Former fashion designer Sigrid Olsen makes Rockport her home and well-being her mission.
North Shore designer and artist Sigrid Olsen, known for her nature-inspired prints, has gone from creating fashion trends to cultivating wellness. A graduate of Montserrat College of Art, Olsen began her textile-printing career in the early 1980s at her Beverly Farms home, using intricately carved potatoes as printing blocks.
Her first apparel line debuted in 1986 and, in 1999, Liz Claiborne Inc., bought not only Olsen’s designs, but also the rights to her name. Then, in 2008, when the corporation streamlined their brands, they eliminated Olsen’s company. Jobless for the first time in 25 years, the artist was shocked and saddened, but also free to seek out a new adventure.
Olsen says she and her husband, Curtis, decided to go to a place they loved, Isla Mujeres in Mexico, where they were married.
“We packed up and went to Mexico, and I spent a few weeks doing meditation, yoga, walking on the beach, and painting. I realized during that process that there was a great correlation between creativity and well-being,” she explains.
The area where they stayed hosts many yoga retreats, and Olsen’s husband suggested that she run a creative retreat of her own. Out of that trip the Sigrid Olsen Creative Wellness Retreat was born.
“What I do is show people that just a little bit of yoga and a little meditation will get you to slow down and find the quiet space inside that promotes creativity,” she says. “I do art workshops every day…it’s not just [about] learning art techniques, but using art to tap into your more authentic, creative self.”
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Olsen hosts several retreats a year in Tuscany, Provence, and Mexico as well as in Rockport, where she opened the Isla Beach House gallery on Rocky Neck. Olsen divides her time between Rockport and Sarasota, Florida, the location of her second gallery and shop. Both galleries feature a selection of cards, pottery, prints, and apparel from other designers.
“I can’t live very far away from water or a natural setting for long,” says Olsen. “I’ve lived all over Cape Ann, in Rockport and Folly Cove, but when I moved to Rocky Neck, I took one step into the house and fell in love with it. It’s full of light and has a beautiful view of the harbor, so I had nature all around me yet I was [part of] a community. There’s something real and raw in Rocky Neck, and being surrounded by artists makes it that much better.”
Olsen notes that the benefits of her retreats have a lot in common with the effects of her former clothing line. “I feel like my fashion allowed people to wear clothes that were flattering. I [brought] style to real women of all shapes, sizes, and ages. My first priority was to make them feel good when they came out of the dressing room,” she explains.
“So, interestingly enough, these retreats spurred me to give women the same feel-good experience, but without selling them the clothes.”
Now, at the age of 60, and in what she calls the third act of her life, Olsen is making the combination of wellness and creativity quite fashionable. sigridolsenart.com