Featured Seller: Old New House

oldnewhouse

Story by oldnewhouse

Published on Feb 20, 2012 in Shop

Photo by Oldnewhouse

Tell us about yourselves.
We are Melissa Lynn Friedman and David Dilmaghani: happy newlyweds, creative souls, appreciative beings and the collaborative minds behind Old New House.  We have a dog named Beasley and a cat named Olie who are quite the innovative animals. David’s ancestry is intensely rooted in handmade items, specifically Persian rugs. He has a deep respect and affinity for the artisan craft of hand-knotted and hand-woven carpets, both old and new. Melissa is a photographer and has a deep-seated interest in home design. She has been creating and enjoying objects of the past since she was a little girl.

Apart from creating, what do you do?

Melissa Lynn: My full-time job is being a wedding photographer and the owner of beIMAGED Photography, but that still counts as creating, I guess. When I am not photographing weddings or working on Old New House, I am most often watching movies, playing Scrabble and enjoying a good cup of coffee.

David: Have fun! I also co-founded an educational website and blog about rugs called Rug Rag.

What would be the title of your memoir? Why?
Melissa Lynn: One Hundred Notebooks, because that is probably the amount of notebooks that I have filled in with ideas, poems, scribbles and drawings ver the course of my life. These books would probably be the best compilation of my thoughts, my mind and my story.

David: Deliberation 101. Largely. Because.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Melissa Lynn: From the beauty and mystery of something old. I love trying to dream up a vintage item’s story. It’s why I find so much enjoyment in spending time with the old pieces that we are selling. With our handmade projects, Dave and I are consistently using something old to complement the new, and I can’t help but feel like something old can sometimes inspire the entire project.

David: Melissa. For me, the most effective and unceasing form of inspiration is that which transcends the tangible.

What does handmade mean to you?

Melissa Lynn: To me, it means that something went from concept to production on an intimate level. It means it is quality stuff that was made or updated with love, patience, care and time.

David: The intimacy of creation using our human senses.

Who has been most influential in your craft?
Melissa Lynn: Without hesitation, Dave. Beyond the passion and pursuit of photography, I had always wanted to create things with my hands. When I met Dave, I finally got the push that I always needed. His love for me and faith in my capabilities helped me to stop second-guessing my visions and my work.

David: Melissa.

When did you know you were an artist / maker?
Melissa Lynn: I would have labeled myself imaginative from the age of four, when I would emcee my own private radio shows on cassette, write countless short stories and create horror movies every weekend with my childhood best friend. I feel like the moment when I actually identified myself as being an artist did not come until much later in life. When I created my first photograph — composed and framed it with time and patience, released the shutter, developed the film, and finally made my first print – that was when I knew that the process of making something from start to finish was a part of who I was and always would be, no matter what it was that I was creating.

David: In first grade I had a pencil sharpener in the shape of a cheeseburger. After school I would often come home, unscrew the razor and carve the chair I was supposed to be doing homework in. The first time I forgot to reinstall the razor before school (and had a day of unsharpened pencils), I realized my passion was not to be in a chair, but creating. I gained an appreciation for the impression of hard-pressured writing with graphite on paper. It would remind me of the give and take in having a passion, and encouraged me to find alternate means in removing the wood encasement. My process today is similar, with exception of a preference for veggie burgers.

How would you describe your creative process?

Melissa Lynn: I move swiftly from idea to experimenting to final creation. Whether I am setting up a scene for photographs or physically creating something, I like to think up the idea and then dive right into making it happen.

David: Trial and error, being precise, sometimes not feeling finished, and then finally appreciating the imperfect handmade aspects of the results.

What handmade possession do you most cherish?
Melissa Lynn: When I was about 3 or 4, I had lost my blue-haired troll in a public place and I became very upset. My stepdad’s friend (an adult) drew up a “Missing Troll” sign and went around asking strangers if they had seen my little blue-haired friend. I cherish not only the moment, but also the handmade artwork that this guy created to help me get my troll back. And yes, I got it back. And yes, there was a reward.

David: A reading light that my father made for me 25 years ago.

Where would you like to be in ten years?

Just as happy as we are now, except doing arts and crafts projects with our future little ones and living in an old home filled to the brim with handmade and vintage goods!

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