Interview & giveaway! Monkey Sock Monkey
Monkey Sock Monkey | your source for DIY sock monkey kits and all sorts of monkey magic...
Tell us bit about yourself, your company.
MSM: Monkey Sock Monkey started off as an artist exchange between myself and my then-friend and now-business partner. On a lark I sent her one sock monkey a month for a year. She started sending me drawings and photos of the monkeys, and stories of how all the kids in her community were so excited about the monkeys. When one young girl showed up with a monkey she had made herself and then stuffed with rocks from the river, we were very touched, and realized we might have something that got kids excited about making things by hand.
When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
MSM: I wanted to be the White Witch from Narnia. (Finally I get to sort of realize that dream; I am playing the Ice Queen in a children's play this summer. The deceptively named Ice Queen, however, is very nice.)
Is there a certain person, place or object you draw inspiration from?
MSM: Lucky for me, I draw most of my inspiration from my partner, Cary. She is a juggernaut and once on a mission, cannot be stopped. She's a phenomenal artist, and she lives her life with same degree of creativity and passion she pours into her illustrations and pottery.
If you had no boundaries: money, time, space, support, etc. what dream project would you pursue?
MSM: There's a house falling down on 15th Ave in Cap Hill that I think would make a great shared studio space. It has a small lawn out front that the studio occupants and friends could use for a retail art-n-flea-style space on the weekends.
What’s your favorite thing to do to kill time? Any secret Internet time wasters, guilty pleasures?
MSM: I love a website called worldwidewords.org. I may not be totally up on current events, but I do know the etymology of the phrase "cut the mustard".
Where do you like to go when you just want to get away? A beach, a mall, a market? What’s your favorite type of spot to go unwind.
MSM: I like to visit my friend Bart's blacksmith shop - it's in the industrial part of Ballard, and the yard is all full of promising and mysterious chunks of metal. It's south-facing, so on a sunny day it's the best place in Seattle to drink anything cold from a glass bottle, listen to the boats go by, and feel very much at home. Plus, it's really the only place I'd want to be should the zombie-apocalypse occure - those blacksmiths are really set up.
If you only had one more meal to eat on this world what would it be? (It can be several courses)
MSM: BLT with actual ripe midwestern tomatoes and tender sweet corn with butter; for dessert, sweet ripe watermelon pulled from a trough of salted ice, split open with a corn knife and served on a warm night under the Milky Way with lightning bugs all around. Hold the mosquitoes, please.
What do you love about most UCU’s Summer Show?
MSM: I love talking to the attendees. The pace is a bit slower than the winter show, so it's nice to get to connect with people.
Tell readers what they should expect to see when they stop by and see you at UCU.
MSM: Color and whimsy! Monkeys and squirrels! Socks and bowls!
Monkey Sock Monkey is generously offering a fabulously fun pack of Monkey postcards! Just leave a comment below for your chance to win!
