Emily is a happily married architectural designer and mother of cats and an African parrot. She emigrated from Taiwan was she was 14 and loves to experience life! She and her husband often travel outside the country and test different cuisines on the weekends. When she is not doing this, Emily can be found creating one thing or another.
Being an architectural designer is creative, to a point. There are compromises, regulations and the ever present budget issues. In order to feed her creative streak, Emily has dabbled in jewelry work, card making, spinning yarn and knitting; but the craft that sets her heart racing started when she found herself unsatisfied with the mass produced bath and body products that are on the market. A childhood friend introduced her to handmade soap and it was instant love. For Emily, it is a marriage between chemistry and art that is “not only good for our skin but also pleasing to the eyes and tickles the sense of smell.”
After learning her craft, Emily took the leap and began offering her work to the public and Shieh Design Studio was born. Each and every piece of usable art is made by hand in small batches. She loves to experiment with different combinations of oils and scents and even takes control and designs her own packaging. She also creates amazing body cream, whipped body butter, shampoo and conditioner, lip balm and even laundry powder! In the 4 years of creating handmade bath and body products, Emily has not bought commercial body products.
Emily loves it when a customer contacts her and compliments her products, but is also the first to admit that there are downsides to owning a handmade business. She is determined to maintain her quality and be consistent, and understands that it takes a long time to build a loyal following. Marketing takes time is the part of the job that she is not fond of. She encourages others that are considering selling their own handmade goods to follow their dream if it their true passion.
Are you ready to feast your eyes on some amazing works of soapy art? You can find Emily on Etsy and follow her work (or contact her for special order requests) on Facebook. If you want to get a bit more into this talented lady’s life, check out her blog!
Great Article! Loved learning how Emily evolved her many creative talents into one she now has a passion for – her lovely work of art “handmade” soaps. The colors and sculptures of her soap not only made them inviting to use, but look good enough to eat!
Definitely going to follow her work on Etsy. Congrats Emily!