Berkley Art Bash Preview: Meet the Artist Who Turns Zippers into Quirky Creations

Heather Sennabaum of Goodrich says it was the “pure simplicity” of zippers that she fell in love with, leading her to turn a quirky passion into an expressive form of art.

The 35-year-old owner of Re-Zipit! will be showcased in the for the first time this year, offering her repurposed zipper accessories that she says are “bold yet basic, sophisticated and created for the courageous at heart.”

Below she explains how she came to be a connoisseur of zippers and what her work means.

Patch: How did your journey as an artist first begin?

Sennabaum: My artwork happened as an accident. I have always been "artsy" but have never been totally into art. While working as a therapist, treating substance abusing criminals, I realized that I needed a healthy stress release — a way to process all the negative energy that I had to deal with on a daily basis. This is where my art work allowed me to release all my negative energy through expressing my feelings and emotions in a positive way.

I was shopping in Macy's one day and stumbled upon a brooch that was made out of zippers. It was $40 and I didn't want to spend that amount of money on something I could create myself. After playing around with zippers for a couple weeks I decided to invest some money into vintage zippers on eBay. I found a lady that had 6,000 zippers in her basement that she had inherited from her grandmother who owned a sewing store for many years. The granddaughter had no use for the zippers for she did not even know how to sew.

The zippers arrived to my house in 25-pound boxes. At the time I remember thinking that I was crazy purchasing all these zippers without knowing if my investment would pay off in the long run. Little did I know that I would be purchasing many more zippers in the near future. This is how my love for zippers began!

Q: From where do you draw your inspiration?

A: I love being able to express myself without the use of words. I love dreaming up new ideas and putting them into action. My inspiration comes from the ability to redesign zippers from their traditional use. I am also inspired by recycling old products and transforming them into new functional hip items. 

Q: Walk us through the process of making one of your pieces.

A: The most difficult part of my design process is finding vintage zippers. I only use vintage zippers because they are cotton and all contain metal teeth. The metal in the teeth allow the designs to “pop.” The best places for me to find my zippers are either grandma's basement or estate sales.

Another great part about using vintage zippers is the cotton allows me to bleach out the colors I don’t like and then I re-dye them to bright vibrant colors. This allows for a variety of rainbow colors. When making my flowers I have to cut all the petals, swirl the center and then finish them off with a felt backing. It’s not difficult to make the flowers but creating flower designs has been challenging.

Q: What does being an artist mean to you?

A: Being an artist allows me to express myself while inspiring others. When selling one of my pieces I don’t want my customers to just walk away with an item, I want them to walk away with a story of inspiration.