Rare Objects Design

Amy Sussman Heit - Artist's Biography:

Amy Sussman Heit  felt like she had come home again when she returned to fiber art after a 25 year career in magazine and newspaper publishing.

     "I've always loved to draw and paint, and learned from my mother to sew at a young age. I also en-joyed doing crewelwork embroidery; first from kits and then designing my own pieces. As a teenager I loved going to the fabric store with my friends to pick out patterns and material for making our own outfits. The best part was knowing that what we made would be one-of-a-kind, and that we wouldn't 'see ourselves coming and going' as they say.

     After attending Parsons School of Design in New York City, earning a BFA with honors in Illustration, I spent the next 25 years in magazine and news-paper publishing; earning numerous awards as a marketing and promotion Art Director and Creative Director.

     I started Rare Objects Design to bring together my earliest loves of sewing, painting, and embroidery to create wearable pieces that were unique, beautiful and beautifully made. Most of my work incorporates themes from nature, for which I have found a newly deepened appreciation since leaving the city. Whether enjoying the landscape and wildlife in my own backyard, or finding more exotic ones further afield, their uniqueness and beauty has become an endless source of inspiration for me."

Artist's Statement:

     "In creating these jackets and other pieces that incorporate fabric, leather, thread, paint, beads, and whatever else may wander in, I'm really creating a collage of colors, textures, shapes and sizes, with the hope that the  individual elements will 'sing' to each other and make a song together that's even more beautiful as a whole. Although I use sewing and embroidery machines for much of my work, the sensibility and aesthetic approach is exactly the same as when I worked with oil, but with a denim jacket or other fabric background as the canvas, The great fun, and challenge, for me is to listen to what the pieces are telling me, and to let them take me in a direction that I might not have originally thought to go in. 

     I want the woman who wears my work to feel that it expresses her own unique sensibility and style, makes her feel special, and is fun to wear!"