Featured Artist Reef Botanicals

There is nothing more exciting to me than seeing a couple working together and making it work! It does not always happen, but when it does it is magic. Such is the story of Reef Botanicals and the dynamic duo behind the magic. So, art you ready for a story? Sit down, close your eyes and picture a little girl with two very creative parents who, as Larissa tells it, had art supplies waiting for her at birth.

Larissa’s mother was an art minor in college and always had an eye for beautiful things and her father was a tool and die maker who was able to think in 3D, look at a finished product or sketch and work out the correct die to make it work.  Between them, Larissa inherited a love to working with her hands and creating beauty in the world.

Larissa has been a lawyer for almost 17 years and a face painter for over 9 as well as a favorite aunt to a couple of 2 year olds who definitely benefit from her creativity.  She loves to hike and dance, ice skate, roller skate and participates in the NJ MS walk every year.  She is also a master party thrower, hosting 3 major events every year for the Kentucky Derby, Mardi Gras and a Halloween Bash.  She is an actor in a community theater and an avid reader who loves old movies and British humor.  Sound like a lot?  Well, her loving husband just adds to the madness by being a skater who plays ice hockey, surfs, scuba dives, bakes bread, cooks gourmet meals, makes cheese and brews beer when he isn’t running his IT company.  Sounds like a match made in heaven…if your idea of heaven is constant running from one fantastic event to another!  Larissa was thrilled when she found that Eric shared to love of creating when he suggested that they make candles together; and when that got delayed, dug in an made their first batch of soap!

Now I know that there are plenty of bath and body product makers out there, but Larissa is a bit different in her thinking.  She was appalled at the amount of chemicals that are found in many products that are used on your skin and made the decision right then and there that her products were going to be all natural.  The result, Reef Botanicals was born!  Her bath and body products, which began as a few bars of soap handed out to friends and family, is 100% natural and so easy on your skin.  This does mean that some fragrances and scents will not be available in their line, but in order to stay true to the Reef Botanical mission, Larissa decided that safe and natural was more important than a missing scent in soap.  Instead, Larissa and Eric offer many of these scents in their paraffin candles!

Now, as if their full life was not enough, this fun loving lawyer/actress/facepainter/soaper recently dove back into fiber and fabric arts!  After winning a HAF shirt recycling challenge and receiving a sewing machine as a gift from her family, Larissa has been using vintage, repurposed, and new fabric to create darling product.  She also recently added a line of knitted products after trying her hand and getting hooked!  While these two endeavors are a bit newer, Larissa is quickly finding herself addicted.  In order not to confuse her customers by having too many different mediums in one shop, Larissa launched Fabric of My Mind and is quickly adding more and more products as fast as her fingers can make them.

Larissa has been an important member of HAF from the beginning and is always willing to help and answer questions or just offer support to other artists.  She says that the hardest thing about selling is actually being critical and weeding out the products that just don’t sell well; in other words, business mind over emotional attachment.  On the plus side, there is nothing better than when you see your customers appreciate all your hard work and you find yourself shipping around the world!  She understands that marketing takes time away from creating, but insists that it is time well spent.  After all, if you don’t market you will soon find yourself buried in product with no more room to create more!

Are you ready to experience a piece of the life of Reef Botanicals and Fabric of My Mind?  Makes me dizzy just trying to imagine cramming this all into one life, but this team does it with style.  Both Reef Botanicals and Fabric of My Mind are easy to find on HandmadeArtists as well as her stand alone website and blog designed by the talented Eric.  If you want to see some amazing facepainting, check out her blog.  You can also follow Larissa on facebook at ReefBotanicals and FabricOfMyMind and on Twitter.

Tags: bath and body, Creative Handmade Artisans, featured artist, handcrafted, Handmade, Handmade Artists, lotion, natural, soap

Posted in Featured Vendor, Handmade Artisans