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Iveth-Morales_portrait

 

We talk to Iveth Morales, the talented artist behind The Angry Weather about her roots, the importance of a creative community and her beautiful new Heat wave collection.

First, a little bit of history: Mexico born Iveth Morales moved to Canada when her boyfriend was offered a job there. The two got married and are living happily in Montreal with their daughter Amelia.

Already making bead and wire jewelry while living in Mexico, Iveth finally found her true medium during the metalsmithing classes at the Visual Arts Centre in Montreal. She was so impressed with the snow storms and dramatic changes of the seasons in Canada, that she started focussing on weather related jewelry and decided to name her shop The Angry weather.

 

Heatwave_1

 

For your Heat wave collection, you’ve made an amazing look book in collaboration with other talented artists. How did you all meet and why did you decide to work together on this?

The Heatwave look book was a colab between people I admire a lot like photographer Sarah St-Gelais and clothing designer Zoe Girard, among others. I’ve been lucky to have met them at craft shows or through other friends and when I wanted to create the look book for my new collection I immediately thought of them and luckily for me, they were super happy to jump in!

I think collaboration is one of the most powerful tools we have as creative people and when things align and you get to work with those you admire, it’s a magical thing.

 

Heatwave_2

 

Most people think of Mexican art as bold and brightly coloured. Your work is very minimalist. Do you feel that your Mexican heritage shines through in your work?

I feel it does because my heritage is a big part of how I see things but I know it doesn’t particularly represents that bold and colourful part of Mexico we are used to perceive.

What I think my work captures from my Mexican roots is the love I have for the land, the people and the stories. Everything I do is filled with hints of those things: A mountain, a raindrop, a house, all those images are memories from back home.

 

mountain-necklace

And with my new collection, I feel it captures a little more of the boldness of Mexican aesthetics. But I do like to give hints, even when some of my jewelry is so figurative!

 

Iveth-Morales_lilbronzehouse

 

You’re very active in the Etsy community and other communities, you also sell your work at craft fairs. Could you tell us what you’ve been up to and how all this has affected your life?

I firmly believe that getting involved with your community can give you lots of wonderful experiences, learning, friendships and growth! I love being part of a collective of local jewelers Les joailliers du dimanche to share resources, advice and friendships. Together we form a strong network of support and I have learned so much from them!

 

MADE_IN_CA

With Etsy I’ve been involved in teams almost as soon as I started using the platform but even more now that they have a office and a wonderful team in Canada because it feels closer to home. For the second year in a row me, the collective and the Montreal Etsy team are co-organizing the Montreal edition of Etsy: Made in Canada market, an initiative to promote and celebrate local makers and a way to bring Etsy out of the screen.

I enjoy so much to be part of the program and the sense of community with other Canadian makers. But I think what I enjoy the most is to learn about what can we accomplish when we work together and the sense of helping other makers grow by sharing my own experiences. Plus I absolutely love craft shows as a shopper, as a seller and now as organizer!

 

TheAngryWeather_studio

 

With your work becoming more succesfull, and working from your home studio, your life of course became more hectic. How do you balance that?

I wish I could say I’ve learnt how to balance all that but in all honesty, I totally not. Working at home and having a young kid makes daily life an adventure and while most things usually go according to plan, there are days when there’s so much going on that life appears to be a complete chaos.

So for me it’s about taking a day at a time and prioritize what’s most important, which is my family. Of course, that sometimes means long night shifts at the bench to be able to finish projects but then again, those quiet nights at the bench, listening to music are glorious.

 

the-angry-weather_studio

 

Are there any new developments in your work or anything in particular you would like to be working on?

Currently I’m re-working my “meteorite” collection, I’ll come up with a complete overhaul for them, I’m super excited! I don’t have a release date though, but maybe it’ll be out during the Fall.

 

TheAngryWeather-tools

 

What advice would you give to new (jewelry) makers?

Identify what makes what you do special, propose something with your work and work hard on it, always respecting the work of others. I guess this applies to any maker! Also, super important in this age of information: connect with other like-minded people, support your community and you’ll see yourself growing with it. And don’t be shy to put your work out there for the world to see!

 

TheAngryWeather_show-your-work

Les Joailliers du Dimanche! Marilie Jacob, Pilar Agueci, Louise Koo, Sabine Pouquet, The Angry Weather (Iveth’s husband at the table) and Catrie.

 

So… why is your blog called Mademoiselle Crankypants? (I had to ask)

Funny name isn’t it? That is what I used to call my daughter when she was a baby! You see, I started blogging there after my daughter was born, this is when I was taking metalsmith classes. So when the blog was born the jewelry business wasn’t even an idea, I just liked to make jewelry, you know? I used to write all about my daughter, my experiences as a new mom and a bit about the things I would find interesting or inspiring.

The content changed later as people became more interested in The Angry Weather and I felt the need to express that part of me. Also, I preferred to keep my personal life more and more to myself. But I miss that a bit so don’t be surprised if one day I return to my old antics there ;)

 

Mme-Crankypants

 

Is there anything you would like to add?

Thank you for giving me the space to talk a bit about me and my work!
(thanks so much for taking time to do this interview – on your holiday(!), Iveth!)

Iveth also generously provided a discount code for visual strands readers!
Simply use code VISUALSTRANDS2015 for 20% off everything in The Angry Weather shop.

Some credits:
The Angry Weather

Look book photos:
Photography: Sarah Emily St-Gelais
Make up: Sarah Ladouceur
Clothing: Zoe G Kocsis
Model: Katherine Bertehlot