“Just follow your path and there are some great opportunities out there for an artist.”
Kathy Phillips is the Creative Director for Springs Creatives and the Chief Curator at Baxter Mill Archive. She holds a degree in Costume Design in Theater and a Masters in Costume Designing.
About
Kathy Phillips was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but she has worked in the textile industry and lived in South Carolina since 1998.
Coming from an artistic family, Phillips was always encouraged by her mother to pursue something artistic. “I have a brother who’s an architect, another brother who’s a fine artist, a sister who’s an interior designer, and my father who’s a chief. We’re all very creative, but I love to sew, and I’ve been sewing all my life,” said Phillips.
In addition to her love of sewing, Phillips also harbored a passion for fashion and wanted to pursue a career in fashion design, but she found it difficult. “I felt like I didn’t fit in with the fashion design students, and so I wanted to try something different,” said Phillips. During that time, Phillips discovered and majored in costume design in theater and eventually received her Master’s in costume design.
Phillps worked in the costume design field for ten years in Connecticut, designing for Hartford Stage and Off-Off-Broadway until the fashion company Casual Corner, which had a job opening in textile design, found her. At the time, Phillips didn’t know what textile design was, so she learned on the job. Phillips later started working as a textile designer for the home industry, working with the Springs family of Springs Creatives. She created and designed textiles such as shower curtains, towels, rugs, and bedding.
As the Creative Director for Springs Creative, Phillips’s typical workday ranges from day to day. “Every day is a different day, every day, and that’s what I love about it,” said Phillips. Some of Phillip’s workload includes helping the trend forecasting company, Fashion Snoops, pull items for the company’s trend report. In addition, as the Chief Curator at Baxter Mill Archive, which has over one million pieces of antique archives from all over the world, Phillips invites retailers and designers from all over to use the space as a library of inspiration.
