A reintroduction

Who is Emily Katz anyway? A quick intro and intention for this space.

Photo by Light by Iris

Welcome friend. If you are wondering how you got here, let me reintroduce myself.

My name is Emily Katz, and I used to own Modern Macramé, an online craft supply and education outpost. For over 10 years, I taught people all around the world how to macramé. I am the author of Modern Macramé (Ten Speed Press), published in 2018.

I became an importer of high-quality pre-consumer recycled cotton cord and rope for fiber art projects and a supplier of these materials to artists and hobbyists everywhere. It was meaningful, and I traveled the world and met so many incredible people.

My team and I made large-scale installations in collaboration with interior designers, and my work is in the private collections of many across the globe. In 2024, I shuttered the brand, said goodbye to my incredibly beautiful studio, thanked my team, and let it all go.

But my story doesn’t begin or end there.

I always felt a kinship with a creative life. Raised by two healing gemstone legends, attending Waldorf school for most of my early education, and living abroad in Italy as a teenager, I knew my life wasn’t going to fit into a box. After returning from Italy in 2001, I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore, where I studied printmaking and painting. I also helped run a poetry club. I always loved poetry, and when I was a teenager I was part of a weekly poetry reading series in Portland.

I miss the days when a slow afternoon was spent drawing in a handmade journal and sketching notes, my hopes and dreams for the future. Now we are all so attached to our phones. I would gladly go back to that time before I had so much access to technology.

Photo of our home when I was working as an interior designer. The large painting on the wall is mine.

After I dropped out of art school at 19, I’ve dabbled in many creative pursuits. I have been a fashion designer who made it big in Japan with my whimsical freehand embroidered clothing line called Bonnie Heart Clyde. Then in 2006, I launched an eponymous label of sustainable women’s wear using hemp, organic cotton, and soy jersey. I sold my line at Fred Segal and Anthropologie, as well as loved small boutiques around the country. I attended tradeshows and forged relationships. All while molding and modeling the clay of my own identity. At a time in Portland’s fashion scene where local designers thrived by being inventive, elegant, boundary pushing, I was coming up as a young creative myself.

In 2008, when the economy crashed, my business took a hard hit. I had borrowed $3000 from a friend to finance a big order to Anthro, and they canceled the whole thing. I pleaded with them as a small brand; this was going to break me! And somehow, they agreed to take half of the order, which just covered my costs. But still, it was a hard time for my company. I was left broke and in debt, and I decided that bankruptcy was my best option.

So, I started over. I had been “Emily the Fashion Designer”. Now, who was I? I was 24 years old. I had just ended a pivotal 4-year relationship with a college sweetheart, and I moved into my own place for the first time ever.

I lived alone above a garage in inner NE Portland, it overlooked a huge and wild garden, and funny enough, it’s a few blocks from where I live now.

I needed a job and was lucky enough to have a friend who set me up at Clyde Common, a hip restaurant below the Ace Hotel in Portland. Both of these places no longer exist, but out of all the places I ever worked, I have maintained some of my most precious friendships from this time in my life. I also got into a whole lot of good trouble while working there, and have pages and pages I could write about those days…

I started there humbly as a novice, and continued to learn about what was important to me.

Community, Creativity, Travel. Design. Culture.

An incredible experience on our honeymoon in Bali, Indonesia.

These values still hold true now, more than 15 years later.

I nearly moved to LA for a lover, but met my future husband at a music festival and never left.

Though it all, Portland has remained my home; it’s the one thing that has been consistent. My interests have always been wide and expansive.

I worked as a private chef, as a Creative Director, and owned 3 boutiques. I wrote and recorded an album of indie folk music. I wrote fiction quietly on the side. I filmed 20+ videos for Modern Macramé. I helped launch companies. I grew my business’s Instagram to over 300,000 organically.

In 2012, I was in a car accident, and that is when I learned macramé from my mom. It’s another story, but an important marker in time. Around that time, my Instagram blew up, from 3000 to 30,000 in less than 2 weeks. I started doing interior design and working as a content creator for large and small brands.

On the heels of Modern Macramé closing, I had a big conundrum. I was locked into a lease for a shop on N Williams. We had moved the headquarters there and kept our shipping department separate, and I had been idealistic. I was 6 months pregnant when I signed the lease. It had always been a dream of mine to have a shop, and this one was within walking distance of my house. But the storefront didn’t succeed; it was mid-pandemic, and I took a 6-month maternity leave when my daughter arrived. My heart wasn’t all the way in.

So, I had a problem to solve. It’s one of my favorite challenges! I tried to sublease it to a few folks, even gave away my idea of opening a consignment shop in the space. But in the end, no one bit, and I had to figure out how to pay the rent.

I invited a local fashion designer to join me as a partner, and we started Circle Round. It began as mostly a women’s consignment shop with a section for little kids, too. As a new parent, I needed a space like this. And it worked. The business was profitable in less than 6 months. However, the relationship with my business partner wasn’t working out. We had very different communication styles, and in the end, I suggested that we come to an agreement that one of us exit. It was clumsy and heartbreaking, and I still have tender feelings about how it went down, but I knew in my gut and heart that something needed to shift.

Circle Round in the early day

She bought me out, and I let it go.

It’s not only in my life; I know many who are in the process of letting go of identity, of how we label and see ourselves. Bravely evolving every day.

Does my story end here? Not a chance. I am learning who I am as a mother to my nearly 4-year-old daughter. I am learning the new shape and contours of my 43-year-old body.

Who am I now? I was known as “Emily who does macramé” for so many years, but that label started to feel tight. It was pinching me and squeezing me into a form I didn’t love. Like the jeans we saved from our past that we believe will fit again. But I needed to get rid of those constraints and trust that something more expansive and meaningful is coming. I put so much of myself into my work over the years that at some point, I forgot who I am inside. The power I feel when I get quiet. The 20+ years of exploration and evolution I have experienced as a creative entrepreneur.

If you are still here, reading along, thank you for taking the time. There are so many things to hold our attention these days, so I truly appreciate it.

My intention for this Substack is multifold, just as I am a multidimensional creative being. I plan to document and share my business journeys, stories of motherhood, and relationships. Art and Craft. Recipes, travel itineraries. Maybe I will share brands I love, or tips for styling and decorating. Maybe I should focus on one thing, but hey, that has never been my strong suit, though I am great with helping others get clear… Maybe I will make videos with my daughter. Sell vintage silver treasures…

Because what we DO does not make us who we are.

I am a mother, a lover, a friend. A curator, a musician, a lover of food. An artist, a crafter, a visionary. I am a manifestor and a dreamer. I am a daughter, a sister. I am many things that I don’t even know yet. Why would I ever limit what is possible? Why would you?

My work these days is ever evolving, too, but mostly I am working as a business and creative coach. In the private sessions I hold, I offer a mix of life, business, and somatic strategy to help you find direction and clarity. I pull from my 20+ years in business and the creative world to share my knowledge and support people on their journey.

It’s a true honor to do so. You can book a free intro call with me if you are interested in learning more about the work I do here.

Thank you for your time and for reading along. If you ever want to cancel and stop getting this newsletter, there is a place at the bottom of each email where you can click to cancel.

If you are loving this, or have felt inspired by me and want to pay it forward, you can also join as a paid supporter. There will always be extra perks for those of you who are paying, so stay tuned. I am grateful to you!

With love and respect,

Emily

PS. I want to hear from you about what you would like to learn or see or explore along with me. Leave a comment below with one thing that has recently delighted you, and something you would like to see me share here.