Show Pins is my second collaboration with under the title of my previous blog “Cavalcade”. Cavalcade for Tara Kiwi 2013: Gaits of the Horse was wildly popular last year. I was excited to have the opportunity to work with Tara again this year on our second collaboration. , a bold and graphic collage of jewelry designs inspired by vintage and antique horse show pins, has already been a hit since its debut in February.

Below is an excerpt from an interview I did with Tara in March to celebrate the debut of this new design:

Before we get into the Q&A I wanted to explain how Cavalcade for Tara Kiwi came about.

Basically I always knew I wanted to do a collaboration but didn’t know with whom and wanted the connection to be “organic”. I knew I would meet the right person eventually so I just shelved the idea for later. It was only after I started working with Danielle through Cavalcade that I realized she may be the ideal candidate. I emailed her the Gaits of the Horse concept and well you know the rest is EQ fashion history!

Who have you collaborated with and what motivates you to collaborate?

Teaming up with you last spring to create “Gaits of the Horse” (the first Cavalcade for Tara Kiwi design) was the first time I collaborated professionally with another company. I hope to work with other small businesses in the future because the entire process is really inspiring. I love sharing ideas and gaining insight into the vision and aesthetic tastes held by fellow business owners, artists and designers.

“Show Pins”, easy or hard to translate on fabric?

The concept of the “Show Pins” design was more difficult to translate into artwork that would work well on fabric than “Gaits of the Horse”. Each of the pins used as inspiration for the design had different textures, levels of detail and overall styles, so finding an illustration style that would unite all three pins was the first challenge.

Once an overall look was decided on, small tweaks to the design were all that was needed in order to make it look great on fabric. I am so happy with the way it turned out!

View the rest of the interview on Tara Kiwi’s blog:

Find more information about this gorgeous new equestrian inspired shirt here:

- Danielle