We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Kitzman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

In 2019 I began having quite a few macrame wall hangings pop up on my Pinterest feed every day. I had been searching for a new hobby so I watched some YouTube tutorials of basic knots and designs. I went to Hobby Lobby, got some cheap rope and a dowel rod and spent that whole night working on my first piece. I was immediately hooked! At the time I had a full time job and worked a lot of over time so I didn’t really have much free time to practice macrame, so that held me back quite a bit as far as growing and learning the craft as quickly as I would have liked. I also had no idea that there was such a large community for macrame artists on social media until about a year ago, so learning about that earlier on would have benefited my growth even more!

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

I am a 26 year old military wife and mom to an almost 1 year old. I began learning the art of macrame in 2019 and it quickly became a passion of mine. I now own Wren + Luna Collection where I make and sell macrame wall hangings, hat hangers, plant hangers, key chains, and more! I first launched my company through Etsy in February 2022, but had been casually selling my work to family and friends since August of 2021.

I pride myself in selling my own creative designs, but also offering custom designs to my clients, where I work with them to personalize their design to best fit their vision. With a heavily saturated market for fiber artists, I do my best to maintain my own personal style and separate my work from other sellers in the community, in order to give my clients unique and appealing art for their homes.

I am proud to say that I fully stocked and launched my online shop while walking through early motherhood for the first time. It is not easy to find the time to focus on yourself or your passions in that time with a young child to care for and raise, but I truly value the work that I do and decided that I wanted to make it a priority. My company has been very successful so far and I take such pride in being able to help provide for my family!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Coming out of a full-time remote job on the computer and heading into launching my own company as a creative was a bit of a shock to my system in the first couple months. You’re feeling so excited and optimistic about the future of your company, and you finally love what you’re doing, so it can actually be hard to turn it off and “clock out” for the day. There were many times I found myself working on a piece until 2 in the morning, then having to wake up with my baby at 6am, which just isn’t a sustainable way to run a company long-term. It took a lot for me to get to a place where I could set those boundaries for myself, to not allow myself to work all hours of the day or night, and leave time for other things and people in my life that I value.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

It may sound simple, but for me, every single sale I make is so incredibly rewarding. Each sale means that the time and love I put into that piece wasn’t for nothing, and that someone else values what I made. The very thought that my art will be hanging in other people’s homes across the country is so incredibly special to me and it really renews my love for the craft.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wrenandlunaco.etsy.com
• Instagram: @wrenandlunacollection
• Facebook: @wrenandlunacollection
• Other: TikTok- @wrenandlunacollection