Jessica Long
HAVING RENAMED HER BUSINESS AFTER HERSELF, THE NAMASTE EMBROIDERY FOUNDER IS HUMBLY TAKING HER RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Lara Watson
mbroidery and yoga. It’s a pairing that, on the surface, might not immediately sit together. However, for Phoenix, Arizona-based Jessica Long, perhaps better known by her former business name, Namaste Embroidery, discovering the “moving meditations” of stitching and stretching provided her path to an artful career that has created a huge online community.
“I tried hot yoga in 2010 and fell in love,” says Jessica. “It’s opened my mind to how amazing the human body is and what we can accomplish with regular practise. ,ÚYH EHHQ DEOH WR JDLQ VR PXFK VWUHQJWK DQG H[LELOLW\ and I can do things today with my body and breath that I never thought I’d be able to do. Both yoga and hand embroidery have been great tools for me to practise being present in the moment,” says Jessica, who picked up a needle and thread following a 20-year hiatus, shortly after starting yoga when she was on maternity leave.
Having dabbled a bit with cross stitch as a child, the world took on a new pace once she became a mum, and she remembered what she calls the “repetition and UHOD[DWLRQ ZH GLVFRYHU LQ EHU DUWV (QWLUHO\ VHOI WDXJKW she credits embroidery with greater wellbeing. “Whether I’m stitching or practising yoga, my breaths get longer, my KHDUW UDWH GURSV P\ DQ[LHW\ GHFUHDVHV DQG P\ VHUHQLW\ goes through the roof,” says Jessica. “And I get to make art (with my body or my needles) along the way!”
Jessica’s initial embroidered yoga memes for yoga studios and students (“a very niche market!” she says) chimed with an ever-growing audience interested in FUDIWLQJ IRU PLQGIXOQHVV +HU RIIHULQJ KDV QRZ H[SDQGHG WR LQFOXGH FKDUPLQJ FRORXUIXO RUDO DQG DQLPDO SDWWHUQV nature-led kit designs, online tutorials and classes, supplies and jewellery, plus her signature double-hooped designs, a technique that creates unique embroidered wreaths. Now launching a new business name, Jessica Long (PEURLGHU\ VKH LV SURXGO\ SXWWLQJ KHUVHOI FHQWUH VWDJH
So what instigated the change from Namaste?
“The most common use of the word ‘namaste’ is simply ÙKHOORÚ RU ÙJUHHWLQJV WR \RXÚ H[SODLQV -HVVLFD Ü0DQ\ PRGHUQ yoga classes end with the word ‘namaste’ as a greeting with a bow of thanks, a way for students and teachers to acknowledge each other. I love that the greeting and bow are reciprocal – we learn from each other. I chose it as my business name originally as I feel the same way about my embroidery students and I aim to remain a student of embroidery, yoga, and life, forever. However, I was starting to feel that the business was outgrowing the name, especially as I began to learn more about the history of yoga. Some people have never heard of the word and assume it’s my name, that I’m based in India or that it’s an HPEURLGHU\ WHFKQLTXH ,Q DGGLWLRQ WKH GH QLWLRQ RI WKH word has evolved and become commercialised in the west. As a white person I want people to know that I love and appreciate yoga, but I do not want to appropriate it and so the uncomfortable work of changing my business name became necessary.”
,WÚV DQ H[FLWLQJ WLPH IRU WKH EUDQG -HVVLFD VD\V VKH QHYHU thought she’d ever be a business owner, and certainly
didn’t think she’d ever be able to make it as an DUWLVW 2ULJLQDOO\ KRSLQJ IRU D FDUHHU LQ VFLHQWL F illustration, Jessica ended up with a “more practical” bachelors degree in biology. “Since I was young – and I was an only child, so I spent a lot of time alone drawing and painting – I loved watercolours and pens and eventually found a love for oils,” she says. “I continued to paint and draw during my free time as I pursued a career in biotech, but I had given up any idea of being a professional artist of any kind. Life is full of surprises! I’m really grateful for the support of my family and my loyal customers for letting me live this dream.”
The turning point from painting to stitching came when Jessica realised she could turn her original illustrations into unique hand embroidered art – a more portable craft to enjoy alongside caring for a growing toddler. Since then, she says her growth as an artist and businesswoman have always come from similar leaps in approach, when she has started something new and been pushed her out of her comfort zone. Her robust approach to creative blocks, being a huge fan of “just sketching, making as many ugly drawings as necessary,” allowing herself to play with colour and texture, “like a kid with no rules,” ensures a steady RZ RI FUHDWLYH HQHUJ\ DQG D VHHPLQJO\ HQGOHVV well of inspiration. She draws from nature, through trips to the zoo or botanical gardens, art museums, galleries and library books, still loving the process of choosing a colour palette, the stitching itself and seeing her designs come to life. As both teacher and student, and with her mastery and playfulness, Jessica continues to approach a creative life the yogic way.
"00& 0 /01 ,,(
,/( ,,( -2 )&0%"! 6 +!) 2"/ &0 !2" #,/ /")" 0" &+ "-1"* "/ &0&1 www.jessica longembroidery.com 1, 0"" *,/" ,# "00& 0 !"0&$+0 +! 121,/& )0 +! !&0 ,3"/ %"/ " 21) ,+)&+" 01,/"