Erika Pitera is the editor-in-chief of
IndieSpotting - a website that offers a fun, new way to discover handmade, indie finds.
Tell me a little about yourself and what you do personally.
I'm 22 years old and graduated from college last May with a degree in journalism. My husband of two years and I live in Orlando with our two dachshunds and three cats. I attended college to become a pro musician - I play classical piano and violin - but I wound up pursuing writing as a profession. I've freelanced as a reporter, but I quickly found out that news media isn't really for me. As soon as I started blogging, I knew I had found the perfect application for my writing experience. I decided to pursue what interested me (shopping and cooking) and found my niche. I love "discovering" cool new products and giving them the attention I feel they deserve!
What led you to the creation of IndieSpotting?
I'm a very visual person and enjoy looking at great photography, and I know how passionate handmade artisans are about their work. I wanted to come up with some way to combine the two - a gallery of "eye candy" for people who support handmade artists and small businesses. I knew it would be too time-consuming to find all the photos myself, so I decided to open it up to the public and let anyone submit their "indie finds."
Your logo for IndieSpotting is adorable. What made you choose an owl as your "official spokesperson?"
I'm going to reveal my true inner geek here: I'm fascinated by typography. I literally spent days looking for just the right font to convey the "look" I was going for. I came up with the name for IndieSpotting first, and while thinking about the typography, I wanted the logo to play off the O in "Spotting." An owl immediately came to mind at that point. Owls seem to be pretty popular now, and once I started working on the logo, I fell in love with the idea. So much so that I gave the owl a bunch of little friends to hang out around the rest of IndieSpotting.
Do you keep an ongoing database of all indie finds you've ever featured?
The site is fairly new, but every indie find is indeed archived. You can use the navigation at the bottom of each page to browse back to the very first items ever posted or click on the different categories in the sidebar. I may implement monthly archives at some point, but right now everything is organized chronologically and by category.
Is there a secret formula to who gets featured on IndieSpotting? And how can artists submit their own products?
Nope, no secret formula - just great photos. My husband is a product photographer, and I've spent a lot of time analyzing what makes a good product photo. It's a completely different concept from fine art photography. Shopping online is unique in that you don't get to touch or feel the products before you purchase them, so the photos have to work overtime to replace those other sensory experiences for potential customers. If you've got a clear, color-balanced and properly exposed photo of your product, then you've most likely found a home at IndieSpotting!
I've come up with what I hope is a painless way for artists to submit their own products:
a simple online form where they can attach a photo and tell me a little about the item.
IndieSpotting seems like a fun way to help other artists get their work out there without having to make an investment. This obviously shows your dedication to handmade artisans. Why do you think it's important to support handmade?
I know how tough it is to run a small business. It kills me to see small businesses suffer at the hands of giant manufacturers and big box retailers. Handmade embraces all the best principles of doing business, and buying handmade also keeps money in our economy - not overseas. I want to believe that in the end, quality and service will outweigh the lure of heavy discounts and mass-produced junk.
I noticed you also have a main website called My Shopping Connections for which IndieSpotting is actually an extension of. What types of features can one expect to find on My Shopping Connection?
MyShoppingConnection is like a one-stop portal for people who like to shop. I write articles, such as gift-giving tips, as well as interviews with artists and designers in our
Designer Spotlight. With ShoppingByMail, I try to feature a new product each day. These don't have to be handmade - just available from cool online shops. I also post one new Editors' Pick each week, which is reserved for items I've seen or tried and really like. MyAreaShopper is the portion of the site dedicated to local shopping. It's where I hope to list brick-and-mortar specialty stores, art galleries, boutiques and gift shops around the U.S. A lot of areas don't have any stores listed yet because MyAreaShopper is new, but I'm working hard to find store owners who want to participate.
Do you have any crafty endeavors yourself other than your websites? If so, what do you make and what are your favorite materials to work with?
Well, I can't draw or sew or crochet or knit...and I've had numerous meltdowns with a glue gun, so I guess it's safe to say I'm not very crafty. Of course, music has always been a creative outlet for me. However, I also love to cook, so I suppose food is my favorite material! My mom is a fantastic cook, and apparently the cooking gene was passed down to me - at least my husband thinks so. She and I get together every weekend and make dinner for the family. We work on a food and recipe blog together, as well, called MyGourmetConnection.com. It's fun to come up with new recipes and photograph them to share with other "foodies." Personally, I'm partial to making Asian food, especially Vietnamese and Thai, because I love working with fresh ingredients like cilantro and lime.
Where are some of your personal favorite places to shop handmade online?
I can get lost in
Etsy shops for hours on end, but then again, that's part of what I do. However, I really love some of the shops over at
1000 Markets, too. I'm a big browser, and the format at 1000 Markets makes me feel like I'm strolling through an open air market.
Share one thing about yourself that most people don't know.
I'm a huge Joss Whedon fan. I get funny looks when I tell people how much I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the show, not the movie), so I usually keep that little tidbit to myself nowadays. I would be thrilled to see anything Joss writes on Broadway because I'm also a huge Broadway nut.
How would you describe yourself in five words?
Compassionate, creative, witty, responsible, sensitive.
(2 votes)
