, I'm working on holiday designs like a madwoman trying to get them done in time for my Fall show in NYC.

I just finished another Halloween design today, but now I'll be working on Christmas: finishing my four illustrations with borders for the 12 Days of Christmas and making one card for all of the knitters out there: a lamb/wool themed card. It's going to be adorable.