Artists

Meet Wacky Wanita!

Someone had to come up with the idea for Wacky Wanita Designs--or, as you've probably heard it, Wacky Wanita's YOUnique Boutique. Meet Wanita--with a W. She started WWYB with the intentions of creating greeting cards for the wackiest occasions you could think of (laundry day, for instance), but the idea rapidly spawned other wacky concepts, and soon the job was too big to do alone. Partnering with other artists with notions as wacky as her own, Wacky Wanita was able to collaborate an entire catalogue of customizable products for those individuals in the world who are just that: individual. Maybe not rebellious enough to shave off half their hair, but spunky enough not to want to look like Barbie McBimbo, straight from the Tommy Hilfiger catalog. Wacky Wanita Designs now gives her not only a creative outlet, but also a way to share her love of uniqueness with others.

Wanita's products: greeting cards, flower hats

Deborah

Deborah Munyan is a crafty and adventurous girl that likes to try her hand at just about anything. After studying graphic design in 2007, she traveled the globe and eventually found herself in a bead shop in Perth, Australia. It was there that she learned how to make a pair of earrings from buttons. When she returned home, she dug through the old button drawer and has been collecting and transforming buttons into one-of-a-kind finds ever since.

Deborah also is a collage artist. Reusing all sorts of items and photographing things, she creates new images from old ones. (To see her artwork, visit her Tumblr!) She also enjoys rock climbing, attempting to cook, and flower arranging.

Deborah products: button earrings



Lola

Lola is entranced by vintage buttons, an affliction she has funneled into adorning winter hats and fingerless gloves for a signature style called ButtonUp! She adorns only the very best hats and gloves, hand crafted by a New England artisan.

A trained archaeologist, Lola loves the hunt for the buttons and selecting buttons for each piece. Her inventory comes from several bequests of button baskets and boxes from elders, finds at tailor shops, thrift shops, antique stores and vintage clothing emporiums. Of course, now that friends and family know of her vintage button fixation, she receives even more button gifts and information on where to find more. Lola prefers buttons with texture, especially metallics, though embossed, faceted or stamped one-of-a-kind buttons are high prized.

Lola's products: vintage-button hats, vintage-button gloves