Today we’d like to introduce you to Adia Jamille.
Adia, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Growing up my mother was an avid quilter and sewer; often making my clothing for me. She tried to teach me how to sew, but I was always more interested in how the fabric came to be, rather than the sewing. This wasn’t something that I would understand until I went to college. After my eldest son was born I decided to return to college and attended Arizona State University. When I started I was an interior design major. I had previously attended a junior college for two years and had several credits under my belt. So to keep a full schedule I filled my extra hours with a variety of art classes. Among those was a fibers course. I didn’t understand what the class was going to be, but it sounded fun, so I signed up. In that class, I learned about dyes, cyanotype, indigo, felting, and more. I was hooked. After my first year of interior design, I switched my major to fibers. While attending ASU I learned all the things I never knew I wanted to learn. My favorites being embroidery (which is my primary art form as a fiber artist), screen printing, and weaving. After graduation I was grateful that I was armed with an arsenal of skills, I decided that I would give entrepreneurship a go.
After graduation, my family and I briefly moved to Philadelphia where I began my textile business. Shortly after however, we experienced a familiar hardship as I experienced a difficult pregnancy and infant loss. After that, we moved back to Arizona, where I started working at my son’s school as he was starting kindergarten at this point. Before the year was over; however, I quit to pursue my textile company again. Shortly after my husband was in an accident while riding his bike. During this time I was able to supplement a little bit of his income with my textile business. I was primarily creating yardage for a fashion designer while this was happening. Eventually, we moved to Tucson, where I started a part time job with the library. After about a year I was tired of doing my textiles part time and decided to pursue it full time. Since then I’ve been working to keep the shop fresh with new items and creating customs pieces for my customers.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It definitely has not been an easy road. Nearly every time I’ve committed myself to pursue this business full time our family has had some sort of crisis. First was the passing of our middle son. Then the accident my husband was in. Since his accident, in 2014, he’s had a series of complications and surgeries that kept me from being able to focus fully on my business. This last year was the first time that I’ve been able to commit the way I’d like, and even then that was hindered a bit because we recently had another baby. But since the moment she came into the world I’ve been busy, busy busy, and super inspired. I am super grateful that I’ve had this business throughout all our trials though because even though I wasn’t able to devote as much time and energy to it as I anticipated when I started, I’ve been able to provide for my family. In the end, I was able to prove to myself just how committed I am to making this become what I envisioned it becoming when I started.
Please tell us about your business.
I do a variety of things. In a nutshell, I create a carefully curated collection of textiles and goods. I make goods for the home; kitchen towels, cloth napkins, table runners, etc. I make goods for babies; blankets, burp cloths, onesies, etc. I make wearable items; silk scarves, handbags, and recently started making clothing items.
The thing that makes me most proud of my company is that every single item is made with my two hands. I draw all my prints by hand. I screenprint, dye, paint, weave, and/or sew all the items with my two hands. Even the colors I use, I mix every color by hand. I also think that’s what sets me apart. There are lots of people who sell similar items as me, but often they get things commercially printed or manufactured. There’s nothing wrong with that. I just find a lot of joy in the fact that when I ship a package out, I know that I did it all with my own two hands. I guess it makes me feel like I’m continuing the legacy of my mother, even if I’m not a quilter. And that is just really special to me.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
The plan was always that I would work a 9-5 to fund my pursuits. Then one day I’d quit, and create my studio exactly how I wanted. Life had other plans, and I think that’s ok because I learned a great lesson. And that is that you start where you are, and build from there. It taught me how to accept failure, and how to keep moving forward despite it. In the end, I don’t think I would have done much different because all the hiccups came from outside forces and not from my lack of effort. So I find comfort in that. The only thing I would like to change is my fear of imperfection, which often left me with a feeling afraid to move forward. Although I suppose that fear is what keeps me working so hard to make sure I put out quality products.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.adiajamille.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamilletextiles
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamilletextiles
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