Check Out Elicia Castaldi’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elicia Castaldi.

Hi Elicia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory. 
I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, in a very lively Italian American home. I’m grateful that my parents fostered my creative talents from a young age. I was always an artist, there was never any question of that. I attended an arts-focused high school and later graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, a world-renowned art school that happened to be right in my backyard. Shortly after graduating, I moved to New York City to chase my dreams full force. There, I worked as a fashion art director and went on to illustrate several books with major publishers, including one that I both wrote and illustrated. During those exciting times, I met the man of my dreams, David. After nearly a decade in my beloved New York, David and I got engaged, and then, bam! — he received a major job promotion, but it was in Los Angeles. The joke is that I went kicking and screaming. Shifting cityscapes was difficult, but LA eventually stole my heart! This geographical shakeup provided some clarity on my next career move. I had been feeling restless in my career as a children’s book author/illustrator. I felt very stuck. After reading the powerful book The War of Art, I received an inner message that I just needed to paint. Paint anything! Keep painting. After several months, I began to see a product line emerging, so I just ran with it, and started writing all the little one-liners that had been in my head forever. It clicked because I was being authentically me. I named my brand Girl w/ Knife as a nod to my tool of choice (the X-acto blade) and my late grandfather’s knife company. In 2018, I debuted at the National Stationery Show in New York City with around 125 products, and the brand instantly took off. Since that moment, I’ve expanded into home décor with a full line of candles, pillows, and art prints, and I’m now stocked in thousands of retail stores across the USA and globally. My incredible team operates out of our warehouse/offices in Palm Springs, located near one of my homes. In addition to my role as Creative Director of Girl w/ Knife, it has spun into a branded real estate portfolio, with Knife/House Palm Springs being the first of several concept homes that I designed and developed. These properties serve as the perfect muses for my home décor pieces while symbiotically acting as whimsical showrooms. In 2022, I launched Knife/House Design, offering interior design and home remodeling services. We’ve just settled into our newly completed renovation, Knife/House Bel Air, our third renovation in beautiful Bel Air. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Being an artist is never going to be a smooth road. I think the point is to get messy and wander down different avenues — it’s a spiritual journey. With that, some of the unexpected struggles are balancing the titles of artist and entrepreneur. The artist in me can easily grind day and night in relentless pursuit of my vision. I handle every creative detail of Girl w/ Knife and probably always will. I’m not only illustrating and developing products, but I’m art directing photo shoots, retouching images, tweaking my website, creating catalogs and newsletters, overseeing manufacturing, creating content, being the face of my brand and on and on. Though it’s intense, it’s where my talents converge. This is just the air that I breathe. But then I step into entrepreneur mode, and I’m attending trade shows, engaging with retail and wholesale customers, having staff meetings, cutting checks, and making financial decisions. It’s a challenge balancing both the creative and business demands, all while maintaining a social life, too. Another piece of the puzzle is personally overseeing manufacturing of every piece in my line. Everything is made in the USA and locally so that I can manage every aspect of production. I’m constantly learning and growing; I’ve had to navigate through a sea of manufacturers along the way to find the best of the best. I expect perfection because I’ve spared no expense. It’s the same scenario in my real estate development projects. As the designer, I handle every creative aspect. I’m drawing mock-ups, sourcing all of the materials such as paint, tile, stone, plumbing, and lighting fixtures, and running point with over a dozen different trades. Overall, my biggest challenge is learning to relinquish control and putting my trust in other people to execute my vision. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My illustration work has always been some form of collage, but my technique has evolved over the years. It started out with the traditional method of gluing down paper and magazine clippings, then later jumped to a digital version with Photoshop. After working digitally for many years, I craved a more tactile process; thus, my love of painting was reignited. These days, my artwork that adorns all of my products is a hybrid of both digital and painted elements meticulously clipped and layered together in Photoshop. Each art piece could have up to two hundred layers; it just depends on what I’m working on. The language of Girl w/ Knife is the juxtaposition of feminine illustrations mixed with my signature biting humor. It’s a combination that’s all my own, and that’s why it just works. I’m most proud of taking as many big risks as I have in life in order to see my dream through. Everything I’m doing today is the culmination of all the little creative sparks that ignited years ago. All of the things I wished for in my journal entries and vision boards are now a reality, and there’s always more to chase. It’s fulfilling to know that I did things on my own terms and ultimately achieved success by just being me. I was recently profiled in the book Wisdom of Wildly Creative Women by Angela LoMenzo. It was so meaningful to be able to share my life story and the creative breakthrough that led to the inception of Girl w/ Knife. It comes full circle whenever I’m told by other artists that my chapter helped them get “unstuck” — just like The War of Art so profoundly did for me. 

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I’ve always used vision boards and journaling as a way of reminding myself of what my vision is. I created a set of journals called Wildest Dreams for just this purpose. The most important lesson I’ve learned is to have faith in the vision and don’t let roadblocks give way to self-doubt. It’s hard in the moment, but I hold a belief that every twist and turn is happening in my favor. Yes, even the painful setbacks that arise always lead to a better outcome. I have so many examples, but I’ll just tell one story for now. My very first huge heartbreak with Girl w/ Knife came with my initial print run of 50,000 greeting cards. Years of meticulous work had led up to this exciting moment where two pallets of cards were delivered to me. The printing looked perfect, and I was over the moon ecstatic. Well, the ecstasy was short-lived when, upon closer examination, I realized that the printer had trimmed them a quarter inch too short on one side. All 50,000 cards. I was gutted. I couldn’t eat or sleep; it was torture. As a perfectionist, the typography being off-center was something I couldn’t handle, the card/envelope ratio was also off. I couldn’t debut my line like this; there was no way. This mountain of cards remained in my loft for the next month while the printer scrambled to reprint it ahead of the National Stationery Show. Finally, it was replaced, and all was right in the world, but I held so much guilt about ditching the imperfect goods. I decided to double down and buy more envelopes and salvage whatever I could for giveaways. It turns out that the horizontal cards were a lot more forgiving to the eye since the type was at least centered left to right. So, for my first trade show at the Javits Center in NYC, I had a ton of free giveaways, and this is the reason why. This manufacturing snafu that sent me spiraling into despair ended up being a blessing in the end. The wild tales never cease for both Girl w/ Knife and Knife/House, my husband and I try to maintain a sense of humor about things, because otherwise we’d be miserable. Whenever we’re faced with some giant mishap, we say, “Someday this will be funny”. Of course, it takes a long time to look back and laugh at certain things, but everything truly does work out in the end. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://girlwithknife.com/
• Instagram: @girlwknife
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girlwknife/
• Other: https://knifehousedesign.com/, https://knifehousepalmsprings.com/

Image Credits
Michael Ibias
Grace Kim
Davidé