colette paperie | blawg-it: Meet the Maker | Michelle Brusegaard (MBMB!)

My name is Michelle Brusegaard and I currently live in Grand Forks, North Dakota, which happens to be the 3rd largest city in the state at 50,000 peeps. Since returning to Nodak in 2009, I spend a lot of time running into people I went to high school with, petting my cats, watching murder mystery shows with my mom….and working. I pretty much eat, breathe and sleep craft style, my job and my hobby are one in the same. I occasionally take breaks and spend them strolling along the mighty Red River, thrifting, eating sushis with buddies and/or napping.

1. How + when did you first become interested in becoming a maker?
I’ve always been psyched about it. When I was a kid I spent a lot of time hanging out with my grandma, making dolls out of her support hose.

2. Do you have a strategy for starting a project? Any rituals?
Hmmm…not really. My projects all just sort of overlap each other. When I get an idea, I am usually too excited to think it through. I simply jump in head first and work it out along the way.

3. What was your first "breakthrough" gig?
I started out selling my paintings. In 2005, I signed up for the Grand Cities Art Fest in Grand Forks and got accepted as an “emerging artist,” which got me a free tent and a stipend. It was my first “real” selling event, and I sold three paintings, my mind was blown.

4. What has been your favorite project to work on?
That is a tough question! Every project is my favorite when I first start it. I love the design work soooo much more than the mass production that takes over my apartmastudio. I think my calendars probably take the cake for most satisfying, though. Just because they can get pretty involved, there’s lots of computer staring, but in the end there’s this fully realized product that people keep buying year after year. Close tie are my new screen-printed leather earrings…I’ve always loved wearing jewelry, so each time I make a new style I get a new pair for myself. Score!

5. What has been your silliest mistake in business thus far?
Um…I have made a lot of little mistakes, but I think they’ve all been essential. Probably the biggest learning curve has been customer service. I don’t like having to be “businessy,” and I think that hurt me in the first few years of business online. Like I once refunded a Canadian customer because she got charged customs. That was dumb, she knew she was going to have to pay customs, she lives in Canada…pffft.

6. What is a project you hope + dream of working on in the future?
I love love love fashion. Clothes. I would love to get better at sewing…or really, just skip that part and be able to design the stuff for someone, and see my prints living out their destiny on, say, a sweet free peoplesque dress.

7. What is inspiring about where you live?
My home itself inspires me, because I have surrounded my self with tons of tchotchkes, art, patterns and textures. Outside, the plains are kind of like a burgeoning canvas. There’s not much there, but the beauty is in the details. Most of my botanical designs come from what I find while walking across town.

8. Who fuels your fire - who do you count on for moral support?
I do a lot of self-motivating. And my parents and pals are really nice to me. But ultimately it’s my customers that keep me rolling out of bed in the morning. When someone buys something its like they’re saying “good job. I like you.” And I feed off of that.

9. Which song would you choose to artistically represent yourself + your style?
“Beautiful” by Carole King. And I’m not being flippant. Well, maybe just a teeny bit flippant.

10. What are your plans for your business in the coming months?
Well, the holidays are upon us. So I plan to work 4 million hours a week until January. And shows!