From Puppets to Pillows: Crafting Comfort from Chaos with Emma Bradford of Dream Giggles
Season 1 Episode 7
From Puppets to Pillows: Crafting Comfort from Chaos with Emma Bradford of Dream Giggles
Click to listen here on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WeAxcBEapTRSaXEXWBhQu?si=a3245aee49b3431d
And here on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/founders-in-jeans/id1802430594?i=1000706482004
Summary
In this conversation, Emma Bradford discusses her journey from set design in the film industry to creating her unique pillow brand, Dream Giggles. She shares insights on the emotional connections people have with her pillows, the aesthetic trends in home decor, and the therapeutic aspects of her art. Emma also delves into the challenges of building a community around her work, navigating social media, and the importance of sustainability in sourcing materials. She expresses her aspirations for the future of Dream Giggles, including merging her love for puppetry with her pillow designs and engaging more with her audience through workshops and creative projects.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Dream Giggles
06:48 The Evolution of Textile Sculptures
10:10 Childhood Connections and Emotional Support
13:01 Artistic Inspirations and Influences
15:55 Transition from Film to Textile Art
19:10 Building a Community and Social Media Strategy
22:04 Therapeutic Aspects of Art and Comfort
25:01 Balancing Aesthetics and Functionality
45:11 The Emotional Connection to Handmade Textiles
47:14 Sourcing and Sustainability in Textile Production
51:02 Creative Process: From Concept to Creation
54:07 Balancing Business and Personal Creativity
01:01:08 Future Aspirations for Dream Giggles
01:17:02 Insights on Entrepreneurship and Industry Advice
Keywords
Dream Giggles, pillows, art, community, minimalism, maximalism, set design, social media, sustainability, creative process, Emma Bradford
Emily Jean (00:00)
Hi you guys, welcome to or welcome back to Founders in Jeans. I'm your host, Emily Jean, and today I have a bit of an announcement. If this intro does not sound familiar to you, that is because I have decided to change the name of the podcast. Honestly, I've wanted to change the name since the moment I decided on the name. I was not super pleased with it, but my
goal was to get the podcast out and get things moving along. And I didn't want to spend too much time on that detail. That might sound like a big detail to some, but for me, I think usually the name is one of the least important parts of a business or a brand or a podcast. And I've actually spoken about that in some other episodes with founders that we have a tendency to get caught up in the details of things.
and it's not always quite as important as we think. So anyways, I've decided to change the name to Founders in Jeans. I feel like this fits the podcast so much more. These conversations really are with founders at their most real, at their most raw, unfiltered journeys.
Also, it's cute because I am Emily Jean and I'm wearing jeans right now. If you're listening audio wise, you're just gonna have to take my word for it. But if you're watching video, anyways, so in other news, today's episode is so special. Today's episode is with
Emma Bradford is by far one of the coolest people I've ever met in my life. She just has this amazing energy. You guys will see she's hilarious. She's so fun and incredibly talented, so creative. She actually was originally a puppet designer.
before she started Dream Giggles. And I think this is really the essence of what Founders in Jeans is. took her ability to make these creative, fun things and made a business out of making these gorgeous, cool, fabulous pillows
I'm so excited for you guys to hear this episode and I'm so grateful that Emma came on and chatted with me for so long. I really felt like she was one of my closest friends. So anyways, I won't take up your time much longer. This has been a really long intro and I know you guys are so excited to listen to this. So let's get into it. Here is Emma Bradford.
Emily (02:36)
Okay, so Emma Bradford, welcome to the podcast. We're so excited to have you today. You're here to talk about dream giggles, obviously. already told everyone about you, but why don't you introduce yourself in your own words?
Emma (02:50)
yeah, I'm Emma. I make, I like to call them textile sculptures because I think that sort of encompasses the larger collection of art that I make, which is pillows, but I also make puppets. And the pillows that I make are more like interactive pieces that can wrap around your body. and I started sewing during COVID. It was like my COVID hobby that.
sort of just miraculously turned into my full-time gig. Yeah, that's a little snippet.
Emily (03:16)
Yeah, for those of you who aren't familiar with Dream Giggles or Emma's work, I think these pillows, I mean, easily, are hands down the coolest pillows I've ever seen, but it really feels more like they are just kind of friends. I don't know if that's a good way to put it. It feels like a character I would have in my room that I could talk to. Yeah.
Emma (03:36)
Yes, they
definitely are a presence in any space. They're so big. They've gotten bigger too, like as I've continued to make them. the first one I ever made, I just like forever couldn't find the right pillows for my couch. I have this like really cute Victorian couch and like.
I used to do set design and work in film and TV and so my spaces have always been very curated and I love this couch and like nothing was quite making sense on it and then I made this one flower pillow that I made to the dimensions of my own couch and my friends were like, dude, you should try and sell these. And so that first one is like skinny and long and fits this weird old couch but they have gotten super massive ever since and
Now when people send me photos of them in their space, I'm like, oh yeah, that's just the entirety of your bed now is that pillow. Which is fun.
Emily (04:28)
Yeah, it's life-size. it kind of reminds me of like a Studio Ghibli movie. Like I feel like it could come alive and like talk to me and give me advice.
Emma (04:37)
Thank you. Yeah, it's
funny, like, I made the first one, like, a week before I went through a really intense breakup, and then it just, lit. I brought it everywhere with me. It, like, lived in my bed. It lived on the couch. I would bring it, I brought it to, a bonfire. I remember really specifically, like, New Year's Eve, I was at a bonfire at my friend's house, and I brought the pillow. I was like, she's my best friend now, okay? I have, dependency issues, and she's, helping me cope. Which is...
Emily (05:03)
You
Emma (05:04)
funny and it was just nice to have like another thing in my bed again that was like not a human it definitely like helped me connect back to my own like comfort with myself but was totally a little character in my life at that moment and continues to be for sure that one is like she's very well loved she's like the one I'll take camping with me and stuff now like I don't care if she gets dirty
Emily (05:25)
that. It's such a connection to childhood. I mean, obviously looking at your pieces, that's clear, but especially that kind of concept too of taking it places with you and it being this like emotional support friend that's what you do when you're a You have your stuffed animals, you have your pillows, you take everywhere with you. I love that.
Emma (05:44)
That's exactly right. Yeah, and I
started sewing by making puppets and puppets are like an easier thing. Like I'll just throw a puppet in my bag sometimes if I'm going anywhere. The pillows are like a little less portable for sure, but the connection to play and childlike decor also, like I've had some people see my pillows and just assume they're for children or like, that would look lovely in like my baby's room, which for sure, yes.
And also, I think it's fun for adults to sort of acknowledge that they still have that desire for colorful, fun decor and also just like props in your life that create comfort and also inspire more play and childlike imagination even. if I had one of those clothes on my couch when I was a kid, pfft.
would have like the star prop in like every fake wonderland, we're under the blanket and we're traveling to the jungle now. It's like, and here's a giant monster flower. Like, what are we gonna do? You know? That vibe for sure. I'm definitely trying to push that.
Emily (06:44)
you
100%. I think, especially given as we're coming off the 2010s, I think we really saw so much lean, such a big lean towards minimalism and these kind of clean, chic places, you know, with very little clutter, hardly any color, that beige kind of vibe. And I really think we're leaning off of that into that maximalist energy, which I love.
Emma (07:13)
Yeah, I definitely feel like the minimal aesthetic is like a reaction to the chaos and overwhelming, just like constant flood of information and aesthetics that we're looking at on our phones all the time. Like I think people have convinced themselves that they want to come home to like a clean slate.
but I obviously like a lot of color and texture. And I think there's totally a way to be a maximalist person while also creating order and cleanliness. And I think also these pillows look really good in minimalist spaces as well. I can appreciate choosing to be a minimal person, but then having a couple of really...
curated key items in your house that sort of like, they stand out a lot more for sure in those more minimal spaces. I have a friend who let me do a photo shoot in her very beautiful minimal house recently and they look incredible on her couch. And I think that's one of the fun things about them. I genuinely think they could fit into anyone's aesthetic.
they are simultaneously cottagecore fairy vibes and also acid clown like
and also like beautiful minimalist mom or like someone recently told me that they would be a like stand-in for maternity pillows which I've been meaning to look into more like I guess people buy these giant sort of u-shaped pillows to breastfeed their newborns and also to practice the shapes they need to get in for the literal birthing experience and they're all pretty like there's like some really expensive ones out there that are like you know made out of organic linen or whatever
but they're just like gray. And I had a friend who gave birth like a couple years ago and she was like, I wish that your pillows had existed then, because I have this, I now have this like sort of ridiculous pillow that isn't useful to me anymore in my house that I spent like $600 on. like, so I've been thinking I wanna do a photo shoot with some pregnant women. I've been trying to put out a call in Los Angeles for like.
Is there anyone out there who follows me that's pregnant that wants to do a fun fertility goddess type photo shoot? Because that would be fun. And would just look awesome. If I was pregnant, I'd love to do a photo shoot like that to have those photos forever.
Emily (09:13)
You
You
100%. I think a tricky to put out an all call for pregnant women in Los Angeles, but also probably the only place in the world you could do it actually.
Emma (09:35)
I
know, I did it kind of a half-assed, like, was anyone maybe? I'm just my stories like a couple weeks ago and I had one woman reach out to me. A couple who reached out who were like, I wish I was pregnant so I could do this. And I was like, all right. And then a few were like just not in LA. And then one who was in LA and at the time, I did this probably a month ago now and I've been like needing to get back to it. But at the time she was eight months pregnant. So I might've missed the boat on that already.
Emily (10:02)
Unfortunately, one of those time sensitive projects.
Emma (10:05)
I know. It makes me
want to just approach pregnant women on the street, but then I'm also like, I don't know, is that a little aggressive? Maybe that's not what I'm talking about.
Emily (10:13)
That's amazing. Actually, it's interesting. You mentioned so many different inspirations there. For me, looking at them, and I don't know if you hear this a lot, but I get kind of Georgia O'Keeffe vibes. don't know if you're like, that resonates, that doesn't resonate.
Emma (10:28)
I think like I've had many
people say that to me and I think just inherently any floral art has to be even subconsciously inspired by her and just vaginas in general. I definitely, I've made a few like orchid, I've made some orchid pillows that I put like this sort of like.
I'm really obsessed with this ostrich feather boas. They have like, it's like a regular boa, but it has ostrich feathers pricked into it. And the movement on them is just incredible. Like it could be completely still and there's always like a little bit of a wiggle happening. And I have put those in the center of a few orchid pillows and I sold one of them to a friend of mine who has like a tiny home. And so it's one of the only like things that he has in his house. He's also one of the only like.
Emily (10:50)
Thank
So cool.
Emma (11:12)
men in my life who has bought one from me, which is lovely. And he was telling me he had a first date the other day that went particularly well and this girl came back to his house with him. And she looked at the pillow and she was like, that's pretty vaginal. And he was like, my God, is it? Is that, no. He was like, is it supposed to he hit me up the next day and was like, is it supposed to be a vagina? Because I didn't realize how pubic hairy this like.
Ostrich feather stuff looked and I was like, mean, you know, it's a flower and flowers are, but like, no, not necessarily that. But yeah, no, think, mean, I definitely like, Georgia O'Keeffe is like one of the first artists that my mom ever like really showed me. I used to have a Georgia O'Keeffe coffee table book growing up that I really liked. And yeah, so I wouldn't say that I'm like.
specifically inspired by her, but I think definitely she's informed my general love of flowers and art in my life, so yes.
Emily (12:02)
Okay, got it. And that was really a long shot with that too, because I don't know that much about like art at all, really. So I'm sure a lot of people are like, flowers, Georgia Keith.
Emma (12:15)
Yeah, for sure.
And like, also, yes, like it's like an easy, like, one to draw, but it's also totally a real... There's a lot of crossover, for sure.
Emily (12:24)
Okay, good. I'm glad to hear Okay, all right. Well, in terms of, I know you just talked about it a little bit, but your journey really started in set design for film and television. Can you share how that experience has influenced your creative approach with Dream Giggles?
Emma (12:40)
Yeah, yes, I was working, I live in LA because I was working in the film industry for a number of years doing set design and art direction and like some prop styling. was kind of like an overall art department girl. And it was funny timing, honestly, like the pandemic really halted all production in LA and I happened to be,
like babysitting a sewing machine of my friends. She was like going to teach English in Spain and she left maybe three weeks before the pandemic happened. And she had like, instead of getting a storage unit, asked a bunch of different friends to hold on to some of her stuff. And so I had her sewing machine and when the pandemic hit, I was like, oh my God, I finally have time. I'm gonna bust out Katie's sewing machine and like figure out how to use it. And I had previously to that like...
done some interactive, immersive theater puppet projects with a group of friends and had helped them build the sets for that, but then also had kind of pulled into being one of the puppeteers a few times. so I had, when I first started sewing, I was like, I wanna make puppets. That's the number one interesting thing to me. I made.
But then the timing of it, you know, production sort of slowly ramped back up post-COVID, but...
a lot of the producers I used to work with either like completely got out of film or moved to New York or like there was just not the same amount of work happening for me and so I got really lucky honestly with the timing of Dream Giggles sort of taking off. And I think that...
Being a person who comes from a world of set design, my spaces that I live in and exist in are already designed kind of like sets. They're very curated. And so when I started making the pillows, it was like, okay, once I decided I was gonna actually try and turn this into a business, I had this moment where I was like, all right, I'm gonna make five and then I'm gonna photograph the shit out of them in every space I have access to. I have a couch in my studio.
I couch at home, have a love seat in my bedroom, I have a bed, and then I had my roommate's bed, and I was like, I'm just gonna take photos of every pillow in every space I have access to. And when I started doing that, I realized how much it came second nature to me to style a photo shoot. And I hadn't done a ton of photo shoots in my day, mostly films and mostly narrative stuff, but I had done a handful of like...
makeup ads or whatever where it was like, okay, here's the product, make it look good in this space. And so I think.
there is a lot to be said about just like having the eye for that kind of stuff and some people genuinely just don't have it and some people do and I don't even know that I learned it. I honestly think I kind of just have always had it and so like all the little tweaks that you do when you like put something into the frame it's like okay and that bed sheet is a little wrinkly right there and that's gonna bother me so like smoothing things, lighting things like I had a general understanding of how to light something
And then, yeah, just having all those spaces already decorated and then being able to just plop the product in was super helpful. like, I genuinely think is a huge part of why Dream Giggles worked and like why it caught.
so much attention on the internet. Like I have so many friends who are incredible artists who just like never photograph their work or if they do it's like you know they're holding it up in front of their like bedroom wall or like in and there's a lot of like stuff in the background or what I like it's.
That is like a whole part of it and it kind of sucks that we as artists in this day and age have to be good at so many different facets. Like, it can't just be that you're good at making the art. You have to either photograph it well or find someone to do that for you. And then you have to be like consistent about putting it online.
I had some really interesting conversations with some friends of mine who were like, I was like, oh, I don't wanna get on TikTok, I don't wanna get on, I don't wanna have to put my face on Instagram. And then I realized that a ton of the artists that I like on the internet are, half of it is because I really like them, and so I wanna support them and then liking their art.
It goes hand in hand for sure. Like if I don't like your art at all and you're cool person, I probably won't follow you. But like, if I like both, that is, it makes people I think really want.
to support you, which is ultimately what they're doing when you are such a small business like myself. It's just me. So if you like me, and oh, you like my pillows, but oh, they're a little expensive, it's like, but I really like you and I wanna support you and I really like your art, I'm gonna save up for a pillow. That kind of vibe is truly inspiring and touching to me. I think...
being on film sets for as long as I was, I also kinda know what works. The version of me that makes TikToks and Instagram videos, it definitely is a more heightened version of myself.
Which is kind of fun like I get to play a little tiny bit of a character when I do those videos and I think that that also helps me feel less like icky about doing it like the amount of conversations I've had with friends who are just like Like turning a camera on myself and trying to sell myself. It's just like feels very capitalist and not why I like became an artist and It's true. Like that is an experience. I have and a feeling I have every time I do it
But it also is allowing me to live a life where I get to make art and sell it and people buy it and that is worth the semi-uncomfortable turning the camera around on myself experience.
Emily (18:21)
Absolutely, and I think too, given that the product is so, it seems like it has its own identity. It makes sense that there's this kind of alter ego assigned to it as well when you're promoting it, talking about it in the community with it. It totally makes sense to me that there's a different plane assigned to it almost. Interesting. Okay, so.
Emma (18:39)
Yeah, totally.
Emily (18:45)
Sorry, I had a question. It does sound, does seem like, your kind of basis, your community that you've built around the product, it is clearly thriving. I mean, people are obsessed with it. They adore it. How would you say, you know, you have built that? I mean, from beginning to end, other than just friends of friends, is there like specific tools you use or?
Emma (18:46)
It'll come.
Emily (19:10)
How does that happen?
Emma (19:11)
Yeah, honestly like, I think I've like said how much work goes into it and like I think you have to have the goods to back it up but there is also like so much luck involved in social media right now and like.
The algorithm favored me and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I'll go like many weeks without making a single sale and that's really stressful to be so dependent on social media to specifically Instagram to be making money and I do subsidize with film work whenever I can. And I think when I first started I had a friend who has this
pasta hat company called Mr. Parmesan. Shout out to Mr. Parmesan. He...
used to work in, like he was in the restaurant world for a really long time and then he was working for this company that was making hand-making pasta in Pasadena and he had this idea for a long time to make these hats that said things like, like he has like a bubble hat or a bucket hat in bubble font that says bucatini or like a little like western hat that says spaghetti and he made all these designs and then was like
did a month of pre-orders and started an Instagram and did this all in the first month and he just posted every day at the same time. And by the end of the first month, without having ever made a hat, he had like 50 pre-orders or something and so then he made the hats and then it just sort of snowballed from there. And I watched him in the course of a year just pretty steadily.
rise in the Instagram world and was started and like quit his job and started doing it full time. I, so when I, when I really was like, okay, maybe I'll try and actually sell these pillows. I hit him up and was like, how did you do this? And the best piece of advice he gave me was just, he was like, pick a date, like a month from now, make all the things you're going to make, photograph the shit out of them, and then post every day at the same time.
just start there and see what happens. And so I did that for the first drop I did. And I think I maybe put like 70 bucks into boosting a couple of the posts. And it just worked. I had a couple of friends who had some followers already on Instagram, like enough that them sharing my posts every time I posted something, they were also helping to blast it out into the world.
And I think that I've gotten really lucky with the fact that my audience is like 97 % female. And that means that I've had like an incredibly positive social media experience. Like I don't get a lot of hate on my posts. And when I do, are usually do. It's not to totally like gender is.
It doesn't exist. But also, I do think that more fem-leaning humans tend to be nicer on the internet and in general are just a little more empathetic to the human experience online. And specifically, being a person who's in front of the camera online, I have other friends who do, other women friends who do comedy on the internet who are pretty successful and they just get constant hate. And it's like...
not fun to watch. And I feel really lucky that I don't have to deal with that. And I think, I don't know, think it's a lot of it is just like people liking something. Like if you see something you like on the internet, on Instagram specifically, because the algorithm, really it's hard to grow because they're not like spoon feeding you stuff you haven't seen before the way that TikTok does. And so I think.
sharing stuff to your stories when you like it makes an insane difference for small businesses and artists on Instagram, like truly. It's kind of the only real way that I think you get new eyes on your stuff. Besides reels now, which seem to be like TikTok kind of creeping into the Instagram world. But yeah, mean, so much of it feels like luck to me, honestly. And I feel so blessed that it coincided with the downfall of the film industry.
because it really was like my film jobs plummeted right when this started to become like a viable way for me to make money every month. And I also think I organize.
For a long time I organized my business in a way where I was doing drops and so I wouldn't have any stock on my website in between drops and then I would just like advertise the shit out of a drop for like, I'd usually pick a date like a month in advance like I was saying before, which is helpful for my brain as well because being a person who runs your own business is really hard because no one's ever keeping track of you. Like no one expects you to be anywhere at a certain time every day. You really just have to like make your own deadlines.
and stick to them. And so, and even that is really hard to do if no one else is depending on it. And so for me, like deciding to announce a drop is always my way of being like, Emma, you have to work this month. Like, you can't just like take a Tuesday off to go to the beach with your friends. Like, you can if you're gonna work on Saturday. You know, like I have to like be like that, otherwise I'll just be a free dandelion in the wind, like all the time.
And so I think that really helps with engagement as well because you can be like, okay, in a month I have this drop and I'm making a bunch of one of a kind things for this drop that I'll never make again because a lot of them are like out of recycled materials or like.
blankets I find in Goodwill bins, like stuff like that. And so when I make those things, I think the scarcity mindset, even though that's something I'm actively trying to get away from in my personal life, is something that really works when you're talking about like one of a kind art pieces. It's like, if you like this one, you gotta buy it, because I can't remake it for you, and I won't. I think that also helps.
people share stuff when they know something's coming up, when they have something to look forward to, or a reminder to add to their own Instagram notifications or whatever. So yeah, mean, it's a lot of little things. But I also really try to engage with my followers. If they comment, I respond. I like.
I like feeling like it's an actual community of human beings. I was in Europe this summer for an art residency and I was gonna spend like two nights in Paris before flying back to LA and I just totally didn't get my housing together in any sort of a timely manner. And like a couple days before I went to Paris, I was like, my God, housing's way more expensive there than I was expecting. Like hostels are really expensive. So I just posted on my Instagram story, like total long shot, but is there anyone?
in Paris who like knows of a couch I could pay to stay on or whatever and I got like multiple like ten people responded some of which were like yes like you could stay on my couch a few of them were like you can stay in my room I'll go stay at a friend's house if you want my whole apartment to yourself and I was like that is so nice like and none of them would let me pay them like it was this really insane moment where I was like whoa
Do I like have community in Paris? Like a city I'd never been before? I was like, what? And I ended up staying in one of their places and she went and stayed with a friend. She like insisted and it was like this really cute, like weird little attic loft in like this old Parisian building and like a 17-floor walk-up. And it looked over this park and it was like, it was incredible. And I, I really like, she like left me pastry. It was so French and just, mm.
And it was really cool to feel like, you know, I have this just like number in my mind of people who follow me on the internet and it's just so nebulous. It just becomes this like weird blob of like strangers that like care about what I have to say maybe. And it doesn't feel like it's real really. And that made it feel so much more real than any other experience I'd had with it. And it made me really want to do more like in-person.
Like I want to start, that's one of my things for this year is I want to do some workshops and like some sort of sewing tutorials or more just like in-person stuff. I might start a Patreon and do like sell some patterns and make some videos for how to do certain patterns and stuff so I can just have more general engagement with the human beings because that is very valuable to me.
Emily (26:56)
Yeah, absolutely. That's amazing. my gosh, that Paris story. That's unbelievable.
Emma (26:59)
I know. It really was. It still
feels insane to me. Like, when I tell that story, I'm like, yes. Yeah. Magic.
Emily (27:06)
So
correct me if I'm wrong, then. It sounds like primarily your audience is on Instagram and TikTok, said?
Emma (27:13)
Yeah, yeah, TikTok. I actually had, made a how to process video for a puppet that I'd made before I even made a single pillow. And it kind of blew up on TikTok. And so for a while I was like a puppet person on TikTok. And then when my Instagram started taking off with the pillows, I sort of like...
I kind of left TikTok in the dust for a little while. Like I haven't been super active on there. And now that it's like probably disappearing, who knows? I won't believe that it's totally gone until it actually disappears from my phone. But yeah, I haven't been spending a ton of time on there. feels like more direct sales happen through Instagram and always have. And so I think TikTok's better if you're a person who's selling like a lot of little, like smaller budget things.
But I think as a person who's selling larger, more expensive pieces, think Instagram's kind of always been my better platform.
Emily (28:03)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think Instagram has really been kind of curated as that community. Although I heard now that threads is like the old Instagram, which I hadn't, I don't know anything about threads. I'm not on there yet.
Emma (28:14)
Gosh, I haven't
gotten on there yet either. I honestly like wish that I could be off social media altogether. It's like not really my cup of tea. Like when I first made Dream Giggles was just my like personal Instagram for a long, time. And it used to be just like my name or something. And I actually, I changed it to Dream Giggles.
way before I started sewing anything, just wanted a better username. I was visiting a friend in New York, and I was just laying on her couch, and I was like, what's the name? I wanted to be Giggles was the name that my friends had given me when I was a puppeteer. It was my puppet name, and my clown name kind of still is. And then I have narcolepsy, which is a sleep disorder that means that I fall asleep randomly without my consent.
And so I just kind of combined, like a sleepy person, so was like, maybe Dream Giggles is a fun name. And it's been, it's sort of just like a nice happenstance that it's a perfect name for a pillow company. Like, I really, I walked into that without knowing it, which was great. Yeah.
Emily (29:19)
It's almost like you planned it.
Emma (29:20)
I know. Life
just sometimes will happen that way, won't it?
Emily (29:25)
I'm
working out. All right. So, well, okay. Your work, obviously, it blends art and comfort and offers a tactile and somatic experience. Oh my gosh, I didn't write this outline. My podcast coordinator did and I haven't, I just saw that sentence. There's so many big words.
Emma (29:42)
that's totally just like pulled from my bio on my website. I was thinking the same thing earlier.
Emily (29:45)
Okay, I was like,
was like, that's really very specific.
Emma (29:52)
That's so funny
because I don't think of myself as like a very like articulate human being usually. I'm definitely, I live in the visual space. So it's, it's actually nice to hear those words read back to me because I definitely spent a long time writing that like many, like a year ago. And it's true for sure.
Emily (30:02)
You
It's very,
it's good. Okay, so how do you balance aesthetics with the therapeutic aspects of your creations?
Emma (30:17)
That's a good question. I think the first time I ever really made that connection to my own brain was I had made this, maybe the second thing I ever sewed was this really silly giraffe stuffed animal. It wasn't even a puppet, it was just a big floppy-legged giraffe.
I definitely experienced that as a puppeteer in these like festival spaces where a lot of people would come up to interact with our pieces and it'd be adults who like maybe hadn't seen a puppet in their adult lives or like used to be scared of them as children or whatever and then they would sort of like we would kind of break them open and like all of these projects a lot of them my friends who build them would often like make sure there was a space within the project whether that was like a little
separate room or just like a little sidebar moment they could have with people where they would try and sort of like get people out of this like fun party festival world and into like hey what's actually happening in your life right now that you're sort of like escaping by partying and some people who like would get really into that and some people were like you know high on Molly and then they would be like like
and they would start talking very openly about something that was happening to them and they'd start crying and then they're like hugging this puppet and you're like behind a wall with your arm through this hole, like having this like really intimate experience with a total stranger who probably wouldn't open up to you and your human face as much as they're willing to sort of like have this playful moment with a puppet that could turn serious. And so I think having had those experiences in the puppet space.
And having made this first pillow right after a big heartbreak moment, I sort of unintentionally made these things and then realized that they were therapeutic. And I think that's kind of body pillows, weighted blankets.
have therapeutic elements to them as well and have been advertised as such forever. And I think that my pillows are just kind of like a nice cross between those two. Like the reason they're so big is because I like the weight. I like like laying and like sticking, like putting them on top of your body. Like it feels comforting. And I think just having something that soft and that big is just inherently going to be one, like something you want to physically get engaged with. And therefore it is
and like I just can't imagine a world where having something holding you in the way that these pillows can wouldn't be therapeutic in some way. So yeah, think knowing all of that, I also like really do try to make the pillows out of materials that are tactile and like nice to touch. And some of them...
For some of them, they're just really nice, like velvet. All of them have velvet stems, and a lot of them have velvet petals. But when I do the one-offs where I try to do repurposed materials and stuff, that, when I'm going out to hunt for fabrics for those, a lot of the time I'm looking for just like...
Still soft, if I can, but like quilted stuff is really nice or like embroidered things with like the softer thread is really nice. I like using yarn in the center. I use like finger knitting yarn, which is like this yarn that has these little like loops already in it and you can knit blankets with them just using your hands. And I really like using them for like puppet eyelashes, but also they're kind of the perfect little like soft
thing that you can literally stick your fingers into. Sometimes I like to hold them by just like put one on my chest and just sort of like get my fingers all little rings looped with fuzz. So yeah, just like the details are so fun for me and I think that's one of the reasons I like doing puppets is because you build this structure but then the more details you can add the more personality the character has and I think I feel the same way about pillows.
I like once I've really honed a pattern, it's super fun for me to get past the part where I have to just actually construct everything and into the part where get to be really meticulous about adding details, about painting little spots, or hand sewing on more lace or whatever it is.
That part is really fun for me and that part was always the fun part for me. Even when I was doing set design, I loved the last hour before we were shooting, because it meant that I could just be like, like, ooh, I wanna move that two inches that way. Like, let's stick this little tiny flower on this shelf. No one's gonna know it's there, but I'll know. So yeah, details just feel like a, it makes it feel like.
Handmade which is also important to me like I love picturing people having these pillows in their homes forever or like I just had a friend buy one for his mom for Christmas, which was really nice and He was like I Obviously don't look forward to the day that my mother dies But when she does I'm making sure that this pillow gets passed down to me like I want my kids to have this pillow and like just that thought is so
wild and incredible and they're you know they're not super easy to wash like you have to get them dry cleaned but the handmade I just saw a post the same friend actually sent me this post that was like a photo series of stuffed animals new and then after they'd been loved by a kid for like 25 years and
the way that the fabric changes or sometimes it'd be like a little nose surrounded by fluff in the beginning and then at the end it's like bare, barely any fur. It's just like white fleece now and the nose is super protruding. There's just like, I like the way that textiles age with time and the way that they sort of show this.
the history on their skin of where they're the most touched or held or whatever. this business is two years old. And so I'm curious to see how they age. And I know the one that I first made, I made out of all the wrong materials. It was stretchy. So the stem is super long now. And there's a lot of stuffing that's not even in parts of it. And so that's...
Like that's a funny experience too to just sort of watch these things be loved and like I hope they continue to be loved forever because picturing them in a landfill fills me with the dread. So yeah.
Emily (36:23)
That's what I gonna ask too. I think I read that a lot of the textiles are recycled, no? How do you source those usually?
Emma (36:28)
Yeah, I...
So, living in LA is a lucky thing in this world that I've found myself in, in the textile world, because the fabric district in LA is truly psychotic. It's so big and full of...
every type of material you could possibly want to exists there or it could exist there if you have good vendors who will find the thing for you. So like I have a vendor that I love, Chevali Fabric, who does have the like non-stretch velvet that I like to use for my stems and for a lot of the Stargazer Lily is like my best seller and I have that now on my site all the time as like a pre-order situation and so for that one I do buy
the fabric wholesale from this guy because it's pre-order and because I just like have it in a certain amount of colors that's how it's available but when I do drops almost almost 100 % of my drops are made out of either scraps that I've had laying around my studio for a long time or repurposed textiles which I don't usually find in the fabric district there are a couple of stores that are like there's one called the wonder pile that's literally just like
you walk in and it's a warehouse filled, it's literally piles of fabric. Like you have to get up in there, like you're climbing over piles and like pulling stuff out and it's super cheap and it's incredible and it's all dead stock or like random, I don't know, they must take donations. I don't even know where it all comes from to be honest. But then I also will literally just go to the Goodwill bins. In LA they have like
not just Goodwills, almost like wholesale Goodwills where you go in and it's just a giant warehouse full of bins of clothes and they charge you by the pound. And so for quilts and stuff, they charge you even less. It's like two bucks for a quilt. And I could get two to three pillows easily out of a quilt, which is crazy in comparison to the velvet that I really like, which is like...
my guy gives it to me for 12 bucks a yard when it is like 17 to 18 other places. So it's like the price difference is huge and it just feels better to be utilizing stuff like old blankets or whatever. And I also often find way more interesting patterns and stuff when I'm looking through the bins. But then my other favorite favorite place to go is this creative reuse store called Remainders, which is up in Altadena and has luckily not burned.
this week, thank God. They're just like an incredible non-profit company that takes donations of every type of craft supply you could possibly imagine and then they organize it and they give it back out for cheap.
They have great, so I get a lot of my trim for all the details and the pedals and stuff there. And also just now when I'm traveling or when I'm in any other city in the US, at the very least, will look, I'll just Google creative reuse. And a lot of cities have these places now. Remainders is like its own thing, but there's like tons of creative reuse stores. There's almost one in every city, I think, at this point. So I recommend checking that out or like Googling that in whatever city you're in.
Because it's also a great place to donate stuff. Like when my studio is feeling really overwhelming, I will just pull stuff, fabrics that I'm like, I've been saying I'm gonna use this now for three years and I haven't. Like it's time to clear some space. Yeah.
Emily (39:45)
What is your creative process when designing your product? Is it like you see a fabric, you're like, love this, I want to use this, or how does that look?
Emma (39:52)
Yeah, I think when I'm doing pillows specifically, a lot of the time I'll have like a shape in mind or like a, I'm like, I'll set out to make a specific kind of flower or I'm making, um.
I'm working right now on, I wanna kind of branch away from flowers a little bit. I'll always do flowers, but I wanna start doing other stuff as well. And I'm working now on two eyeball pillows and a nose and a mouth so that you can arrange it on your couch to look like a face, like public couch vibe. And for that, for example, like I knew I wanted to do that. I usually sit down, I got an iPad last year for this exact purpose. So I could use Procreate to do like all of my...
marketing and like graphics and stuff. But I also use it now to just sketch out concepts. And then once I have like the shape and the pattern roughly down in my brain, I'll make I'll like sketch out a pattern on some pattern paper, cut it out. I should do more like
R &D research and development for pillows because sometimes I'll just be like, this is probably the right shape and then I'll make it and I'm like, this like I now used the fancy fabric I have and it should have been like four inches bigger on this side or whatever But I'm just impatient like usually I'll make a pattern and then I'll stare at my fabric wall for like an hour and pull out like you know five options for each part of the pillow and just sort of like
Emily (41:03)
you
Emma (41:14)
place them on top of each other and stand, like, stand back and stare. It's like, fully why I have a couch in my studio is because I often will just need to like sit and stare at stuff for like a long time to decide if it works together. And I think in general, like that's one thing I have a lot of like pride around is I think I...
do a pretty good job of mixing and matching textiles that you might not think would go together. And I mean, I really like patterns, but I hate clashing. So like, I am very like...
There is a little bit of a science to it, I think. It goes along with what I was saying earlier, which is having an eye for certain things. But that's one of my favorite parts, is truly just like, okay, which fabrics do Especially when I'm like... Sometimes I'll come into my studio and I'll be like, okay, I just...
I want to make something new today. I need to get those kinds of creative juices flying. I'm to put aside the things I'm working on already that are just things I've made before and just use whatever I have already to make something new. And that's fun because I really do have a pretty good collection of fabrics, some of which I've been saving for a long time, some of which are brand new. And it feels really good to just decide to use stuff.
So yeah, think, I don't know, I have a never-ending personal list of creative projects that I'd like to get to, and a lot of them are not pillow-related at all. I think because I sort of immediately turned sewing into a job, I kind of missed the hobby part of it a little bit, which I sometimes feel distinct sadness about, because I love.
any new hobby and it's funny to me that this has become my whole thing because a lot of the time like I still don't really know what I'm doing technically speaking and like I have some friends who are people who went to school to be seamstresses or like design school or whatever who like I'll be making stuff with them sometimes and they'll be like Emma like
Is that how you've been doing that? Like, let me show you. There's like a way easier way to do this or like whatever. And so I like when I talk about wanting to like do workshops and stuff, I have like full imposter syndrome about it because I, I fully taught myself and like I've watched a few YouTube videos, but for the most part it has really been just me like trying things and hoping that it works. and so I think like, where was I going with that? I think.
what did you ask me? I was gonna tie that together nicely, I swear.
Emily (43:33)
I think I started with how the creative process, like what that looks like for you.
you
Emma (43:39)
Like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, it's real. just that like, I never got to like make clothes or like other things that I think people would sort of immediately gravitate towards when you learn how to sew.
And I want to, like I want to start making specifically would love to start making more of my own clothes. And I add stuff to my own clothes a lot, like I'll put patches on things and paint on them and stuff, but making stuff from scratch that is.
in my world, like the Dream Giggles universe is very specific, I think, and like I really do want to make like blob flower dresses or like...
outfits to match puppets so that when I'm puppeteering it's all like a cohesive thing. And like I just started making headdresses recently and that's been really creatively inspiring and fun for me. I think just like choosing to make stuff for myself again is a really important thing to like return to. I spent this year, this last year like saying yes to a lot of other people's projects.
and Dream Giggles sort of fell a little bit to the wayside. And I was only making stuff when I was getting orders, and so I was just like not making any new designs. I wasn't doing drops really for like a good amount of months. And instead I was like making outfits for my friends to get married in, which was amazing. And then like...
I did a couple of different puppet projects and shows. have a puppet show that I do with my friends called Danthony and Friends that's been a really fun project for this last year and we've been doing it at different festivals. And it's my friend Dan's comedy music, but the show itself is him surrounded by these puppet characters who act as sort of...
different parts of his internal monologue. And so he'll sing a song and then we'll all have a little bit of commentary about it and he'll talk through what that song means, why it's important. And so that's been this really fun, weird sort of meta.
performance piece that we've been doing and like in general I I've never like I was saying before like Performing is not something that I ever saw myself doing and because I have these friends who do puppet shows I just sort of got like pulled into it and before me behind a puppet is really fun because It's a little less like embarrassing Not that performing is embarrassing, but in my mind it always has been like I don't want to get in front of people and be judged and and
I think I can honestly say that I'm so glad I have these friends who want to do that side of the creative world. Because I was never really a theater kid or anything like that, but I've gotten pulled in and it's been an incredible experience. And it's really opened me up and I think it's made it easier for me to be a personality on social media as well.
yeah, so performing as a puppeteer has been really fun, but it's also like, I don't really get paid to do that. It's a lot of like...
rehearsals and lot of time spent that is like every time I do it I'm like well what else would I ever want to do with my life? This is the cream of the crop like this is what makes life worth living and specifically because when I'm working on Dreamgirl stuff I'm just like alone in my studio a lot of the time and so it's really nice to say yes to other projects with friends where I get to turn on that sort of other side of my personality and like do puppet stuff.
And also simultaneously, like I just wish there was so much more time in my days, you know, because I also like do really want to spend more time when I come into my studio, not always just like working. I want to like come into my studio and create for the sake of creating. And I came in here a couple.
Look, about a month-ish ago now, and just decided to make a headdress. I was like, I have other commissions I need to finish, and I'm just like, not gonna do them today. I'm gonna make whatever I want, and a headdress plopped out of my brain, and I spent 12 hours or something making it, and I love it. It's like my favorite thing I've made in a really long time, and I think I felt my soul sort of like, I could feel the flower in my soul, it blew him again a little bit.
And so I've put that on my calendar is like once a month, having a day in my studio that's just about me making whatever I want for myself. Which I think it's all connected, you like that ties in and will help me feel more creative when I turn my focus back towards pillows and the pillow business world. Yeah.
Emily (47:50)
I guess I'm curious, where do you see Dream Giggles in the next five years? What's that look like to you?
Emma (47:56)
Good question. definitely, so it's been like almost exactly two years since I did my first drop. I think my first job was like March of 2023. every time I've done a drop, the first like five, I was like, okay, the first one, that was a fluke. It won't happen again. They like sold out in a couple hours the first time I did it. And I was like, holy shit.
And then second one, same thing. Sold out way faster than that, actually. And like each time my followers were increasing by like double. And it still just felt like, well, there's no way it's gonna happen again. Like,
But I also am a really strong believer in valuing your time and your energy and like my prices reflect the hours that I spend. I've like created a wage for myself that I think is fair, that's an hourly wage. And I genuinely keep track of how long it takes me to shop for the fabrics, do the patterning.
sew it, stuff it, hand sew it, photograph it, post it on my website, do my social medias. And so I think it's hard for me to fully understand who my audience is sometimes because I don't know, for the most part, I wish that part of the analytics of social media would show me like...
what kind of jobs these people are working or like they live all over the US and so there's also like all kinds of income disparity and like it's very interesting to me and I'm curious about who these people are and like what their homes look like and I wish more people would send me photos of pillows once they have them in their space because I'm so curious to know where they land. But I...
Yeah, I think I've just sort of been taking it day by day, like the entire time I've been doing this because it feels very surreal that it has worked out in the way that it has to begin with, but also it feels very precarious. Like I was saying before, like I'll go weeks without getting a single sale sometimes and.
it really is directly linked to my socials. And so for a long time there, I was truly just steadily growing. I was getting 1,000 new followers a week on Instagram for almost a full year. And then I started saying yes to all these other projects last year, and I stopped making new designs so much in the last six or seven months. And I...
took a hit in sales because I think I was just reposting the same photos, same pillows, and people I think lost a little bit of interest and I started to have an actual decline in followers. And there's always people, every day I have hundreds of people unfollow me and follow me. It usually evens out, but for a minute there I was literally losing followers. And I started to have this moment where was like, my god, fuck.
I gotta do something different. And I hired a marketing consultant. We had like one meeting. And then I realized I couldn't afford it. But we had one meeting and like the most, like the thing she said that stuck with me the most was just, I looked through your stuff before this meeting and I was just curious like when was last time you made a new design? And I was like, my God, I don't know.
I don't even know. Then I was like, oh, you're right. I've just been like floating on this one pillow that sold really well. But like I have so many designs in my mind and on in my iPad and stuff that I just like hadn't taken the time to sit down and do. Because every time I came into the studio, I was like, okay, I have time today to make stuff. I just need to make what I know is going to sell. And I think as soon as you get into that mindset, you're screwed. Like, and it people can feel it, you know, like I think one of the best pieces of advice is
make the art that you are excited to make because that's the art that people want to see and want to buy. like, sometimes I feel like I have an idea and it is gonna kill me if it doesn't get out of me, you know? And those are the best things I've ever made. They're like...
And sometimes I'll make those things and I'm like, well, I don't want to sell this now because I want to keep it. And that happens to me a lot. And I also want to get better about like letting things go, like birthing them and then like how I imagine a mother feels when their child leaves home. But I so yeah, when I think five years in the future, I'm just like, I have no idea. Because for a minute there, I really I seeing a path that felt kind of clear. It was like, OK, I'm going to.
get to a certain point and then I'm gonna get a manufacturer and they're gonna help me make certain pillows. And like I do have a manufacturer now who is, it's a mother-son duo in Koreatown that work out of the back of like a clothing shop. They have a big industrial machine in the back. And they're the sweetest human beings on the planet. I love them so much. The first time they made, I like brought them a pillow and the patterns and stuff and they made like a prototype for me.
out of the Stargazer one, which is the one I say I have up as pre-order on my side all the time. And I just had made, I don't know, 30 of them. And it was like, I'm so tired of making the same thing over and over. That's like not why I wanted to do this. But it's the pillow that everyone wants the most. It's the pillow I have on my own bed. Like, it's a beautiful pillow.
And so I happened to know this person through a larger network of artists in LA who had had a pillow business before and was sort of deciding to let it die. And I hit them up to ask a couple of questions. And one of them was like, did you guys use a manufacturer? Did you ever get to that point? And if you did, how did you find a manufacturer? I just had no idea how to even start that process.
And they were like, my god, this is perfect timing because we're gonna stop using our manufacturer and I hate to take that income source away from them. So like, I can recommend you if you want. And it just was like this perfect, they left, I came in and they've been amazing the first time they made a prototype for me. I was like, so, it just felt like, my god, like someone else can do the.
like heavy lifting in like the kind of busy work is how it felt to me at that point. And they were like, yeah, we're a team now. And I was like, I literally cried. I was like, my God, it so good to like have somebody else on my team because doing it alone is like really exhausting. You know, you're just constantly like second guessing yourself. And I never wanted to take out a loan because I really like the idea of owing people money really stresses me out. So I've been very like, I'm going to grow this business slowly.
by myself and use the money that I get from selling pillows to put it towards more fabric and more pillow stuff. And so that's been a really cool little level up and they only make this one design for me. And I still get it back from them at the end and I still paint the spots on myself and I do all the shipping and fulfillment and stuff.
But that's been great and when I first got started using them, which hasn't been that long, a few months now, I was like, okay, now like what's the next step? But it feels really hard to know what the next step is until you feel like you fully have like utilized the entirety of the step you're currently on. It's like, and every time I've taken a next step, it's felt like the right moment to do so. And so I...
I think right now I've been really focused on trying to grow my following again instead of losing it. I happened to, I was having a real, around Christmas I had a big conversation with a friend of mine who I often talk to about business stuff. He's just a really good sounding board. he, I told him, was like, I just don't think this can be my sole income source anymore. I really think I need to start.
actively seeking out more production gigs and fabrication jobs and he was like yeah I mean you can you can just like kind of let it keep going as it is and sort of like half-ass it and still make sales every once in a while and feel like that's just like a nice little bonus when you do or you can double down and like really sink your teeth back in and start doing all the stuff you were doing at the very beginning where it was like this is your whole life and it's all you focus on.
And I made a couple of reels, one of which was me just explaining my pricing, which is a lot of what I just said. And it has totally taken off in the last few weeks. And it feels like a little Renaissance moment again. It's like, also especially cool for it to happen with that content, because I've often gotten questions about why my pillows are so expensive. And it feels just like a good conversation to be having on social media, and especially in this day and age when like,
everything is made in the most unethical ways and it's cheap and it's trash and it will fucking break the second you buy it. And so I think it's really important to talk about why things cost the way they cost when they're handmade and ethically made. I think, you know, people just are so inundated with cheap stuff that it...
is shocking to see that price tag sometimes and I completely understand that. So that, felt really good and validating to have like mostly really positive feedback about that post and like a lot of people telling me I should charge more. And...
And yeah, so I really was having a moment like truly a month ago where I was like, I going to keep really fully pushing at this? And then that happened and I was like, I think I am. So when I look five years ahead, I'm like, I hope it's still this. I would love for it to be a situation where I have more people working under me so that I can return to more of the like creative, I'm making new designs side of things, as opposed to a lot of my time now, which is spent on like trying to figure out
how to become my own marketing strategist. And yeah, I also like really want to merge the puppet world with the pillow world a little bit more. I sort of separated them when the pillows took off because I found that most successful Instagrams were very like, this is the one thing we do and we make. And so, and I know that my puppets are like a little bit...
Off-putting to certain people and like not everyone who loves like what I think to be an objectively beautiful like flower Might not love like a kind of weird textile sloth puppet, you know, so like I separated them, but I really do want to merge them a little bit more now that I have a following base because it is
my two worlds that I like to combine and I really want to do more like large-scale installation type stuff in this realm as well. Like I have so many ideas for like Meow Wolf's type designs of spaces that are like tactile gardens that you can play in that have puppets that talk to you and pillows to lounge about around.
So like bringing it also more into like maybe museum type spaces or like just like art spaces. I'm doing a residency in New Orleans next month and I'm gonna have a gallery show at the end of the month which is really cool. So whatever I make in the month will be on display at this gallery in New Orleans called the Aquarium Gallery. And that's really fun for me because that gets to be fully just me making whatever I want and like trying to kind of merge the worlds I think if I have the time to do my
whole vision, we'll see. So yeah, just like more of what's currently happening and then some.
Emily (58:35)
That all sounds amazing, especially doing an artist's residency. That sounds so cool.
Emma (58:40)
like said it's gonna be my first like I did one
in Poland this summer, which was really cool. And it was in a castle in Poland with like 150 artists. And it was way more like summer camp vibes. And this one is more like, it's your own personal residency. I like have a room with a sewing studio attached to it in like a shared artist house that's like attached to this gallery. So it'd be a lot more like solitary, like me making just what I want to make without the distraction of like that other residency was just so much fun.
stuff happening all around me all the time that I didn't make that much stuff. I like had more interpersonal experiences which was incredible but I am really excited to see how much I like doing a residency because it's one like an incredible way for me to live somewhere new for a month for free and to source
local textiles is like a really, really fun concept for me. Like I've said this for a while, like forever I was based in LA because I had to be for the film industry and as soon as Dream Giggles took off I was like, my god, whoa, like the world opened up a little bit. Like I could feasibly live anywhere and do this anywhere. And so for me that has sort of like been incubating in my mind.
but more around the idea of going to spend a month in Mexico City and sourcing local textiles and then doing drops that are specific to a city and a place and a color scheme and a pattern and an environment that's inspired it, especially because I can't ship.
internationally it's just too psycho, the pillows are too big and they cost way too much to ship and the customs are like a nightmare. And so I love the idea of like going to spend time in other places and then doing drops that are only shipping within that country and are specific to the way that that country made me feel or you know the people I met and the food I tasted and the flowers I saw. So not also like...
That would be the real dream is like five years from now having like a home base in LA. There was like where I have manufacturers who are doing like five designs that sell well all the time. And then I'm off, you know, living my best life in a different city, like sourcing, you know, use textiles and making one of a kind things elsewhere. That's the real dream.
Emily (1:00:48)
You're not that far, I feel. It's very close.
Emma (1:00:50)
Yeah,
it definitely feels way more attainable than I ever could have possibly imagined.
Emily (1:00:54)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay, so last kind of questions for you. These are more rapid fire to close us out. Okay, first one, favorite material to work with right now.
Emma (1:01:07)
It's the non-stretch velvet. It's like the luxury velvet. It's just like so soft and you can hand seam. When you do the hand seam, it just like blends perfect. Like you can't even see it. It's just clean and beautiful.
Emily (1:01:09)
Mm.
Okay, perfect. Good answer. Okay, the most surprising thing about starting your own business.
Emma (1:01:25)
about it.
There's like so many things that I kind of am like, yeah, of course. Like, yeah, it's super empowering and like also a lot more. I guess it's just like a lot more admin than I want it to be. I'm not so surprised by it, but the amount of time that it takes to do the admin is surprising. That is surprising. Just the amount of, like I'll sit at my computer to do something and all of a sudden four or five hours will have gone by and it's just me like changing a few things on my website.
Yeah, the amount of hats you have to wear is surprising. think most people don't really fully understand it. I didn't for sure until I was doing it. Yeah.
Emily (1:01:51)
interesting yeah yeah
What's one piece of advice that you hear a lot in your industry that you would encourage other people to not take? You think it's a bad piece of advice.
Emma (1:02:07)
Woo.
My industry, I guess now, is this world of textiles. But I feel so rooted still in the film industry. I feel like working by myself in the textile industry means I'm not really surrounded by a lot of other people who are doing what I'm doing.
So I actually don't really know what the bad advice is that's floating around in that world. I'd be curious to hear some of it. I'm sure there's a lot of it. I think...
I think one piece of advice that I feel like is, I don't even know if it's something people, I think transparency around money is something that I'm very for across any industry. And I think there is sort of this like, old, I consider it to be kind of like an old fashioned concept about like talking about money is disrespectful or impolite. And like, I think that used to be like.
people would say that. And now people don't really say it, but they also don't really talk about money. And so I think being transparent with each other about how much we're making in the industry of just like artists. It's like charge more. Like I know you want to and you should and you shouldn't just because you think like, but like, it's just like a hat and it feels crazy to charge $200 for a hat. Like that's insane. Like who's going to buy that?
If you spent 30 hours on that hat, that's not crazy. Like, it's just not. And I think that is a really hard thing to do as an artist, especially when you're like, I just want to make it as an artist. Like, I'll charge less just so I can live my dream. That is it. I would discourage people from that thought process. It's a scarcity mindset that I don't think is helping any artists.
So yeah, just be transparent about why you charge what you charge and then charge it.
Emily (1:03:45)
I love that. think that's really good advice. Is there a piece of advice then other than the one you just said that you would give to people that you think is like really resonates?
Emma (1:03:53)
Yeah, I think.
I think the thing I said earlier about making sure what you're making is something you need to get out of your body. Make what you want to see and what you're excited about making. The quote, this is kind of related, but if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.
I hate that quote so much because as a person who has kind of always loved what I've done, I've been very fortunate to be able to be an artist like my whole life and to find financial success in that in different ways. think like my version of financial success is still hilarious to friends of mine who have like real paid jobs, know, and savings and 401ks, but like.
and they look at me and they're like, yeah, but you know, yeah, but you're having so much fun and you love what you're doing. I work 24 seven. It doesn't turn off when I go home. I luckily have a studio outside of my house, which I actively made sure of once this started working because I would wake up and not even brush my teeth and start sewing something. And it was like, no.
What we do as artists is work and like it is soul fueling and I wish everyone could have a job that felt that way. But sometimes it's not, you know? Sometimes I sit down and work on my website and it's fine, I'm slogging through it and it's boring and it's work. And I think like...
making sure that in between the admin stuff, when you sit down to actually make the thing, make the art, that it really is true to what you want to be making and you're not just making something that you think is going to sell. Because I think it's really easy to fall into that ditch once you start actually selling stuff. It's like, OK. People will probably like this, right?
I've done it and it wasn't fun for me to make the thing and then sometimes it didn't even sell and then I was like, what am I doing? You know? So yes, I think the number one thing is really just like so cheesy, but stay true to your art and yourself.
Emily (1:05:44)
Well, that's great. And I think that's also all the questions I have for you. But do you want to tell people where to find you, they can keep up with you? Yeah.
Emma (1:05:49)
the
Totally. I feel like I just came off a little dictator at the end there. I feel passionate about that. It's funny because that reel took off. been a conversation I've been having with lot of my artist friends. they're all so timid about charging. I'm just like, there are people out there with money. I know we don't know who they are, but they do exist. And they're lovely humans who want to spend money on small businesses. I've got for them. So if you're one of those people who listens to this, yeah, my...
Emily (1:05:56)
you
you
Absolutely.
Emma (1:06:19)
My Instagram is at dreamgiggles and my website is dreamgiggles.com. I am on TikTok also dream, I my TikTok is like dream underscore giggles. But most of my information is through Instagram and you can sign up for my newsletter on my website. But I usually announce drops and like.
any new designs, whatever, on there. I'm also currently doing a fundraiser. Oh, now that'll be over by the time you guys do this. Never mind, I was gonna shout out a fundraiser I'm doing for LA Fire Relief right now. But I do every once in a while do like little fundraisers with prize pools because I work. Raffles are illegal in the state of California.
It's not a raffle, it's fundraiser usually for something with a prize. So if you are one of those people who's like, I love these pillows, but I can't afford them, every once in a while throw 10 bucks towards a fundraiser and maybe you'll win one. That's like a fun way for you to get pillows into their hands.
Emily (1:07:12)
That's great.
Emma (1:07:13)
Yeah, but Instagram's definitely like the number one way to keep track of me and what I'm up to. And I am gonna start trying to do more monthly regular drops again of one-of-a-kind designs at the end of each month. So yeah, look out for that.
Emily (1:07:25)
Okay, all right, sounds good. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Emma. And yeah, feel free to check her out. Definitely check out the designs, life-changing stuff.
Emma (1:07:34)
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
