It's Friday, and I'm in Love with Mixed Tapes

A question people inevitably ask me at some point is, What Inspires You? and while there are a million ways to answer this, the common thread throughout all my projects, no matter if it's ready-to-wear, conceptual art, design, even cooking, is MUSIC. Music can instantly change your mood, give you a burst of energy, get you out of your head back on track. Needless to say, if I can help it, music is always on when I'm in the studio. Heck, my lips series, Under The Killing Moon was fully inspired by music, so much so that I created a Under the Killing Moon playlist to listen to while I was making it. Hence, by osmosis the titles of the necklaces are songs.

On that note, nothing soothes the spirit and soul musically more than a great Mixed Tape. 

Yep, I said it, an actual cassette mix tape, that dinosaur relic most of us can't even listen to anymore. Talk about Craft - hours gone into handmade, personalized cover art, thematic ties among songs, and importance of song order. They really are time capsules of an experience in a specific time and place. And when we're gifted them (or give them), they embody all that we felt at that time too.

the mix that imprinted my musical tastes for years to come, encapsulating a summer at Chicago Institute of Art


Perhaps it was the recent birthday of my musically-forward, teenage niece, mixed with craving some inspirational tunes in the studio, that led me to bring out of the darkness the few treasured mixed tapes I saved from high school and college (if only I had saved more, in hindsight). Now, thanks to digitized libraries such as my Google Play account, I've been able to revive these beloved mixes, and with them, access a bit of that inner giddy teenager that we all have lurking in the shadows. 

Friday Playlist 08/30/2013 Minna Gillgan,&nbsp;rookiemag

Friday Playlist 08/30/2013 Minna Gillgan, rookiemag

Lo, and behold, poking around for more mixes, I stumbled upon a weekly curated mix by rookiemag that comes out every Friday, just in time for your weekend dance party (even if your dance party is mostly in your head as you work at the bench or computer)! Sure, Rookie is a teen mag, but it's smartly directed and appealing to post-teens as well, plus the music is a widespread mix of all sorts of genres, new, retro, classics, obscure. Mostly there is a sense of humor and carefree nature that the mixes exude - who couldn't use more of that in their lives?

Because I knew you were dying to see the playlist for my ePower mix, circa 1994...