Lucy Ehrlich

From Ballet to Crochet

Born and raised in Rhode Island, USA, Lucy grew up in the unique world of ballet. Watching rehearsals of Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, professional ballerinas sat in their tutus, crocheting warm-ups behind stage wings and in between rehearsals. In this environment, Lucy was introduced to crochet as a soothing form of self care. While dancers made garments to keep their muscles warm, Lucy absorbed the technique and began to make her own pieces. 

Not knowing anyone upon moving to Mallorca in 2021, crochet became a way to form new friendships, providing a wholesome ‘intercambio’ of both languages and skills. It was during this time that Lisa, dada-days founder, and Lucy met, beginning her involvement with dada-days and eventually becoming a part of its tight-knit community of artists.

Hi Lucy, Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you start working with dada-days and how did this eventually lead to hosting your own workshop?

Hi, I’m Lucy! I was born and raised in Rhode Island, USA but I’ve been living in Mallorca for the past 3 years. I was raised by two artists who always encouraged me to see creativity not only as a hobby, but a holistic approach to life. This, combined with the fact I spent my teen years in a pre-professional ballet training program, really shaped my approach to art and creativity in general. Whether I was painting abstract art with my dad, making chunky funky jewellery with my mom, dancing in the Nutcracker, or crocheting with my grandmother, art has really been the driving force behind everything I love to do.

My introduction to dada-days was actually because of a funny coincidence. I met Lisa because her office is literally right under my apartment. I sent in a job application for a dada-days position with my photo on it. I was so worried Lisa would see me passing by her office multiple times a day, I introduced myself before things got weird (haha). Instead of calling the police, she hired me and I’ve been behind the scenes, managing our artists, establishing relationships with strategic partners, taking care of our customers, making content, and writing workshop concepts for dada-days ever since.

What do you hope to share through your workshop? What do you hope students take away?

I used to love to crochet and knit with my grandma. She was always gifting her grandkids things she made by hand and I think this gesture is something really important to pass down. There’s so much love imbued in the things we take the time to handmake, whether it’s for ourselves or someone we care for. Every stitch becomes a letter in this sort of poetic gesture that silently says, “I care for you and I want you to have this”. So I’ve kept this craft close to my heart and it’s my passion to share it with other people who might continue to use it in a similar way.

You refer to yourself as a multimedia artist. How does this influence your approach to crochet?

It’s very hard for me to stay still creatively and I’ve accepted and embraced that. I went to college for film, I grew up dancing, I interned at a pottery and photo studio, I crochet and paint in my free time, and since working with dada-days, I’ve taken up analog photography and writing. I’m definitely a creative floater and all the things I love naturally overlap. My approach to crochet comes from accepting that I’m not just one thing as a creative person, but an eclectic celebration of how they all somehow fit together.

I love crochet because it’s such a malleable canvas to try new ideas. You get to play with texture, size, colour, pattern…. Going to the yarn shop is like going into a candy store because the possibilities are endless. I think many people see crochet as something old fashioned that requires an instruction manual, but once you learn the basic stitches, you can quickly start creating things from your imagination and that’s exciting to me.

As a creative person, what does Mallorca offer you that you can’t find anywhere else?

When I first came to the island, I was working as an assistant English teacher with a scholarship from Spain’s Ministry of Education. In my first years here, I had students from two to eighty years old in three different schools. These experiences made me truly fall in love with the island and its people. I’m very grateful for how kind my students were in sharing their humour and stories with me during class. Their kindness made it very easy to feel at home very fast.

Whether positive or negative, creativity comes from a place of deep feeling and for me, Mallorca has given me a home that makes me feel full and happy. From this fullness, I am able to create things that give me joy and this is the most meaningful gift Mallorca could ever give me.

Do you have any projects coming up that we can follow? Outside your workshop, how do you spend your creative time?

Besides dada-days, the project I’m most excited about is a collaboration I’m doing with my friend and talented embroiderer, Maddy Trojsi. We started our concept brand, CARACOLA as a way to encourage each other’s creativity and give it room to shine. Outside of my work with dada-days and CARACOLA, I love embroidering my own projects, taking analog photos, and learning how to weave. 

Now, I’m really looking forward to meeting all the creative travellers and locals dada-days brings together. I can’t wait to see what we can make together!