We recently connected with Alicia Messmer and have shared our conversation below.
Alicia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
I moved to South Carolina from California in 2016 when I took a new position as a manager in distribution. I started to get into refinishing and painting furniture and was inspired by a few local businesses. After an opportunity to be a vendor in a local store and sell what I was creating my next step was to name my business. I didn’t put a ton of thought into it other than I loved my daughters’ name, and I loved her, so I named it after her because I felt it flowed well.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
After moving to SC, I realized how much I loved creating and how much potential there was in what you could do with a piece of furniture to make it a true original. As I continued painting furniture I was determined to find my unique style, one that set me apart from all of the other individuals that were painting as well. I soon found that I was drawn to creating unique one of kind pieces and started to explore my creativity more with small crafts and other ways to express myself. As time progressed, I realized that I wanted to start painting actual pictures on furniture and not just changing the color. I progressed into painting on canvas and wood. Its hard to rely just on big pieces of furniture to make you money. The average person cant necessarily afford a piece that you have to price at a certain level because of the amount of work you put into it. So I started to work on my skill set more with painting with acrylic and other mediums. I also saw opportunity to get into creating stained glass pieces, which was something I learned from my father as a kid. I tend to be all over the place really with my creativity. My brain never stops!
My clients have trusted me with their furniture and the art that they show in their homes and I love that! Im proud to be able to make someone happy with simply painting a picture. I also am proud that I am self taught and have seen tremendous growth with my skill set in painting. I will try anything for a client! I always push myself out of my comfort zone, to try new things. I like to be inspired by other artists but always use that inspiration to make my own original art.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Honestly word of mouth has been the best source for me. I tend to be pretty outgoing and I have had a lot of success with being open with people about how I am an artist. I find it easy to talk to a stranger and get to know someone and if I see an opportunity to bring up my side hustle, I put it out there! Meeting other artists and networking is always a great way to find new clients. Some artists have their niche and if they have clients that they feel your work is more suited to what they are looking for they will send them your way and vice versus. Community is very key to ones success.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My journey has been like anyone else’s filled with trials and tribulations. I had a rough patch in 2020 but I never let that stop me and used my art to expand my business and pushed myself to get better and better. I love painting more than I can express into words. I’ve never given up or let a difficult situation stop me because I have used that energy to push and survive. My kids are a huge part of my motivation and art has saved me financially in so many ways. Beyond money, it has nourished my soul and been a huge part of healing for both my children and I.
Contact Info:
- Website: ruby-grace-designs-108635.square.site
- Instagram: rgracedesigns
- Facebook: Alicia Messmer
- Other: Etsy, RubyGraceDesignsArt