Catabella, aka Maureen Puia, aka Mo, is our interview this week.
Mo has been helping us out a few days a week in our pr department,
and she’s the muscle behind the Smash Up projects.
She is the one who’s been spinning around trying to get all of us exposure.
We thank her for all her hard work, and we know we couldn’t do it without her help!
So, from us to her, THANKS MO!!!!
Another great thing is that Mo is a jewelry artist,
and she has a store on Smashing Darling called Catabella.
Mo brings a fresh look at what can be done with metal
through her line of “jewels to adorn yourself.”
Her inside out earrings look so fun to wear…check them out!
Plus, go check out the Smash ups, Mo’s favorite project, to see what’s next!
SD: How did you end up making jewelry?
MP: Well, I always talked about making jewelry when I was in college, but I never did. I was always too busy trying to pay rent and be in school full time, I never really thought about life after school. After college I was working at a restaurant in downeast Maine; we all lived in a farmhouse together and worked at the restaurant together (yes, it’s amazing we still speak!). I had no idea where I was going to end up after the restaurant closed, so I told people that I would like to go make jewelry somewhere. A few months later, while visiting my family in a small town in southeastern CT, I randomly walked by a lovely little gallery that was just my style and had a ‘help wanted - studio & gallery assistant’ sign in the window. The owner hired me and I worked in her studio for about two years.
SD: Where did you go to school and what did you study?
MP: I graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a double major in Sociology and Communication.
SD: What inspires your designs?
MP: Many things. Sometimes a word, seaweed for sure, textiles, flowers, texture everywhere - man-made or in nature, movement, travel, food.
SD: What is your design process?
MP: I think I’m still trying to figure that out. There are a lot of ideas swimming around in my head that I haven’t gotten out yet, clogging up the system. They just come to me when I am doing something else, like if I am on a long road trip. Sometimes I make something and hang in over my bench for months, not really into it, and then one day I just take it down and realize how I want to finish it. Other times I get an idea, and can execute just as I imagined.
SD: Describe your philosophy behind your designs?
MP: It’s is about self-expression, experimentation, curiosity, and a need for my hands to be creating and making solid these images that enter my brain.
SD: What does your average day entail?
MP: I’m not sure any day is average recently! Although everyday begins with coffee. I am in cyberspace with Smashing Darling three days a week (yeah right, I check in everyday really!) doing whatever these two gals ask me to in order to grow this amazing community they have created. Thanks Trish and Julie! I try and dedicate the other two days (and other evenings here and there) to studio time before I head over to serve delicious food for a few nights at Bar Lola…this will all work out much better when there is a foot of snow on the ground and I won’t want to be spending every sunny moment at the beach.
SD: If you knew then (before you started your business) what you know now, what would you do differently?
MP: Win the lottery.
SD: In your opinion what is the best and worst current fashion trend?
MP: I only followed fashion trends when I was 12 years old and my grandmother bought me those awful Michael Jackson parachute pants, my brothers laughed at me and told me they looked like Hefty bags. I like to wear what I am in the mood for that day, and what feels comfortable and fun. Some are sick of the dress with pants look, I happen to love it, especially through a long, cold winter in Maine.
SD: Who is your greatest influence and why?
MP: Those in my life, there are many and they know who they are, who are doing their own thing and have encouraged me to do the same.
My great grandmother was born in Italy and was a seamstress. I think if I could sit down and have a conversation with her today she would be my greatest influence.
SD: Do you have any events you are getting ready for in the near future?
MP: Smashing Darling and Catabella are the events ongoing in my life right now and in the near future…besides the ongoing desire to be on a trip halfway around the globe. However, I will shamelessly plug our ongoing student SMASH UP project, don’t know about it? Read about it here, and tell any student printmaker’s you know to email mo@smashingdarling.com! Next SMASH UP is September 10th.
SD: What’s next for your line?
MP: I really want my work to become, well, a collision of sorts, of metal and fabric.
SD: If there was one designer on Smashing Darling you could ask a question to who would it be and what would you ask them?
MP: Well, my question isn’t to any specific designer, actually instead it is to all. I would love digital camera recommendations, so I can start taking crazy close-ups (as well as pics that show scale) to improve the quality of the images I upload to my store.
