On her time at Beaver…
I was a lifer at Beaver, so I was there from 6th grade until 12th grade. The main thing about Beaver that really was great for me was that the teachers were really encouraging and supportive of you. I was really into painting and my teachers in those classes were just incredibly encouraging. They even got me my own set of paintbrushes that only I could use, which was really nice. But, I think generally that the atmosphere at Beaver made it so that teachers would follow and encourage whatever a student is really passionate about. I pretty much focused on painting and art in middle and high school and that’s definitely something that I’ve carried throughout my career—art has always been my focus.
On her professional path…
I ended up going back to school for interior design and that’s when I went back to Turkey and was inspired to start my company. I’ve always been into different sorts of sales positions but mostly creative sales positions, I would say.
The inspiration for Artemis came from Istanbul. I was traveling over there probably eleven years ago now. I was studying abroad in college and that’s when I saw products being made out of kilim, kilim carpet material, and I just thought that was the coolest idea—handbags and that sort of thing that were repurposed from that material. I always thought that would do really well in the US market.
I went back to Turkey seven years ago and that’s when I found a small manufacturer who was willing to work on a much smaller scale. I had my first run of products made and I brought them back and I started selling them. The company has just sort of grown organically since then. We’ve never had any investors, we’ve just totally grown organically. Right now I’d say 90% of what we sell are kilim products, kilim shoes that are repurposed from antique kilim oriental carpets. That’s sort of what we’re known for. We also sell kilim handbags, we sell other kinds of shoes. We’re known for these colorful patterned, really high quality products.
On R+D in her profession…
Most of our design comes from when we’re traveling. When we’re in Turkey, that’s where we get really inspired because we’re surrounded by all the textiles and the materials and it’s so exciting. We’ll find a really incredible carpet and end up making a whole collection of travel bags out of it. It becomes really exciting when you’re with the products and with the raw materials. That’s probably the most important thing when it comes to the design process.
On artwork as a primary source…
The carpet is such an incredible material to work with because they’re all one of a kind, and even within a carpet, they’re all handmade, so we don’t even have pairs of shoes that are perfectly symmetrical. Every single piece is truly one of a kind which is so much fun because there’s just so much symbolism. People who have woven these carpets have woven stories into them. They didn’t just choose the patterns or the symbols or the colors just for the looks, it all has meaning. That’s been really fascinating to learn more about and to think about when we create our products from them. They all have a deeper meaning, which is so unusual for any kind of fashion item.
On creative habits…
I like to be in a space with other people talking about the product. We throw ideas around and it can be distracting because we’ll interrupt each other and sort of go off on tangents on some idea, but some of our best ideas can end up coming from those kinds of discussions.
On creative partnerships…
We owe most of our success to the different collaborations that we’ve done. It’s great that that’s a big focus at Beaver because, at least in my experience, you get two companies that have similar customers but two very different product offerings and you can creatively put those products together, create something new, and then you expose your company up to a huge new audience of customers. That’s the number one way that we’ve grown. We’ve done collaborations with very famous interior designers like Nate Berkus and his husband, Stephen Allen, Madewell, Anthropologie. That has really given us a much wider audience and opened a lot of doors for us.
We’re always seeking feedback from customers, too. Our design process is really collaborative, not just between me and my employees. We’re always collaborating over which designs we like, which fabrics we like, what we should make next. It’s not just me coming up with the next products, it’s a group setting. Whenever we’re traveling in Turkey doing one of our design trips, we use Instagram, we use email marketing to get feedback from customers—what materials they like, what colors they’re looking for, do they like a certain idea. That’s both really fun and really valuable for us. We’re really in business to serve our customers so we’re always looking to find out what they want.
On advice for current Beaver students…
Be curious and follow those curiosities. Never stop trying to learn and if you’re curious about it, delve into it. You never know what could be your next big thing.
Ten years ago I could never think of being in the business of selling these products, but I just kind of thought, “Let me just see if I can find a manufacturer just to get a bunch to sell to my family and friends because they would love this.” You just never know what is going to blossom into a career or passion. Remain curious and stay excited about things. Take chances and see if you can do it.
“You just never know what is going to blossom into a career or passion. Remain curious and stay excited about things. Take chances and see if you can do it.”
– Milicent Armstrong ’05
