Designing Moms: Meet Liberty

The photos of Liberty's work and family life show such verve and warmth. I love hearing about how she and her daughter spend time together crafting and passing creative ideas back and forth. Please help me welcome Designing Mom Liberty!

Name: Liberty

About me: I grew up in LA, in a design family - my dad is a toy inventor and I'm the only one that didn't go into the toy business... I lived in Chicago for the first 5 years of my marriage (working as a textile designer in the interior design industry) and I really feel like the warmth and receptiveness that Chicago shows to artists made a huge impact on who I am creatively. Now we're back in LA - living in an old bungalow near to downtown in an "up and coming" neighborhood (wink).

What I do: I own my business, which can be found at www.libertyworth.com. I started off making jewelry on the side, while I was doing the corporate designing - I think it was a reaction to so much time spent in front of the computer each day, I wanted to come home and FEEL something. So I started making jewelry, knitting, and eventually learned how to sew by trading jewelry with a friend for lessons. I made my first Libby Dibby skirt in 2004 and recently sold my 1000th skirt online through my website. I don't actually do the sewing for my business, I have seamstresses that work from home and I save the sewing for fun (and therapy)...

What I'm inspired by: I used to mostly be inspired by travel, art, fine design, but these days, I'm finding more inspiration in the things of the simple life: items that can be used, loved, worn and treasured, recycled, reused... all of it. There's something romantic and lovely about things that are worn with time and love... I try to make things that feel that way.

What's a day in my life like: My life demands that I work at night, while my kids are sleeping - both for my business and for my creative outlets... but my 4 year old (whom I call "the design director" on my blog) is a great person to do "projects" with. She's inherited her momma's opinionated design sense and I love when we design things together. It's been a real lesson to let go, let her be free with her ideas and let her watch me sew her concepts into reality (sometimes making mistakes and learning from them). I'm loving the earthiness and timelessness of the process of crafting as mother & daughter....