Creativity has always been what you notice first about my friend Shari Trnka. As she describes herself on her Esty profile, " A clothier by trade for over 25 years, I am a patternmaker and have been sewing clothes since I was 8 years old... I spent nearly 20 years manufacturing natural fiber clothing wholesale for the boutique market... Selling my own designs that way made me a manager more than anything. After so many years of the rat race I chose to give it up for my artisan roots."
Those artisan roots resonate in these mosaic scarves. Using scraps of felted recycled wool sweaters and thread, she has given the garments a second life as these lovely textural scarves. There is a rippling, sculptural quality to these these artisan pieces that fascinates the viewer. The colors swirl toward you and then recede, drawing your eye along the morphing shapes as they jigsaw together, composing a fabric that transforms into a scarf. These unique scarves and other wearables, designed and hand sewn by Shari, can be found @ www.trnka.etsy.com and at her studio at Rancho Azulejo in Oakville, Washington.
Shari used to have a clothing shop in Newark, Delaware that featured her own line which she also sold to boutiques across the country. I was always fascinated by her gorgeous color choices. That was what immediately struck me when I entered her shop. Next, I was mesmerized by the luscious feel of my favorite fabric in her collections, the powdery soft velours which were drenched in a fabulous garden of color. Her colorways could always be perfectly blended and mixed together from year to year. I bought so many items that even though Shari closed her shop several years ago, not too long after she moved to Washington state , I still have many trnka items. I'm wearing some right now! I've worn them so much that I've had to relegate them to home use. They are what I wear when I'm being my most creative because they are so comfortable and those colors are still vibrantly inspiring.
Image © Shari Trnka.