Meet Long Mountain Art

This week we take a close up look at Long Mountain Art with thoughts from owner and creator Brittaini.

Hi there! I'm Brittaini from Long Mountain Art and I make Eco Friendly Apparel for children and babies. I live with my wonderful man Aaron in Columbus, Ohio with our son Santiago, 7 and our daughter Adelina, 1. I have been in this current business for about 3 years now. I've been teaching high school art going on 9 years now and I would love my business to be my full time job. Getting there!

I originally started selling my ceramic wear when I first started out doing shows and what not. That got to be too much for me to handle, now its just a hobby. I kind of fell into the silk screening business when I had my first child. First of all I didn't find out what I was having so that it made it very difficult to get things ready for the new baby. Gender neutral has kind of, sadly, gone out the door with today's technology. After I had my son, I was pretty annoyed with everything that I was finding. All the designs were too boring or cutesy. My family is a little rough around the edges...sometimes we play to the left. I wanted clothing that represented my son's personality and polka dotted blue trucks were not going to do it.

It has also been very important to me to live as naturally as possible. Organic fibers and materials that leave as little a carbon footprint as possible had to be the focus of my line. It's pretty appaling to realize the amount of chemicals that are in our regular cotton as well as the chemicals that are used in plasticine inks. Thus was born Long Mountain which is the meaning of my son's last name, Montelongo.

My favorite thing I have made so far is my "Respect Your Mama" onesie and tee. It has a double meaning and I came up with it when my son was having a 'not so nice' moment towards me. It's a great shirt that can be worn by either sex and any age.

Etsy has been interesting. It's been pretty up and down but a good learning experience. I have had my online shop for a few years now and after taking a year off to have our daughter, I have the motivation to put more into it than ever before. It's a lot of work but very worth it if it means I may one day be able to stay home with my kids while putting out a product I am proud of artistically and morally.

My advice to fellow Etsians is keep up the communication and community. That has been my biggest folly for my business and me personally. Being part of the online communities has helped me gain confidence and get out of my shell and the more I put into it, the better my business and my life is. It really is a priceless commodity.

I hope to be able to add a different perspective from an apparel point of view to the Natural Kids group. There is a lot of nasty things that go on with the manufacturing of our clothing and I think its important to be conscious of that. Also, being an art teacher, I know the great importance of creative play, especially with natural toys. Recently I went to an in-service about just this topic. There have been published studies done on the decline of our I.Q. scores and how the lack of creative play has really contributed to that. Technology is starting to rule our world and we need to take it back and give something to our children that not only is proven to make them smarter but gives them critical thinking skills and creative problem solving that will help them holistically in all areas of their lives even in adulthood. We really need to do better for our kids as a society and leave them a real legacy that has a positive impact on us all.

http://longmountainart.etsy.com