Entry No. 1: BUTTERFLIES // The Inspiration Behind the Collection

As a child, I lived near the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Every spring, we’d visit the Lena Meijer Topical Conservatory — an enclosed tropical garden teeming with butterflies from around the world. If you’ve ever stepped inside one, you know the feeling: the warm, humid air, the lush greenery, the sense of being transported to a jungle paradise — only this one is free from the elements we tend to avoid. No rain, no snow, no snakes or biting bugs. Just a dreamlike sanctuary where bright-winged creatures float past your face like living confetti. It felt like the descriptions one hears of the Garden of Eden.

Above photo: Unfortunately, I have never actually held a Blue Morpho. This is courtesy of Pixabay.

I was always drawn to the Blue Morphos, chasing glimpses of their shimmering wings before they disappeared into the foliage. One would vanish — and just as quickly, another would appear. Each one stirred something in me: a sense of awe, of possibility, of wonder.

The kind of beauty that makes you want to make something beautiful in return. Like a tiny spark of creativity lit up inside you. Like each fluttering passerby is a quiet reminder that you, too, were made to do great things.

That’s the feeling I carried into this collection. And it’s the feeling I hope finds you when you wear it.

Because if something as small as a butterfly can stir that kind of wonder… just imagine what you can do.

Wild Regards,

Kate