designer bio

 
Jodi Meadows, AKA Madame 7, is the founder and creative director of Gypsy Palace, a fashion house specializing in elegant reconstructed garments & jewelry. After studying illustration and jewelry design at Syracuse University, Jodi left her native New York in 1992 to seek her fortune as an artist in Seattle.                                                           



A long and twisting journey took her through restaurant work and various domestic jobs, bouts of voluntary joblessness in the name of art, squatting in warehouses and schoolbuses, the birth of two incredible indigo children, and the rollercoaster ride of falling in and out of love with brilliant and beautiful young men. Jodi eventually realized that at age 40, she was still an underground artist, and still barely able to support her children. Meanwhile, her spiritual path led her to embrace yoga, sacred music, dance, whole-body nutrition and tantra as the guiding forces of life...so to this day, this has kept her breathing and dancing, laughing, singing, making art and drinking smoothies even when the man comes to shut the electricity off.

Jodi started Gypsy Palace in 1998 as a simple website with the intention of hosting the creative talents of those in her immediate community network. Gypsy Palace operated as a modest retail boutique for about a year in downtown Seattle, where it developed a small cult following of the visionary designers represented. However, Jodi found that the demands of running a retail shop prevented her from being able to do what her heart was calling her to do: create with wild abandon. So when the building that housed Gypsy Palace was slated for demolition and the boutique had to close, Jodi took it as a sign that she was supposed to focus on her own work and try to bring that up   to a sustainable level before getting involved in representing other artists.


As of 2007, Jodi's mission has been to turn all of the junk and treasure she's been hoarding into art, and all the textiles, spare clothing, ribbons and trims into clothing, often mixing the two into spectacular couture jewelry. Jodi and her children (Sasha and Ruby) regularly create art objects and jewelry from these surplus materials (including stuff from the recycling bin).  The intention for this is to eventually turn it all into cash so they can all can travel the world and be free of owning so much crap--to return to the Gypsy lifestyle of her ancestors. In her 1000 square foot apartment, located on Seattle's Eastside, Jodi has a sewing room, a jewelry workshop that doubles as an electronic music studio, and a 2-D design area for collage, illustration and graphic design. The living room is a performance hall where she and her children do puppet shows and dance performances. The kids share a room to make space for all this creation, and Jodi puts up with not having a bathtub to continue living in a space that supports her creative path.     These are small sacrifices to make for a life that affords freedom of expression 24-7.


Somehow there is a way for this talented individual to make it in this world without having to waste her time working a minimum wage job. Not only is Jodi determined to find that way, she intends to forge a path for other immensely talented people to support themselves doing what they do best, and at the same time, change the world a little. Beyond fashion, Gypsy Palace is also a multi-media arts collaborative that will soon be producing artist documentaries and a magazine. Please visit gypsypalace.com to learn more about this mission. 

Jodi keeps a personal creative journal HERE to share her visions, inspirations, influences and creative epiphanies with the world.



 Designer Jodi Meadows adjusting the Mad Hatter costume on model Andrew Forrayi for the "Alice's Dark Mirror" photo shoot


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