We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danison Fronda-Tietz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Danison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

My business’ name orginates from wearing bowties in my childhood and my specialization in brush calligraphy.

Bowties have always been my ‘thing’. It was a way for me to express myself with cute patterns and stand out from the other boys who wore regular neckties. They also made me feel even more dressed up than usual, and it was the perfect final touch to any outfit I wore. In the wedding space, the groom also tends to switchout the regular necktie with a bowtie for this special occasion!

With regard to the other half of the business name, I like to make it a point that all the lettering and calligraphy I do is hand-painted, hand-lettered, and/or hand-drawn. It’s all done with a paint brush or brush pen! In today’s world of technology, I take pride in creating art and wedding details by hand that can’t be replicated by a computer.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always been a creative person with amazing penmanship from an early age, so starting a creative business was somewhat always a possibility. The creative business journey really began when I decided I was going to DIY the stationery and signage for my own wedding back in 2020. When I got engaged and got the sign-off from my now husband to create stuff for our wedding, I decided to go full force into the craft and learned calligraphy. During the process, I started gaining some exposure for my watercolor painting and hand lettering, and I began doing some freelance work here and there. Fast forward a year or two, our wedding happens, and friends and family see what I was created. Then I start getting requests to make a few items for their weddings and showers. With some advice from the vendors from my own wedding, they answered all my questions and encouraged me to officially start “Bowtie & Brush” as a wedding business. Ever since, I’ve been helping extraordinary couples to not have to stress out over trying to learn calligraphy, or watercolor, or how to effectively use a cricut-but rather to just show up to their big day with details that match their love story.

Oh, and love stories. They are probably my favorite things about being in this industry, more specifically in my discipline of the creating the ‘finer details’ of the big day. I love LOVE, and I look forward to learning about all my couples unique love stories. It challenges me to create designs and pieces that speak to their relationship. Unfortunately, A LOT of stories have cheesy moments that make it hard to tie those into an overall wedding theme. Couples get discouraged that they can’t include them. That’s where I come in! I specialize in taking those elements of love stories, no matter how ridiculous, and elevate them into wedding-ready designs!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Showing up. It is so important for me to show up for my clients and the other wedding professionals in the industry. I’ve always held relationships very important, especially now. It takes all the vendors on the day of the wedding to make it successful, so I tell myself that I need to show up for myself and everyone else.

As a newer business, I feel like I’ve really made my stamp even despite others being in the industry way longer than I have. I made the commitment to continuously show up at networking events, do styled shoots, volunteer for open houses, and whatever I can think of to put my face out there. I also do it to support the other professionals who I will potentially work with. The more I would show up, people would be more familiar with my face and my brand. They started to realize I wasn’t flaky and I was dedicated to my business. After creating genuine friendships and really understanding the people behind the businesses, that’s when my own business began to grow–and fast!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Calligraphers are not computers or machines. I am not a font. I’ve spent countless hours learning my craft and developing a personal lettering styles that is my own. Time and time again, I’ve had requests of couples asking if I can copy a sign that they found on Pinterest or to use a particular font. The simple answer is no. There are many reasons that I can’t do that, one being that it is a copyright infringement of that artist’s work. In stead, I will point them to my script and non-script styles to choose from. I find that in my discipline, I work way better with clients who choose me for my own work and style.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bowtieandbrush.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/bowtieandbrush
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bowtieandbrush/
• Other: https://weddingvenuemap.com/wedding-vendor/bowtie-brush/ https://isaidyesfl.com/vendors/bowtie-brush/

Image Credits
Castaldo Studio, Elise Van Der Lee Photography, Joanna Moore Photography, Elf Photography, Koontz Photography, Olive and Co. Photography