Today we’d like to introduce you to Samara Phillips.
Hi Samara, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My artistic journey began in high school when I had the opportunity to attend the Fine Arts Center during my senior year. There, I explored darkroom photography and metals, and for the first time discovered the joy of creating something with my own hands. Once I realized I could make beautiful, lasting objects, I was hooked.
I continued making jewelry as a hobby in my home studio for the next twenty years while raising my family and working at Bennett’s Frame & Art Gallery in Greenville, South Carolina. My time there taught me the craft of custom framing, but it also gave me something just as valuable: the chance to be surrounded by art every day. Even then, my dream was always to become a full-time artist.
As the years went by, my curiosity led me into new mediums. I experimented with acrylic painting, watercolor, mixed media collage, polymer clay, and eventually found my way back to stained glass.
Stained glass had actually entered my life much earlier. When I was about nineteen, my aunt, my sister, and I took a beginner’s stained glass class together in North Carolina. I enjoyed it, but my sister completely fell in love with the craft and became an incredibly talented stained glass artist. After she unexpectedly passed away in 2007, I inherited all of her glass, tools, and supplies. For more than a decade, those boxes sat untouched.
About twelve years later, I finally unpacked them and decided to give stained glass another chance. Just as I had with metals years before, I fell in love all over again.
In 2019, I submitted a collection of stained glass wind chimes to UncommonGoods and landed my first wholesale account. Around the same time, I opened a shop on Faire, an online wholesale marketplace that connects independent makers with retail shops across the country. That decision completely changed the trajectory of my business. It introduced my work to retailers who never would have discovered my little studio otherwise, and today my work can be found in hundreds of shops throughout the United States.
The biggest turning point came a few years later when I landed my dream wholesale client: Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas.
On a whim, I mailed samples of my mushroom plant stakes to Joanna Gaines and her sister Mikey, who owns Ferny’s Retro Plant Shop at the Silos. I had been inspired by Mikey’s story of opening her own plant shop on the Magnolia Network and thought my retro-inspired mushrooms would fit perfectly in her space.
To my complete surprise, a buyer contacted me to say that Mikey loved them. She also asked if I could design a collection of peace sign suncatchers and plant stakes. Soon after, I received my first order for 625 pieces.
It was equal parts exciting and terrifying, but more than anything, it felt like the confirmation I’d been waiting for after twenty-five years of dreaming. In 2023, I finally left my full-time job to devote myself entirely to Samara Designs Studio.
Today I spend my days creating nature-inspired stained glass art from my home studio in the Upstate, designing pieces that celebrate light, color, and the quiet beauty found in everyday moments. Looking back, it’s amazing how every step along the way, from metals to framing to those dusty boxes of stained glass, led me exactly where I was meant to be.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I would say that trying to make a living as an artist is anything but a smooth journey. When you discover your passion, but it isn’t the traditional path to a stable income, there are plenty of moments when you wonder if you’re making the right choice.
I genuinely loved my job at Bennett’s Frame & Art Gallery, and the people there became like family. But deep down, all I wanted was to be in my studio creating. It’s the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing on my mind before I go to sleep. Even while I’m finishing one order, my mind is already dreaming up the next idea.
Back in the early 2000s, I worked hard to build my jewelry business by selling on consignment in local shops, opening an Etsy shop, participating in juried art shows, and doing craft fairs. This was before social media became such an important part of running a handmade business, so getting noticed online felt nearly impossible. While I loved making jewelry, I wasn’t finding much success on the business side, and there were many times I seriously considered giving up.
One of the biggest surprises was realizing that making the art is only half the job. I also had to learn photography, pricing, bookkeeping, shipping, wholesale, websites, SEO, and social media marketing. Those skills didn’t come naturally to me, but I knew if I wanted to make a living doing what I loved, I had to learn them. There were also plenty of slow seasons and rejections along the way, and learning not to take those personally was one of the hardest lessons.
But every time I stepped away from creating, I realized just how much it was a part of who I am. It wasn’t simply a hobby. Creating art brings me joy, gives me purpose, and keeps me grounded. Balancing a full-time job, raising a family, and finding time for my studio wasn’t easy, but I learned that making art wasn’t optional for me. It was something I needed.
Looking back, I often say that art has saved me over and over again. Building a creative career has come with plenty of challenges, but every one of them has been worth it. I think persistence has been more important than talent. I just kept showing up, kept learning, and kept making the next piece, trusting that one day all those small steps would lead somewhere. Thankfully, they did.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Over the past four years, I’ve focused exclusively on stained glass, and I can honestly say I’ve found the medium I was meant to work in. Once I began designing nature-inspired collections, my business really started to grow.
Today I’m best known for my stained glass botanical sculptures, floral arrangements, plant stakes, birds, butterflies, and other pieces inspired by the natural world. I love choosing plants that are not only beautiful but also rich in symbolism. Whether it’s an olive branch representing peace, a butterfly symbolizing transformation, or a gingko leaf representing resilience, I enjoy creating artwork that helps people connect with a memory, a feeling, or someone they love. To me, that’s what art is really about. It’s about creating connection.
One thing that makes stained glass so magical is that it isn’t complete until the light shines through it. I love watching sunlight transform a piece throughout the day, filling a room with colorful reflections that become part of the artwork itself.
While botanicals remain the heart of my collection, I also create suncatchers, sculptural panels, and have recently begun exploring mirrors and lighting. Lately I’ve been especially drawn to functional art, designing pieces that are both beautiful and useful. I’m excited to continue expanding into planters, terrariums, vases, and other home décor that allows people to surround themselves with art in their everyday lives.
What I’m most proud of isn’t one particular piece, but the fact that I built a creative career doing something I genuinely love. Knowing that something I made by hand becomes part of someone’s home, or is given as a meaningful gift to celebrate a wedding, remember a loved one, or mark a special milestone, is the greatest compliment I could receive.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was lucky enough to have a wonderful childhood with supportive parents, an older sister, and a cousin who was the same age as me and felt more like another sister. We grew up in the 1980s, so we spent most of our days outside riding bikes, roller skating, climbing trees, and exploring the neighborhood until the streetlights came on. I lived in a mill village until fifth grade, and I loved the close-knit community and having so many neighborhood kids to play with.
I’ve always loved animals, especially cats, along with music, books, and making things with my hands. My mom was always coming up with craft projects for us, and looking back, I think that’s where my creativity really began to grow.
Personality-wise, I was probably equal parts stubborn, silly, and the teacher’s pet. I loved elementary school and genuinely enjoyed learning. As a teenager, though, my interests shifted toward music, movies, books, and spending time with friends. Once I was old enough, concerts became my favorite adventure. Between the ages of fifteen and twenty, I probably went to more concerts than most people do in a lifetime.
One of my favorite memories was taking a two-week road trip with friends in 1995 to follow the Grateful Dead on their East Coast summer tour. Looking back, some of our adventures were probably a little reckless, but they gave me stories I’ll never forget.
I think one thing has stayed consistent throughout my life: once I decide I want to do something, I’m all in. Whether it was learning a new art form, traveling to a concert, or building a creative business from the ground up, I’ve always been determined to follow my curiosity wherever it leads.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.samaradesignsstudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samaradesignsstudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samaradesignsstudio
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/samaradesignsstudio/
