ABOUT E
Eriginals Design Studio was started in 2008 by Elizabeth Callanta as an avenue for Elizabeth to express her endless creativity and provide homemade, original products for every personality and taste. Eriginals is subdivided into three distinct labels; Swanky Place (Retro-Wear for Everyday Living), Escentual Elements (It's time to feel good again!) and The Green Being (All Natural, Certified Organically Grown Fiber Products), each with their own identity.
Early retirement left a void in Elizabeth’s life that needed to be filled, but living in a RV with her husband and two neurotic dogs has its limitations. So what was Elizabeth to do?
In 2007, Elizabeth and her husband decided to retire by January of 2008, selling their Bay Area home and traveling in their fifth wheel. Plans didn’t go accordingly and instead of selling the Bay Area home, Elizabeth and her husband found a tenant while they began their new fifth wheel lifestyle.
“I looked at it as a golden opportunity to do all those things we wanted,” Elizabeth said. “Here we were, in our fifth wheel, loving life while being weighted down with this unnecessary expense.”
The new tenant allowed Elizabeth and her husband and the two dogs, to continue with their aspirations for a lifestyle change, but they needed to generate extra income.
“So, what could I do that was productive, inexpensive, did not take up too much space, and did not interfere with our lifestyle?” Elizabeth said. “And voila, Eriginals was born.”
Elizabeth was taught to sew when she was about 10-years-old – embroidery, needlepoint, crewelwork – by her grandmother. After her grandmother passed away, she inherited her grandmother’s embroidery box and incomplete patterns. It took a “home ec” class for Elizabeth to hurdle her fear of sewing and learn the basics. After struggling to make her first cheerleading uniform she took a leave of absence from sewing until her children were born.
“It was a lot less expensive to make their clothes than buy them,” Elizabeth said. “But that was 30 years ago. Things have come a long way since then and it has become a lot cheaper to buy pre-made items.”
After Elizabeth’s children left the house, she began redecorating her home.
“I knew exactly what I wanted,” Elizabeth said. “I could imagine the room complete, but could never find the perfect item required to complete the space. The problem was with textiles. I never found the right things and eventually gave up. Then after lamenting over my desire for completion, I said ‘ hey I’ll just make it myself. So I did.”
Elizabeth converted all the pre-made items she had bought and into what she wanted and needed. She recovered her dining room chairs seat covers with shower curtains, turned drapes into a padded headboard and made drapes out of table cloths. Thus Elizabeth found a resource for never ending creativity.
“Everything we come into contact with is inspiration even if we do not see it at the time,” Elizabeth said. “But, the fact still remains that it comes from what we love and what we are drawn to. If we are lucky, we gravitate towards and work at these things we love. For me it is color, patterns and textures in any form from any place. I see it and my mind runs amuck with ideas.”
Elizabeth and Eriginals focuses on quality as well as functionality. Eriginal’s products are a direct reflection of Elizabeth’s personality which dictates the creation guidelines.
“My brain is resourceful, analytical, creative and imaginative,” Elizabeth said. “And it runs a mach 24-7. The result is fun, yet functional products that are perfectly constructed – nice, neat and tidy.”
Elizabeth has been sewing for a number of years, but stepped foot into the Craft Show circuit in 2008.
“It’s so much fun to see the people who visit my booth after they have had a chance to look around,” Elizabeth said. They become downright giddy. They have so much fun and it’s so rewarding that they notice my work and appreciate the time involved. They love what I do as much as I do.”
Sewing and needlework has become a lost art, but through craft shows and her work she inspires people to slow down and return to the “good ol’ days”, according to Elizabeth.
“The cost of living forces so many folks to work outside the home. Time has become a commodity that must be prioritized. As a result, our time constraints are relieved by modern conveniences and domesticity takes on a new definition. Today, making something from ‘scratch’ is synonymous with just add water. It is sad, but it cannot be avoided. My daughter does not own an iron, my daughter-in-law uses disposable diapers and my granddaughter believes Duncan Hines is required to bake cupcakes. So as people come into the booth – My Store as I like to call it – they reminisce about the good ol’ days. About how they would love to have the time to sew, the stacks of fabric they have sitting on a shelf somewhere, the apron their grandma wore and the way things ‘use to be.’ Or, they speak as though an apron is a new discovery…what a great way to go green. Funny huh? Either way, talking and visiting with these folks are my true inspiration. To hear people say that I have inspired them to slow down and get back to simpler times is a beautiful thing.”
As a result of a lifestyle change, passion for color, textures and patterns, and a mind running a muck, Eriginal’s Design Studio was born as an all encompassing umbrella of ideas – a little something for every personality.
