Welcome!

I am so glad you popped by to check out what we’re all about here at Maple & Orange. I am Melinda, creator, designer and maker - Adam here is my partner in love, life, and artwork (and he is a damn fine first hand assistant). Maple & Orange was conceptualized back in 2016 when Adam and I were brainstorming the idea of packing up and moving away from our fast-paced lives in Los Angeles. We weren’t exactly sure where we would end up at that point, but we knew we wanted to slow things down and have more time to spend together, more time to find peace with nature, and more time for me to create my own artwork. We finally settled on his hometown of Carthage, Missouri, hauled ourselves halfway across the country, spent many months renovating his childhood home, and now in a blink nearly three years have gone by and here we are.

The name Maple & Orange was created by taking the names of trees that best represent where the two of us came from…our roots. Adam is from Carthage, where the Maple tree is so important that there is a huge annual week-long festival named after it. As for myself, I grew up in South Florida, where our blood is at least 30% orange juice, so that was an obvious choice.

My artistic nature was instilled in me as a child by my two grandmothers. My Grandmother Kay taught me how to needlepoint, latch hook, and crochet. My Grandmother Helen, was a wonderful portrait artist and my first painting teacher. She was the one who coached me through my college entry portfolio of costume renderings when I decided that a BFA in Costume Construction and Design was the path I wanted to pursue. From there, my art shifted further into the world of textiles as I spent the next eleven years backstage and underground in different costume shops around the country. Throughout the years, I have mixed and blended the many different crafts and art mediums into my personal work, but until recently, I didn’t have the time for pursuing much of my own work.

With the love, support and assistance from my amazing partner, I am now full time in the Maple & Orange studio. I get to create every single day and I feel so lucky for that opportunity. Our little space here in this vast online world is not just a shop, but a place to share our exploration of life and craft with all of you. I have a brain full of big ideas and plans, some of which will come to light and some that will sit and stew in my brain for years to come until the timing is right. I want to share with you our ups & downs and all of the projects in between.  We are all on an exploration of life, and the more we share with each other, the more we can help each other figure it all out.  

 As always, sending you all love & light.