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It’s a given that the greatest joys in my life have been the arrivals of my sons Aedan (7) and Silas (4); but the delivery of the Polkadot Papoose line of baby slings has been a rewarding experience in its own right. Both my husband and I are transplanted “coastals” who found each other in the heartland, and with all due respect to my hometown Bay area, I have found that the striking seasons that come alive in Kansas City seem each year to bleed more and more into my craft concept. Here are a few of the questions I am asked most frequently:


Where does the inspiration come from for your slings?

There are really two sources: my experiences as a woman and as a mother, which in narrative form would fall somewhere between Charlotte Brontë and Sylvia Plath; and the unforgettable moments that make each life stage memorable. My husband and I will sit on a park bench sometimes while the children play, in the minutes just before a rippling, sticky dusk settles over the playground. Behind us, the clamor of cement belts at a nearby plant refuses to shrink with the fading light. It is in many ways an industrial, mechanistic backdrop, but in the midst of all of it a train of coal cars pulled by a candy-orange diesel comes around the bend, skipping briskly as a colt, and our sons run out to see it, and we realize again that all of life is magic in its own way. That’s the real secret to creative inspiration: finding the charm in everyday moments. Learn to do that, and you’ll never run out of ideas.