Meet our Video Hosts

I wanted to introduce some newbies to the Jaftex social media team. These personalities have started to take part in videos for several of the Jaftex social media channels. After being the only person in the videos for a while now, I thought it was time to get some others involved and for me to be a little, very little, less involved with the videos. These 3 people each bring a unique energy and take to the videos they are in. Without further ado, let me introduce you to Hannah, Mariah and Stephanie.

I’d like to introduce Hannah of Pencil & Ink Studios. She is a graphic designer, illustrator, writer and cartoonist who has been part of the Jaftex design family for many years. In college, she majored in linguistics, but spent much of her free time doodling. The doodles in the margins of her notebook led to original cartoons and comic strips. She challenged herself to create 1,000 original characters. In 2019, she published her first book featuring illustrations from this project. Her home is on Long Island and her art studio is in Manhattan. Though she attended school in upstate New York, she received her real art education from the museums, galleries and theaters in New York City. Hannah is a board member of the National Cartoonists Society as well as their Manhattan Chapter Chair.

Hannah’s passion for the arts is deeply rooted in her family’s love of handmade crafts. Her grandparents owned a knitting and needlepoint store in Brooklyn. Her mom taught her these skills along with quilting. As a lifelong Girl Scout, she has been taught to be bold, creative, innovative and to take risks. Hannah will be sharing her process in a series of behind-the-scenes videos. From concept to creation, Hannah will guide you! Let’s welcome Hannah!

Next up. Meet Mariah, one of our Jr. Stylists for Blank Quilting. She started working for Jaftex after graduation in June 2023. Mariah graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in textile/surface design and minors in art history and sustainability & ethics. She moved from her home state of Iowa to New York City in 2019 to be at the center of many design opportunities. Growing up, Mariah learned how to sew from her grandma and mom. Often they all would go to Debbie’s Quilt shop in Osage, IA to peruse the fun fabrics and enjoy tea. At Jaftex, she works on building quilt fabric collections, writing collection blurbs, writing blogs, and other design-related responsibilities. In her free time, she loves to create with a variety of mediums including watercolor, gouache, paper collage, embroidery, and more. Mariah hopes to inspire you to choose bold, colorful, and funky fabrics for your projects with the videos she hosts. Let’s welcome Mariah!

Say “hello” to Stephanie. She has been with Jaftex for almost a year now. Before working at Jaftex, she owned a quilt shop for 15 years. She also vended at quilt shows around the country and designed lines of quilt patterns and fabric. At other quilt companies, she held titles that included, Director of Merchandising, Product Development, National Sales Manager and VP of Sales. She has learned a ton from working with quilters and brings that knowledge into her work. At Jaftex, she works on collection development, sales marketing and she collaborates with the design and graphic teams. In the videos, she hopes to combine her perspectives of being a quilter and shop owner. She will share what she sees as being a highlight about a fabric, ideas about how to merchandise it and how to be successful with a collection in a shop or a quilt. Let’s welcome Stephanie!

Be sure to check out all the Jaftex social media pages and say “hi” to them as they present collections and share their knowledge with you all. I’m certainly looking forward to taking a small step away from every video and hearing some new perspectives. Take a look at the graphic below for the social media handles for each platform. Make sure you’re following them all so you can be in on all the fun!