Sometimes all you have to do is follow your heart and passion, and it will lead you to the place you want to be. It was a huge leap of faith for macramé maker, Tamar Samplonius, to quit high school to do what is loves, but it was a decision that led her to her destiny. And here’s the twist… from leaving school to start a wood making study, Tamar later chanced upon a new craft which later became the craft she was completely in love with – macramé. Tamar now sells her larger-than-life knotted pieces on her Etsy store, TamarThings and dreams to create more XXXXXL designs in the future. Read on to get inspired by her story.

1. Tell us more about your background and what led you to choosing macramé as a craft?
I’ve always loved creating things. As a kid, I was crafting with my mom as often as I could! This love has never stopped and when I went to high school, my favorite lessons were art classes, especially woodworking. These classes made me realize that what I loved most, was to work with my hands and create beautiful things. I decided to quit high school after 3 years and started a woodworking study. This was quite a big decision and everyone around me thought it was a shame because I was a quick learner in school. However, I wanted to follow my passion and thankfully my mom supported me in this decision I made!! During my woodmaking study, we got an assignment where we had to experiment with new materials and techniques. I chose macrame and haven’t stopped since!

2. What makes you a KOEL Kid?
That’s a tough question! I think that every artist has its own unique style and I love that. I think what sets me apart is my love for natural materials as well my ‘clean’ designs. I always strive for perfection and I think that shows through my work.

3. Share with us the creative process behind each of your projects.
I’ve got 2 actually! I create lots of different designs, but you can roughly categorise them into two groups – organic and geometric designs.

When I start with an organic design, I’ll just cut some rope and let the materials guide me. It’s really an intuitive process and the result is always surprising!

When I create a geometric design, it’s quite the opposite. I always start with a sketch and calculate the exact amount of rope I need for the project. After the rope is cut, I start knotting and hoping I cut the rope long enough haha, that part is always nerve wracking!

4. Pick one of your favourite designs and answer these quick questions.

The inspiration behind this design is… The inspiration behind this design was actually an earlier piece I made! In the summer, I created something similar to this, the only difference was the size and the fact that this first design looked awful! It was so bad that I unknotted the whole thing, and a new idea was born. Since then I’ve been perfecting this design and when I was finally happy with how it looked, I was ready to create a BIG one for the large empty wall we had. And I did!

The dream store in which I would like to stock this design is… It’s not really a specific store, but I would absolutely love it if a high end interior shop would stock this design!

Which celebrity house can you picture your design at… I can’t really think of any celebrity, but I would be stoked if an artist I admire would want to give my art a place in their home (that would probably need to be quite a large space though!)

If this design made it big, I would… Be so grateful! And I would just keep doing what I love (and maybe work a little harder to keep up 😉

If this design could talk, it would say… ‘I need to loose some weight!’

5. Great things take time, so how much has changed since you first started macramé and where do you see it in the next five years?
A lot has changed since I started macrame a little over a year ago. When I compare my first macrame wall hanging to what I create now, I have definitely came a long way. My work is so much cleaner!

In five years from now, I would love to have created more XXXXXL designs and maybe even installations! I love the challenges that these massive designs bring and the rewards when they’re finished are even bigger ♡

Photo credits: Tamar Samplonius