custom clothing designed to be
a bit weird
a lot whimsical
just for you
what we do
our mission is to make our world happier, no matter how small of an increase in joy that may be through our work. we seek to achieve this through designing and producing garments that make people smile, gasp in surprise and delight, and feel their most authentic selves, but elevated. we work with clients who want their own pieces, for wearing themselves or for show. we also partner with organizations to make something beautiful for those who may especially benefit from this custom design experience.
why we do it
the poet toi derricotte once wrote, “joy is an act of resistance.” it’s a message that feels particularly poignant, powerful, and relevant in recent history. in a world that has felt like it’s been set on fire, among communities that have experienced so much pain, suffering, stress, disillusionment, and division, and in contending with increasing feelings of fear and helplessness - truly, any act of resistance that is accessible seems worthwhile, particularly if that resistance comes with more joy.
from this inspiration, big sheep designs was born. we humbly acknowledge that most of the problems facing our world right now are hardly solvable through custom clothing. but we’ll do something for someone and not let the limits of our impact stop us from making one more person feel seen and special. ultimately, we’re here simply to make people happy, one weird and whimsical design at a time.
i started tinkering with “making” clothes for my plushies and then for myself as a child because i was so mesmerized by the incredible gowns featured in my mother’s favorite movies. i wanted everyone to have such gowns and to feel so beautiful.
after years of working with commercial patterns, i realized that i was more often than not tweaking the designs in some way - not necessarily for a better fit, as i didn’t really understand proper fitting then. i was playing around with questions in my head of: what if we turned this piece upside down? what if we added another piece here or blew up this one dimension to three times its size? what if we “mixed” our own color of fabric by layering different sheers and nets in a certain order?
it was then that i got the confidence to not only put my own spin on designs to paper but also attempt to turn them into a reality. i’d be lying if i said that they were all successful; i’ll show you some of the failed experiments at some point.
these days i love both creating a new idea and “remixing” an existing design/pattern (with full credit to the original designer for getting me started on the idea). and i’d love to work with you on something that will make you feel happy and beautiful. let’s get started!
hi! i’m michelle
what’s in a name?
i’m happiest when people around me are happy. i feel in those times that we are bigger than the sum of our parts and that something amazing could happen at any moment.
i’ve been managing major depression and anxiety for many years, sometimes more successfully than other times. over the course of navigating those challenges, i’ve learned that the most durable strategy for me to find happiness is to invest in more happiness in others. the world then feels safer, more beautiful, and full of potential.
anyway, you may be wondering why the name “big sheep designs.” incorporated in our logo is the character 美 that means “beauty;” this character is also part of my korean name, and so is a small nod to my parents, who named me with a lot of love and the highest hopes. as it happens, 美 is comprised by “sheep” 羊 and “big” 大. when i explained this to a friend during our university days, their reaction was, “wait, you’re big sheep kim? how is that not your rapper name?” i haven’t been able to hear or say the words “big sheep” without a laugh ever since. in starting big sheep designs, i felt that a name that evokes a happy memory (in a slightly odd way) was a perfect representation of our mission statement. i hope that our name comes to have the same impact on you, through designs that may be odd but (I hope!) always delight.
last note - our “big sheep” mascot is named shubi zoryana. my dad would call me “shubi,” which is the japanese on reading of the characters in my name (it’s not the korean pronunciation but he thought it was cute). my dad is now in heaven so i don’t get to hear “shubi” these days. it felt fitting to pass the name on to our mascot to keep this memory alive. her surname “zoryana” was suggested by, and is in honor of, her ukraine-based artist (slava ukraini!). as a name with meanings of “starry” and “dawn,” it’s perfect for representing our journey of hope and new beginnings.
illustrations credited to anastasia soroka
