Back in 2012, Julia and Liv came to work at Emily’s store through Community Integrated Services (CIS). You see, Julia has Down syndrome. CIS helps people with disabilities find jobs, and Liv was her job support coach at the time.
The three of us became friends right away.
Julia worked at Emily's store part-time for 7 years. We loved working together and when Julia needed a fulltime job, we didn't want it to end. We also knew Julia was capable of way more. So we decided to try something outside the box.
Liv’s background is in art, so we set up a studio in the store's basement and taught Julia how to silk-screen her patterns onto canvas.
Luckily, Emily can sew! She started turning our handprinted fabrics into fun tote bags, pillowcases, and other awesome items.
And we started selling them!
(We also danced. A lot.)
Now, Dance Happy Designs has a silkscreen print studio located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
We handcraft textile products with original hand-cut patterns, printed and sewn right here in small, limited runs.
With a focus on refined playfulness, the patterns have an organic and delightful nature to them — and our products speak volumes to the partnership behind them.
Each one of us contributes to the production of every item we sell, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.