Rising Stars: Meet Emily Rosewitz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Rosewitz.

Hi Emily, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started knitting as a child, about 5 or 6 years old. My family do living history and my mum needed my two sisters and me to sit still for a while, so she taught us how to cast on and told us not to stab each other. More than 20 years later I knit, crochet, sew, and do all manner of other fiber arts. She’s still the first one I go to when I need someone to bounce ideas off of, or talk through a design I’m having trouble with.

As a military family, we moved a lot. We were stationed in Germany the first time in 2004 when I was 10. The German culture, much like our own Potawatomi culture, has a great respect for the Earth and our place in it. Sustainability is a way of life in both cultures, and something that still resonates with me now as an adult. It became one of the three core tenets of Phoenix Rising Handcrafts, and is definitely the one I talk about the most. I take a lot of pride in using natural, locally sourced, and recycled materials in as many aspects of the business as possible. There’s a scrap box in the studio where all the little offcuts of yarn, fabric, and string go to become stuffing for pillows and decorative items so absolutely nothing goes to waste that doesn’t have to. My mother was the first one to donate yarn to the shop but I do gladly take donations of all sorts of fiber–yarn, fabric, clothes and linens too damaged for charity shops, etc–that people would otherwise be throwing away in an effort to divert them from landfills.

I’ve gone through a number of career attempts, from medicine to computer programming and networking to teaching ballet and gymnastics, but I’ve always been a creative person and always came back to those projects in my free time.

In my early twenties, between work and life, I started to draft patterns and sew custom historical garments for family and people I knew, but I found that it wasn’t really as appealing to me as I’d like anymore. Rather than making custom work, I’d really rather be an artist–working on whatever I like whenever I like. That’s when I started kicking around the idea for Phoenix Rising Handcrafts. It was more than five years before the idea actually became a reality.

A lot of factors in my life sort of coalesced at the same time in the spring of 2020. It became really obvious to me that even as the world was in this really bad place, it was the right time for me to take that idea of starting my own business that was dedicated to quality, handmade, sustainable art and make it a reality. On 1 September, 2020, Phoenix Rising Handcrafts was officially born.

I’m so proud of how much I’ve learned in the last year and how much the shop has been able to grown and get a foothold. We were able to go out to the Lake St. Louis Farmers and Artists Market more Saturdays than not. We started on Etsy, but were able to launch our own website in August. I’m even managing to learn how to navigate social media, which might actually have been my biggest challenge.

Through everything, my family has been amazing. Special thanks definitely need to go to Liz, my youngest sister, who has managed to craft so many things for the shop while also being a co-owner and chef in her own food truck. I definitely would not be here today without my family and all their help.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The biggest struggles I’ve run into have really been internal. I knew from a very young age what I wanted to do with my life: be a surgeon. In school, pretty much everything revolved around that goal. I’m a classic case of realising when I got to college that really wasn’t the path for me. I transitioned to working with computers, which I really enjoyed, but something was missing there too.

As a child, I started dancing at the age of 7 and continued taking ballet lessons until I was 25. I taught my first class in 2008, and really enjoyed it. Teaching dance and gymnastics became my primary source of income for about 8-9 years. I loved to dance, but it was always painful and around 2018 I realised that a lot of my physical issues were not normal, even for someone who had spent as much time in a dance studio as I had. In the last year, I’ve started using a cane as weakness and balance problems have increased. We are still investigating a diagnosis, but progress is being made.

Overall, realising that I couldn’t keep ignoring what my body was telling me pushed me towards finding a source of income that didn’t involve the physicality of teaching dance and gymnastics. It was still a few years after that point before Phoenix Rising Handcrafts came to fruition, and I do still have a day job, so to speak, but my biggest obstacle is and always has been myself in one way or another.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The bulk of the work in the shop right now is knitting and crochet. Those are definitely the things I’m most drawn to at the moment. As an artist I like to jump from project to project as inspiration strikes; you’ll always find at least seven projects at varying stages of completion in my studio. Actually, let’s be honest, there’s projects all over my house and probably one on my person or within arm’s reach at all times. Because of that, and the fact we use so many materials that just cannot be replaced, the vast majority of the work will be totally unique and not repeatable. The variety is something I really love!

We are probably best known for our line of sustainable housewares. The two most popular items are our crocheted soap bags and knitted cotton squares.

The soap bags are really nice because we make them in a lot of colours to suit any style. They solve a lot of the problems traditionally found with setting a bar of soap on your vanity or in a dish–so slimy–and double as a light exfoliator while using the soap.

The reusable cotton squares are one of my favourite items because they really highlight our commitment to keeping single-use items to a minimum. These squares are knitted from a super soft blend of cotton and linen in seasonal colours, and replace traditional cotton balls and rounds. They can be used for just about anything you’d ordinarily use the single-use item for except removing nail polish. Throughout their lifespan they’ll be saving you money and helping save the planet. At the end of their life, they can be added to your compost and should breakdown naturally.

There are also a number of more unique items–reusable, knitted coffee filters among them–and an entire line of crocheted and knitted garments and accessories for every season. Coming up in the spring I’m looking to add a selection of sewn garments and linens. My bead stash has also been beckoning me lately so there may be some items using traditional Potawatomi beading techniques in the near future.

I really work to incorporate the other two core tenets of Phoenix Rising Handcrafts into every item I create: quality and handmade.

Quality is incredibly important to me. If I’m not 100% happy with the quality of an item, or I doubt its ability to withstand frequent and repeated use, I will not put it up for sale until the problem has been corrected. I want everyone who makes a purchase from the shop to be confident in the longevity of their new handmade items.

Every item that is created and placed for sale in the shop is handmade using natural materials, and/or donated or recycled materials. I love to push the envelope of methodology and am always looking to learn new skills and ways to create my art, but I find I usually gravitate to the more traditional methods and add a design twist to let my creativity run.

How do you think about happiness?
Happiness, to me, is not so much something you are, but something to be found every day. I’m not going to say it’s a choice, because honestly, it’s not. There are times in life happiness seems beyond comprehension, and that’s okay; that’s human. Most of the time though, I try to find joy in everyday moments. In doing so I’m also able to be increasingly present in my everyday life and don’t “save” my happiness for special events or such things. It could be a really good cup of coffee, or a night at the theatre. It could be time with friends or family, or it could be suddenly realising I’ve tended a garden and actually had some successful harvest for the first time in my life! It could be my cat gracing me with his presence on my lap, or it could be realising I’m having a really good pain day.

Happiness to me is being self aware enough to recognise those moments and find a bit of calm and peace in them in an increasingly loud and chaotic world.

Contact Info:

• Email: phoenixrisinghandcrafts@gmail.com
• Website: www.phoenixrisinghandcrafts.com
• Instagram: @phoenixrisinghandcrafts
• Twitter: @phoenixrisinghc
• Other: www.etsy.com/shop/phoenixrisinghc