Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alyssa M Baker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alyssa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later
I actually think I started my business at the perfect time! It was Covid, December of 2020 when I decided I needed to create more full time and that I had a skill worth offering! A lot of events and businesses unfortunately closed during the Covid 2019-2020 timeline, but in 2021 new events and opportunities started arising especially in the Idaho area. After getting all of the initial business necessities (Business Name, License, Insurance, website, business cards, etc.) and starting to market myself on social media, I was offered a booth space at my first ever vendor event! It was a small, cute event hosted by Lavender Sun (local shop that’s no longer in CDA) and I was blown away by how my art was received! It gave me a boost of confidence to do more, and ideas on other items to create and offers too-such as classes!
Alyssa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Alyssa Baker, I have always been a creative person, drawn to various art forms and loved dabbling in new forms of art whenever I could. Leatherwork did not come into my life until after college, where I learned Fashion Design as well as introduction to other wearable art forms like jewelry design, corsetry, knitwear, screen printing, metal design, and so much more. College expanded my art knowledge and truly gave me the rounded educational foundation to my design knowledge for my leather creations, yet my years in bridal alterations during and after college gave me the skills to work with people, how to create custom alterations, how to creatively problem solve on the spot, and gave me “field” experience in the industry. Experience that can’t be taught but I’m grateful to have gained. Though, San Francisco, the city I came to love turned into a tech metropolis and all the art industries were pushed out, most artists moved home and I did the same about a year after the city’s change. Weeks later I found Tandy Leather and quickly became a manager for them in North Carolina and needed to know all of the ins and outs of leather craft in order to sell it AND teach it-a requirement of Tandy managers back then was to teach classes every Saturday. Corporate life was not for me, nor was the micromanaging of my district manager, and I ended up moving to Idaho to be close to family again which covid happened shortly after! And that’s when i started creating with leather again and the rest is history as they say!
Nomadic Knots is the business name I created to represent the material and meaning behind my business: “Nomadic” for the traveler within us all, those on the go and needing practical accessories for use. And “Knots” referring to the soft ties of the cotton cording I use in some of the fashion design and bottle holders, it also symbolizes that we are all interconnected, knotted together. The vision behind my business is for people to buy practical, innovative products that serve a purpose, and last generations to come. My leather creations span from utilitarian every day accessories like bottle holders, wallets, and belts to fashion items such as jackets, suspender body harnesses, and bags to Renaissance must have’s like molded face masks, stone set jewelry, and drinking horn slings, to boudoir/punk accessories such as hip chains, collars, and spike pendant jewelry. All designs are made with full grain leathers for the strongest leather, and fashion items are mixed with other natural materials such as cotton, gauze, wool, and silk and metal aspects.
I source full grain cow hide leathers that have no chemicals added in and have been naturally tanned for durability and safe wearability. This leather is a true by-product of our meat industry, making sure that we are not producing any waste, nor are we harming the earth when producing these leathers. Cowhide leathers naturally biodegrade over time, unlike vegan leathers, which are primarily made of plastics and harmful for us and our planet. The leather is then cut into unique accessories, hand stamped/carved, and then hand dyed/stained to achieve various colors. After which the leather goes through several finish coats over the course of a week to lock in the dyes/stains. Then the finished leather pieces are all hand stitched or hand assembled into the finished product you see. The only machine work is on jackets and some bags, everything else is done completely by hand. I practice the 3 R’s in my studio (and life) Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. None of my leather gets thrown away, I use scraps for stamping samples or to teach techniques, the thin shavings are even used for high end packaging. My business ethics can be seen by the work I create.
My attention to detail, durable unique designs, and custom options, as well as classes and learning opportunities is what sets me a part from my competition. I love how people love to tell ME how my leather stands out against the other leather vendors at any particular festival/market which is how I know what is working best for me-my quality design and unique work !
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Events! You meet more people than ever and get your art/products out to more eyes at an event! Always good to start small, maybe indoor to eliminate some of the set up material costs (tent, tables, etc.).
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Yes! I also had to go back and forth doing my business full time and working part time for an employer while still working on my business. It can be a lot, but you do what you have to do to balance bills, to ensure pay-with a business no sale is guaranteed- especially when it comes to selling leather goods. The goal was to always work for myself full time but the costs of starting a business are steep, so I decided to juggle the two as long as possible until I felt okay to take on the business full time. Being in CDA/Spokane (and being new to the area) I never considered how “seasonal” this work is and how challenging it would be to stay afloat during the slow winter months, there are less events, and less vendors at events due to being indoors and needing to keep space in mind. So I would often try to find part time server work during this time to offset the drop in sales. Every year I have to combat this as best as I can, I’m no expert but I do feel zeroing in my events, maximizing my productivity and my offers as far as classes, I should have enough to help push me through those slower months for 2027.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shopnomadicknots.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nomadic.knots/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566276479044
Image Credits
Keely McCaire Photography