Etsy Seller Profile: Stephanie Sadler

Photo by Christina Owen

Check Stephanie out. Girl has not one, but TWO Etsy shops! She sells Jewlery and Handbags from a Village in Colombia at Made in Mogotes and she sells her original photography at Photo Larks.

Travel Photography: Scooter and Graffiti, London England

Travel Photography: Amsterdam Red Light District Sign

Nora: Tell me about your shops. What inspired you? What do you sell? When did you start?

Stephanie: I have two shops on Etsy, Made in Mogotes and Photo Larks. Both were started in the last few months so I'm very new to this! Photography has been a hobby for a while now. It started when I was living in London (I'm originally from New York) and discovered the street art scene around the east end. A lot of my work there is inspired by urban life, but also features a few pieces from rural Colombia which is where I've lived the last six months and what inspired my other shop, Made in Mogotes. While I was in the village, I met a load of really talented women who were making these incredible bags by hand. The bags are made from a plant called fique (from the pineapple family). The women live an hour drive through the Andes mountains from the next town, don't speak English and have little access to internet. Their talents were just being stowed in closets in their homes. So I set up this business to help promote their work abroad. I also took a class on making crafts from guadua (like bamboo) while I was there and taught myself to make jewelry from it.

Nora: What is your favorite dessert?
Oh, that's so difficult...I suppose I will go with chocolate sheet cake! Until I was about 22, I thought it was called "sheep cake"...      

Chocolate Sheet Cake

No sheep were harmed in the making of the image to the left.

Nora: What is your favorite thing about Etsy? 

Stripped Handbag with Leather Handles from Columbia

Stephanie: Discovering so many brilliantly creative people!


Nora: Where does your inspiration come from?
Stephanie: I love vibrant colors, gritty urban art, street photographers like Pete Zelewski and Graham F Kerr. Travel magazines and different cultures inspire me. And I try to surround myself with creative people. Their vibe usually rubs off on me.

Nora: Are there any important ideas behind your work that you would like to share? 

Sailorette Bag

Stephanie: My photography is mostly just for fun, but the Made in Mogotes shop is about supporting these women who have such talents and creative minds but no outlet to share their work. They live in a village where hot water and internet are luxuries and some of them live up in the mountains in shacks farming chickens and mules and cows as their livelihood. The idea is to share their talents abroad and hopefully if it grows into something more powerful, it will eventually allow them to live more comfortably.

Nora: Tell me whatever else you would like 

Diagonal Brights Bag

readers to know about you and your shop!
Stephanie: My name is Steph. I'm 27. I'm a traveler and a wanderer and I love to seek out the beauty in other people and the little things in life that inspire me. Hopefully that shines through in my Etsy shops. Thanks for having me on your lovely blog!

Red Stripped Earrings from the Travel texture Series

Please go and check out Stephanie's amazing work! I can't help but fall in love with this gritty Marilyn Monroe photography of hers. Oh sweet St.Marilyn, you are the best. 

Street Art Photography. Marilyn Monroe. London, England