Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Crystal Pereyra. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Crystal, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My most meaningful project is the first woman I embroidered. It’s what moved me to keep creating art that represents women with disabilities and normal body types beautifully. I had just had my life saving surgeries, had an ostomy bag, and a jp drain and I could not find images that represented bodies like mine. The ostomy community is larger than most would imagine and most suffer from body dysmorphia because of the operations needed to save our lives. I decided to take the lack of representation in my own hands and I created my ostomy lady. It’s based off my own body and scars. It shows a beautiful woman with an ostomy bag. Already, the women who have seen themselves represented my art have told me how much it means to them and that’s the biggest reward I could imagine. I want to help women see themselves in a different light than how the world pushes we should be.

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?

My name is Crystal and I own Hygge Adorning. I started my craft after I received three life saving and reconstruction surgeries. I saw a need for representation of woman’s natural bodies and woman that are disabled. I took my ability to embroider and decided to create neutral minimalistic art. Right now I’m in the middle of creating new pieces to bring a broader representation of women.

My art generally consists of embroidered women of all sizes with stretch marks and physical disabilities. I also create these booby bags that represent all sizes of boobs and say “all boobs are good boobs”. My art is not meant to be sexualized. I take great care into choosing each position my women are in to portray the unique beauty we each have.

I also plan on creating stickers, pins, and other products with my art to bring a variety of products to my markets.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had to pivot from my art last year to being a full time mom. I love my art and the impact it has on the community but I noticed a change in my family with how much time I was spending on it. For me, that is more important. However, that time of total investment in my kid isn’t needed quite as much as school is starting. I’m excited to see this next pivot back into my art and other dreams

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Society has an advantage in this time period with supporting artists and small businesses because of social media. By simply following a page and sharing their art, a customer or supported has just reached an entire audience that I may have not had access to.

Also, one of the best ways I’ve been supported in my art by the community is by keep coming back to my booth at different markets. Even if you don’t buy anything the verbal and physical support really impacts the artist. It encourages us to keep continuing.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Hygge_adorning

Image Credits
Hayli Wells @hayliwellsphotography