Helen Ziga

 

When the Etsy's Best Kept Secrets Team decided on putting up a blog I decided rather than doing a shoddy job on designing a banner I would check out what Etsy had to offer.  Thank goodness I did because you can see our blog is pretty amazing to look at ~ don't you think?? Well this talented lady on Etsy Helen Ziga designed it for us ~ she has two shops on etsy something for every budget and apart from being extremly talented she also is so easy to work with ~ and WE ALL love what she came up with!!

Here's her interiew

 

 

Can you tell us about your business?  

I have two functioning design shops on Etsy. One sells primarily readymade designs - www.craftygraphics.etsy.com. The other sells custom graphic design exclusively - www.zigahelen.etsy.com. The custom shop is where I started out on Etsy almost 2 years ago.

How long have you been doing your craft and selling on Etsy ?

I have been working as a graphic designer since 1996. I started doing freelance design from home about 10 years ago and started selling on Etsy almost 2 years ago.

 

 

 

Working from home ~ whats the hardest thing about it?

 Working from home isn't all that difficult for me. I'm a pretty distracted person and need to have a lot of things going on at once. And I prefer an irregular schedule. So, I juggle taking care of 2 toddlers, working full time as a graphic design college instructor, making art, doing design for Etsy and other clients and playing tennis. Tennis is my latest passion, although I'll never make it to Wimbledon other than maybe hopefully going one day to watch and eat strawberries and cream.

 

What part of your business do you enjoy the most?

The diversity of work is what I like most about working for Etsy customers. What I like almost as much is how fantastically interesting and creative my clients are. I still do some corporate design and that's fine. On Etsy I never know what business I'll be branding - from whoopie pies to dog costumes to childrens clothing to fine jewelry. Every day is really a brand new day for me on Etsy.

 

Can you name three of your favourite shops on etsy?

My current three favorite shops on Etsy are all shops I've made purchases from recently:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CreativeJenV - lovely handmade bags
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Janefoster - adorable screen printed stuffies (a Brit shop)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OiseauxNoir - cool and funky collage artwork

 

 

 

 

What are your plans ~ besides world denomination lol for the future of your business?

My future plans from Etsy go outside graphic design. I'm a trained fine artist and have opened an Etsy shop called The Paper Canvas. I make papier mache canvases using junk mail and sold a few of these artworks in a now closed shop. I'm working on a new body of work for sale and plan to open in the next month or two. If things go well there I'll be using the money to rent a studio space in an old converted warehouse in the town I live in. From there I'll start doing art and craft shows as well as getting back into showing in galleries around the US. I used to show and sell quite a lot but the art business can be a bit overwhelming and I decided to remove myself until I had something important to say.

 

And, of course, I'll keep doing graphic design!

 

Helens Etsy shops ~ 

www.craftygraphics.etsy.com

www.zigahelen.etsy.com