Rising Stars: Meet Andrea St. Clair

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea St. Clair.

Hi Andrea, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always enjoyed making things. I’ve dabbled in painting, illustration, and photography, and professionally I’ve worked as a graphic and user experience designer. My first love, though, was ballet. Ballet was the first art form that I truly appreciated. It taught me discipline and that if you work hard enough, you can get pretty good at just about anything. Plus, I loved wearing tutus.

I didn’t start working with wood until 2017 when I was in grad school for Design. I helped open a fab lab at the school, and one of the machines we got was a laser cutter. It’s such a cool machine! I learned how to take what I was designing digitally and turn it into something three-dimensional. It sparked a new passion in me for woodworking (and a new addiction to tools.)

At the beginning of 2020, I officially launched blueberry studio. I make a lot of different things in my shop, but my main focus is designing and crafting handmade mirrors.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Has anyone’s road been smooth?

I was working as a design instructor, and I loved it. I got pregnant, but my employer didn’t offer maternity leave for my position. My husband and I decided that we’d use that “opportunity” to do something that I’d been wanting to do for a long time—focus on blueberry studio. Then the pandemic hit. I switched to teaching remotely, and I guess the perk was that I could grow a baby without having to change out of my sweatpants. I taught up until the day I went into labor, and that year I had a baby (lovingly known by the world as a “pandemic baby”) and launched a business, but without the childcare that we thought we’d have—thanks to Covid.

I do feel like one of the lucky ones, though. I have an incredibly supportive husband, family, and friend group. My baby was born healthy, and he’s all smiles and snuggles. I still managed to launch a business that is so creatively fulfilling, and my son gets to grow up in a home with parents who understand how important it is to nurture your passions. (I’m so excited to see what he’s going to be interested in!)

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The most basic tenant of the Bauhaus was that form follows function. As a designer who thrives on practicality, I hold this tenant close. But as an artist who admires form, I reject the notion that functionality is an object’s greatest purpose. Mirrors allow me to marry those thoughts so that form=function=form. With my mirrors, I want to give the viewer something beautiful to look at while showing them something even more beautiful—themselves.

I’m always thinking in layers and how those layers are going to be reflected in the mirror. I’m obsessed with the details, and I want to be proud of how it looks from every angle. Even the back.

I’m most proud of how my work has evolved in the last year. Even with a one-year-old at home, I managed to create a lot of work (usually between the hours of 9 pm-2 am). I took a few leaps with my execution, made some changes to my materials, learned some new techniques, and started making more intricate designs. I even did my first art show! Each piece is its own challenge, and I have a list of lessons learned from each one. In the middle of last year, I revamped everything and made the backs of my mirrors removable. It was major. Now you can pop the glass out and clean them so much more easily.

One of my favorite parts of this business is getting to create custom pieces for clients. I love it when someone comes to me with a vague idea, a word, a color, or just gives me total creative freedom and asks me to make something for them. It’s an honor for me to get to work on something so personal for someone.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Gosh…this is a very long list. From family and friends to teachers and clients—I have a huge network of supportive people in my life. But I wouldn’t have been able to start something so scary and new without my family in my corner. Thanks, y’all 🙂

Contact Info:

• Email: blueberry.studio.atx@gmail.com
• Website: https://blueberry.studio/
• Instagram: @blueberry.studio.atx
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blueberry.studio.atx