Brittany Williams is a stay-at-home mom and calligraphy artist in Firestone who fell in love with the art in high school, turned professional in 2014 when a friend asked for help at her wedding and now runs a shop, Calligraphie à la Brittany, on Etsy.
"I was that type of person that would deliberately change my handwriting. So, for instance, when I was in high school, if I were bored in a class, I would start practicing writing my Ses or Rs differently." Williams said, "And I would kind of play around with my handwriting. I loved note-taking in class, too, because I would try to write things in different ways. I'd make them look bold, or I'd underline things and just kind of play around with making my notes look artistic, and not just like words on the paper."
Around 2014, Williams' friend approached her about writing out her invitation envelopes which led her to explore more ways to contribute her calligraphy skills to the wedding scene.
"A friend of mine was getting married and approached me and said, you know, you have such nice handwriting. Would you be willing to write out all my envelopes for my invitations for my wedding? So I said, 'sure, you know, I'd be down to do that. I love handwriting.'" Williams added, "Since I was then doing it as a project, I thought, well, maybe I'll look into some other styles of handwriting that I can do. So I got a book on hand lettering, and I got some pens. And she was kind of like my experiment project. It pretty much took off from there."
Christina and Kelly Hoblin-Lamorena had Williams' work displayed throughout their wedding. They said they chose her because she's a versatile artist and can take anyone's vision and turn it into beautiful artwork.
"Her style is so unique, and she can put to paper any vision you could dream of! Therefore, it was a no-brainer to use her for our wedding artwork and calligraphy." Christina said, "her designs fit our aesthetic perfectly, as my wife and I had a lot of symbolism that we wanted to feature throughout our decor. Thanks to Brittany, we were able to create a cohesive design that helped explain the importance of the imagery and colors we had chosen."
Some of the ways the wedding scene helped Williams branch out from weddings and place cards is through things like chalkboard signs. She also added digital art as a quarantine project.
"Playing around with making signs for weddings and stuff got me into chalkboard art because sometimes people want to use chalkboard signs," she said. "So I got chalkboard pens and started to play around with doing that. I have one in my own house that I rotate every so often.” She also does some wood signs.
The Hoblin-Lamorena family said they weren't the only ones who took notice of Williams' style at their wedding. They said, "We had to stop counting the number of compliments we received on Brittany's work. We know of at least three families who framed their invitation envelopes because they loved the way their addresses had been written! Many also kept their place cards. We framed ours in a shadow box, and it sits with other Calligraphie à la Brittany pieces!"
When Williams couldn't go into stores to find materials due to the COVID-19 shutdowns, she looked for a different way to create her art.
Her husband encouraged her to try making digital art and sell it through Etsy where she now offers $5 digital downloads.
At "the end of last summer, I did my launch with digital stuff. I made a whole fall line of various fall-themed prints for people that they could print and put in a frame or hang up in their house," Williams said.
Williams enjoys focusing on the calligraphy more than adding ornamentation to her art.
"I tend not to do too many ornamentations because I don't want it to draw attention away from the letters themselves. So, I typically do ornamentation by playing around with different kinds of fonts and kind little flourishes on the letter. So, I'll alternate between cursive lettering and block lettering, or I'll pick a word or two that I want to stand out. I might make that one in a separate font from the other words, or I might make it bigger," Williams said.
