Today we’d like to introduce you to Paige Davidson.
Paige, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I graduated with my BFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000, knowing that I wanted to paint full-time. My rent in Austin wasn’t allowing me to stay there and focus on painting, so I regrouped and moved into an old warehouse in my hometown of Gainesville to paint and put together a game plan. In 2003, I began opening my warehouse/studio/home up to the public for exhibitions of my paintings. Around that same time, I began selling the handbags my mom, sister and I had been designing and making from vintage textiles. It was just a side project that was intended to just give me a break from my easel but people started going crazy for them and Cahoots Handbags (as we called them) began becoming a predominant part of my studio practice and business.
I realized as traffic began to pick up and more strangers began to visit what was essentially my home, I needed to create a public space outside my warehouse, so I took over the lease of the building next door in 2007. The George Y. Bird building in downtown Gainesville was owned by Gainesville’s first mayor as a dry good store, became a grocery store in the 1910s, a feed store in the 20s, then my grandfather’s auto-part store in the 40s-70s. We gutted the building, took the remodeling from the later years back to the old historic bones of the interior and opened shop. The building has been home to my painting studio, handbag design studio, and our gallery/boutique for over a decade. As the years have gone on, I’ve continued to use the space to develop and feature different aspects of my own creative practice, such as ceramics and watercolor illustration, as well as to feature my talented and creative buddies who make all sorts of wonderful things.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I feel like the road has been pretty smooth, though a little winding and surprising. I have taken baby steps that have felt natural to me. If I had jumped immediately into having a store front, overhead, employees and a marketing team, there’s no way I’d have lasted more than a year. Because, I continue to do everything myself (with the exception of my sew-wizard mom) I have control and set the pace. My biggest love is painting and my biggest struggle in business is the fact that there aren’t enough hours in the day. I make about 70 percent of the product that is in the gallery, while also running the shop 6 days a week. Finding balance continues to be an issue for me because I truly, truly love working in the studio.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Paige Davidson Studio & Cahoots Handbags – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
The business is two-part: my art and Cahoots Handbags.
As a painter, I’m known most for my oil paintings of Airstream trailers, though, I’ve also been obsessed lately with plain air landscape painting in watercolor. The watercolor landscapes and the hand-illustrated watercolor card line I have developed over the last couple of years have really allowed me to loosen up and get faster and freer with my painting practice. The silliest of little watercolor cards, be they tater tots or a bowl of ramen noodles are really translating into some wonderful surprises in my more serious oil paintings. I also have filled up all “free time” with the practice of pottery over the last few years. It has been exciting to be able to merge elements of paint, color and design with something more 3-dimensional while really giving myself a good and satisfying challenge in my ceramics studio.
Part two is Cahoots Handbags, which is the line of bags and clutches I design from vintage textiles. I take mint-condition upholstery and drapery fabrics from the 1940s-1960s and turn them into functional pieces. The line is entirely made by the hands of myself and my mom. I do the design/cutting/prep and she sews. What sets us apart from others is the quality and stories behind our amazing fabrics and vintage buttons, the care that we take in making our line in tiny, limited-edition batches rather than outsourcing and mass-producing and the sentimental connection that our customers have with our line. Literally every day, I hear a customer talk about how a certain fabric reminds them of their grandmother’s couch and I feel like that is the best possible gift I could give them. Our customers often bring us heirloom textiles such as a grandmother’s wedding dress or father’s military uniform to create custom pieces. The ability to connect with people emotionally and build relationships over something that I make with my hands is what I am most proud of. In addition to that, I’m also very proud of my ability to shift from painting to drawing to design to shopkeep to potter to illustrator fluidly in the course of a week. It keeps the creative practice fun.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I’m currently working on our 2018 Spring Collection which will launch in our store at the end of March. The collection will introduce some 1960s auto upholsteries and some phenomenal, bright Ukrainian velvet tapestries. I’m also working on an exhibition inspired by a recent trip to the El Charco del Ingenio in San Miguel de Allende. The series will include large scale oil paintings, small oils and watercolors and ceramic landscape pieces. I’m also gearing up for our upcoming spring markets. You can come shop the new collection at the upcoming Dallas and Houston Flea Style markets!
Contact Info:
- Address: 205 South Commerce
Gainesville, TX 76240 - Website: www.paigedavidson.com www.cahootshandbags.com
- Instagram: @cahootshandbags
- Facebook: @cahootshandbags
- Twitter: @cahootshandbags
Image Credit:
Paige Davidson
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