We asked long-time May’s Place customer and muse Izzy Schinsky, creator of Aplomb Knits, to share some insights with us on her creative influences, aspirations and more in celebration of her upcoming pop-up at May’s Place this Saturday, August 7th.

Biggest Influence

My chosen land of solitude, dating back to my tween years, has always been classic films and old Hollywood - specifically the starlets of that time. Natalie Wood, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh—their elegance and confidence, combined with their emotiveness and deeply human lives, has forever inspired how I understand and present my own femininity and self.

At the same time, what enriches my life is pure, dirty, weird, spooky camp. Camp makes me believe in a future filled with something great and unexpected, something shocking and hilarious. The inside of my brain looks like if someone painted their body in all of the filthy, raunchy, campy movie reels, and slapped themselves all over a French-style, gold-trimmed wall. My knitting is born from this place inside my head. I gravitate towards bright colors and combinations that intrigue and awe, rather than soothe or blend in. When you wear one of my pieces, someone ought to stop you and ask you where you got it—I want them to turn heads! Simple elegance is appealing to me—but I do not do ordinary.

Business Beginnings

I launched Aplomb back in November, with immense help from my close friends. I had been knitting for some time and people had been suggesting I start selling my pieces, but I resist doing anything that doesn’t feel authentic to where I am at. Last year, my life changed course quite abruptly and dramatically, so when it came time to for me to rebuild, I felt that devoting myself to a creative pursuit was exactly what I needed.

The vision developed out of an innate need to express my creativity and redefine myself. From there, I sought help from my support system and just made it happen, in the most authentic way possible.

My style

When it comes to my personal style, and how I decorate my home and my life, I never settle for the usual or the practical. I surround myself with unique objects, things you can’t find anywhere else, things that belong only to me. I desire a certain degree of specialness in everything that takes up my space or adorns my body. That’s why I am so drawn to vintage pieces, because they are usually one-of-a-kind and infused with a particular vitality. I love imagining their past lives, the people that cherished them, and the days and nights they were a part of. For me, it’s all about the feeling something gives you when you put it on—like I am transforming into a character, or really an extension of myself. Nothing creates that sensation quite like a vintage piece.

Dream project

I recently acquired some silver charms that were hand-made by my Grandma, who is a very talented jeweler and artist. When I visited her to pick them up, she showed me her extensive jewelry collection, including a charm bracelet that she started when she was 16, and has continued to add to her whole life. I have some plans for the charms she gave me, but I have a vision to make something that incorporates more of her silver creations. Possibly a piece to commemorate the inherited love of jewelry and found objects that she, my mother and I all share.

Dream Collaborator

My dream collaborators are the people who commission pieces from me. There can be so many ideas cycling through my head at one time, of new possibilities I am eager to explore, but it isn’t until I connect with another person’s vision that I can really harness an idea and bring it to life. I started Aplomb by making commissioned pieces, and I fell in love with creating unique objects that celebrate those who hold them. The pieces I have made for others could never be duplicated, because they have become a part of their personal style blueprint, and that is the ultimate reward for me.

Currently working on...

Besides knitting, I am working on my second punch needle piece. The first one I made is a 2-foot circle, hanging on a wall in a friend’s apartment. With this second one, I plan to fasten it to a chair and incorporate some new elements and textures I haven’t played with before, such as beads, machine knitting, and perhaps some of my poetry. Unlike a hand-knit bag, there is not a clear final form I am working towards, so this is a fun experiment that allows me infuse my own emotions into it. Its completion is an unexpected journey, and I end up learning about myself in the process.