STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
When Machteld Schrameyer tried repurposing clothing to create new one-of-a-kind clothing in the 1990s, she found that the world was not ready for it.
“I always wanted to be sustainable but people thought the products would be dirty so I went to shearlings,” she said.
Flash forward 20 years and Schrameyer’s upcycled leather jackets are very much in fashion. A native of Amsterdam, she typically takes French jackets, cuts them in pieces and puts them back together in one-of-a-kind looks.
“It’s more difficult than if I was using new fabric because what I create depends on what I have. I can’t just cut all I want from a new roll of leather,” she said.
Schrameyer’s one-of-a-kind jackets and luxurious shearling coats are part of the annual Artisans Invitational Show being held in the old Zinc Restaurant in Ketchum’s Walnut Avenue Mall behind Topnotch Furnishings.
The show—with lots of tiny dogs who belong to the artists--continues from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today--Saturday, Aug. 3—and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 4.
Everything in the show is one-of-a-kind, said Cathryn Martinez, the jeweler from Colorado who took over the organization of the show from longtime Ketchum resident Janet Dunbar last year.
“It’s all one-of-a-kind artists from all over the country,” she said.
Casey Horn, a popular artisan from past shows, is back with his bronze and stainless steel calligraphy-based sculptures, all of which tell a story. One, dubbed “Loyalty,” pays homage to the heart. And it is kinetic, balanced to move.
Jennah Litecky Yost is showing off copper pieces whose innate color has been brought out by blow torch. Yost guides the torch down the piece of copper, lets it cools and reheats it to the desired effect. She must, however, be careful not to overheat it or the copper will turn brown.
Boise watercolor artist Anne Watson Sorensen, meanwhile talks about the magic that is created when she combines two opposite colors together.
“It’s more powerful than one,” said Sorensen, whose portfolio includes brightly colored flowers, abstract brushstrokes representing such things as joy and landscapes featuring castle turrets and aspen.