One evening in the library of the University of California at Berkeley, Libby Ellis turned to her study partner and announced she was moving to Martha’s Vineyard.
She would not be going to the next morning’s seminar and continuing her master’s in economic geography, she told him. Instead, she was moving to the Vineyard to start her own illustration studio. This was during the winter of 2012. When she arrived on the Island, Ms. Ellis found a job digging holes and landscaping for Michael Donaroma, her study partner’s college roommate.
“I was so happy,” Ms. Ellis said the other day in her Vineyard Haven studio.
She quickly shifted gears from digging in the dirt to licensing designs for Baby Gap, Target and children’s furniture for Land of Nod. She also published several children’s books and created scarves, stationary, and, now, wedding gifts. Her personalized calendar tea towels are custom made to mark special occasions from birth announcements to weddings.
The colorful graphic designs reflect a childhood innocence with a dash of sophistication. The tissue paper, construction paper and screen print images are done by hand and printed on linen. Ms. Ellis said she enjoys giving couples and their wedding guests something special to remember the big day.
“Plus I just love romance,” she said. On the wall of her studio, a tea towel commemorating Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s wedding hangs near her desk. A tea towel announcing the birth of their son, Prince George, rests next to it.
“I feel like all these things are cheerful,” Ms. Ellis said of her designs. Ms. Ellis, a longtime self-professed bookworm and academic, had always created art on the side. Growing up she loved pressing flowers and admired her grandmother’s cross stitch work, which eventually inspired her to print her work on linen. “One of my grandmothers did cross stitch — the Great Wall of cross stitch — and so I did those all the time,” she said. In college, she fulfilled a work-study obligation doing art design for the student newspaper, and eventually became a creative director for major advertising firms.
Ms. Ellis’s designs are done by hand, scanned into the computer and printed on linen. Some designs are also done with screen printing.
“Everything is done by hand and what I love about that is nothing is perfect,” she said. “It makes it feel more alive.”
Construction paper is “forgiving,” Ms. Ellis said. “You can use a glue stick and put it down and pull it up,” she said, pointing to several designs for home décor.
But tissue paper is a different story.
“Once it gets wet, forget it. I don’t photoshop anything...so I put down the background and cut every piece out to create a pattern, lay it out, and hope I don’t sneeze.”
The custom approach offers something different for Vineyard brides and their guests, Ms. Ellis said.
“There are a lot of cookie-cutter weddings and favors,” she said. “I’ve been to a million weddings and have a million Jordan almonds...this seems like it’s unique and special enough that you’d want to keep it and enjoy it. It’s a nice memory.”
Ms. Ellis takes on custom designs, themes and motifs at the request of brides and grooms. The calendars can also be printed on tote bags.
“What makes them nice is often there are perishables or edibles, and at the end of the weekend, they’re gone but you still have the bag,” she said.
The bags can be used for rehearsal dinners or day-of festivities, she said. She also creates personalized place mats with her designs.
Ms. Ellis said she enjoys the collaborative process.
“It’s a special time. I like working closely with brides and wedding planners and special events. It makes you feel like you’re a part of the party.”
For more information and ordering, visit libbyellis.com.
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