An announcement... of sorts.

Hellooo! You’re about to read a messy telling of my new chapter.

So, I’m boldly, crazily, naively(pick your own adverb) attempting to exit my previous work life by finally using all my skills to their full potential— by starting
Pebble Stories!
I didn’t feel “ready” for the longest time, and even now, my confidence fluctuates heavily. I’m an artist stuffed with a lot of college knowledge, a lot of self-learned skills, and 7 years of applying said skills for money(so I’ll be fine? I’ll be fine).

Why now?
For years, I worked on different jobs trying to find ‘the one’ that fits. After design school, film school and a year in filmmaking, I rediscovered my long lost love for drawing and became an illustrator. That path took me to freelance work, digital products, graphic design and UI/UX. Money was quite good, but if I wanted the good money I had to steer away from illustrations and deeper into the world of UI/UX, and that seemed boring. Simultaneously, during the pandemic I learned how to crochet. My entire world of work and entertainment was confined to the laptop screen, so crochet became the colourful, offline escape. I made many things— sling bags, scarves… a giant single person blanket.
To ensure I remain a hardcore illustrator, I moved on to making prints and patterns for apparel for a famous brand— my proudest self-taught career shift until now. At this place I learned just how fulfilling it is to see people wearing my art. Fashion had never been the plan. It was always in the background while figuring things out at design school but… no, fashion had never been a real option. But after a mountain of struggle and a whole lot of learning on the job, something clicked very strongly, and I knew that’s what I wanted forever.

But then… I got tired. Extremely tired of long hours, long commute, skipping meals, compromising on food, compromising on health, fun and socializing. Seven years of this exhaustion slowly built up and suddenly it was all I talked about. Escape is all I dreamt about.
My new life started with a career break where I rewired how my days looked. And then eventually I cut the break short because I’m anxious and impatient. But I didn’t end it before making some major changes. I’ve been cooking more and eating healthily—not just on weekends. My past self would be proud that I now eat elaborate, homemade meals.

Another major change is that I’ve finally accepted I want to do multiple things, and not just for money. As side projects or passion projects, I always wanted to write more, publish my own illustrated children’s books, make and sell handmade products at markets. Basically, I very regularly fantasized about escaping because as an artist I don’t want to be confined to a single expression of my art. I want to make crochet sweaters, scarves, plushies, tapestries, and I want people to wear my art again.

My anxiety about “doing nothing” made me start an Instagram page for Pebble Stories on 18th June. (So maybe that’ll be the anniversary because that was also the day one of my work life, seven years ago. Full circle, full circle!).
I’m trying not to take it too seriously yet, just posting some of my work process, making sure the work doesn’t suck the fun out.

So that’s what Pebble Stories is for! :D
There’s no story behind the name. I was taking too long to find a name, so husband forced me to pick something, anything, on my solo trip. The trip was in Manali and there were beautiful pebbles by the river, that’s it. ‘Stories’ because I don’t intend to stick to one type of thing for the brand. It’s all very new for me, so I’m starting small, with only a few crochet products that’ll be up for pre-order soon!

What kind of products, you ask?
The plan started with scrunchies, plushies, purses and tote bags but I randomly got a few custom orders for rakhis and friendship bands and that made me love the process of making smaller products. I love making things that get done quickly, so now I want to sell earrings too. :P. I had bought a beautiful chunky yarn to make a purse, which turned into a trial for a rug and that turned into a chunky cardigan. I made the cardigan thinking it’s “just for myself” but now… AH, I LOVE how it turned out! I want to sell that too!
So if you visit the website once it’s ready, after some weeks, you’ll see all sorts of random products disconnected from one another in the typical sense. The only connection would be me and the fact that on one day I sat out to make one thing, and I moved on to a second thing and eventually made a fifth, totally different thing. I’m hoping to be able to sell all five things, hehe.

What’s the plan, going ahead?
As much as I’d love to stick to just crochet, that’s not scalable all by myself. Also, I do miss drawing. So, in some months, after I’ve gathered some more confidence, you’ll also see my illustrations on other products! :D

I have researched, planned and obsessed over all the boring but necessary logistics, so I guess a big thanks is owed to my anxiety. My past self would be proud that I don’t imagine escaping anymore. This hasn’t even started yet but things are already falling into place in my head :).

That’s it! That’s my first post about this new chapter!
I’ll write more about it going forward. :)

Thank you for reading! :)