Personalized Wedding Gifts
When my closest friends have gotten married, I've always given them custom gifts. I've chosen create pillows that the new couples can share together in their home, often made with special materials. I try to express the couples' personalities and aesthetics in each design.
Mina and Jason Ash
When I came across this fabric that I've used for the main part of the pillow, it instantly reminded me of my friend Mina. A talented watercolor painter, she's always combined beautiful colors in organic compositions that verge on abstraction.
I let this fabric dictate the color palette for the pillow-- the peachy pinks showing off Mina's girly side, the golds referencing her Persian heritage, and the deep blues incorporating her husband Jason's penchant for dark colors.
Sophie Lynford and Isaac Jabola-Carolus
Having known Sophie since childhood, I was excited to find in my stash a striped purple fabric I'd used to make her a purse back in middle school. Using this as a starting point, I assembled a rich composition of purple velvets, felt, silks, and cottons, punctuated with a bright pop of orange.
The jewel tones echo the color palette of the gorgeous chuppa under which the couple was married, and pay homage to the beautiful bold purple suit that Isaac wore happily down the aisle.
See how this pillow was made in the video at the bottom of this page!
Elizabeth Joy Wong and Johnny Chu
I've had the pleasure of living with Joy Wong for two years, and sharing studio space for three, as we went through the Pratt Industrial Design program together. During those years, I became very aware of her love of muted, relaxing tones, geometric shapes, and sensitive pencil drawings and watercolor paintings. I hoped to combine those elements in this pillow made of ivory Thai silk, torn and sewn into vertical stripes to form delicate raw edges. I'm happy to report that the pillow fits seamlessly into Joy and Johnny's serene and relaxing home in Austin, TX.
How-to Video
Check out my process for making the pillow for Sophie and Isaac, and learn some tips on how to make a custom gift of your own in the video below. This video was created specifically for a feature in The New York Times Weddings section about homemade gifts!