There’s only one thing I feel certain about when I go to a really good antique fair: that I’ll fall in love with something. Sometimes it’s a great day for finding old French ceramic vessels, or beautifully worn silver trays or imperfectly carved wooden props. But on this beautifully-fated day, it was old linens that kept my eye. I walked through miles and miles of stalls, combing through rugs, tapestries, mud cloth, looking for the patterns and colors that struck my eye. The rug sellers pulled back rug after rug in their piles as I grimaced that it wasn’t quite right or nodded that I wanted to see more. As I deliberated on one in particular, the price dropped until it went no lower. I walked away and then came back an hour later because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Throughout the day, I kept my styling goggles on, lugging enormously-stuffed IKEA bags back to my mini van again and again. With each trip, I was more excited about the possibilities of these beauties. I wanted my new styling surfaces to feel bold, beautiful, and full of depth.
When I came home that night, I rolled out each of the rugs and mud cloths and tapestries on the ground for Michael to see, showing him how I wanted to use each one. How well they could add artistry to my customers’ work. He told me he wanted to keep them all and not sell any of them. But I knew I wanted to share them.
I wanted people to see how beautiful they really were.
The Story Behind the Images:
In putting together this shoot, I wanted to express a love for old textiles and how a textile lover’s day might look like in her worship of the beauties. I wanted my kind, beautiful model to interact with each piece in loving ways. We created ways for her to interact with the textiles through wearing them, touching them, sifting through them, preparing food on them, putting her flowers on them, holding them. I wanted there to be no doubt that this character was in love with these beautiful textiles and by showing her interactions, I wanted my potential customers to fall in love with them too.
We did a natural hair and makeup look and I grabbed a simple white dress for the model to wear to keep the textiles as the focus. I wanted the florals to be minimal and beautiful. I wanted the model’s poses to be feminine and graceful. And I wanted to feature the textiles as the background for food, paper, and florals (some of the materials I know my audience uses in their own work).
The images below are some of my very favorites I’ve created to date.
As you scroll through, notice how the model and the objects are used to feature the beauty of the textiles and tell me what you loved most over on Instagram.
I couldn’t have created these gorgeous images without this talented team:
Emma Natter is a business coach and writer. Her work intersects entrepreneurial strategies with the creative process so career hopefuls can find success, impact, fulfillment, and confidence in going their own way.
I’m Emma Natter, a path-to-success paver and art-trained business coach who first shattered her own career expectations by selling out of handmade styling goods from her little NYC apartment. Now as a strategist to thousands of creatives, I teach you to harness your passion so you can do the same.
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