Denham Springs maker Grace Holden sells funky and functional tufted art creations and quilted goods

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These days, the quirkier your home decor, the better.

Denham Springs artist Grace Holden creates bold, textured, pop-off-the-wall mirrors, wall decor, stylish pillows and nontraditional rugs. Her Stuff and Co. pieces are bright, colorful, fuzzy—and a little whacky.

Some of her creations look as if a ’70s rug and a crayon box had a baby. Her modern art shop includes a grass-green tufted snake-shaped wall hanging and poofy smiley and frown faces made from yarn. A triangular tufted mirror blends a black-and-white yarn pattern with bright bursts of colored yarn in circular formations.

“I want to add a little bit of weirdness to your wall,” Holden says.

After experimenting with her tufting gun for a few months, Holden turned her hobby into a business. She started Stuff and Co. during the summer of 2020. She handmakes her creations in her home studio by tufting, quilting and sewing novelty fabrics and eco-conscious yarn made from reused textile waste.

She’s not totally new to the local makers scene. Outside of her own business, the 29-year-old is a product specialist for jewelry business Mimosa Handcrafted.

Before exploring tufted works, Holden studied art with a concentration in sculptures at LSU. She wasn’t interested in many of her non-art classes, but when she discovered art and sculpture, she fell in love. Her passion for using her hands with sculptures later translated into her own business.

“I love being tactile with my work. It’s like making sculptures, but they’re flat on a wall,” Holden says.

For the visual artist, creating these pieces is a total mind and body experience. She enjoys feeling the yarns and fabrics as she strings them together, mixing complementary colors and seeing where her creativity leads her on each project.

In 2020, she started participating in the Mid City Makers Market and plans to continue selling her work around town.

Holden has big goals for the future. She plans to participate in more pop-up events, showcase her work in art galleries, continue expanding her shop and experimenting with more functional home decor.

“My inspiration comes from the process of getting to know a material,” Holden says. “I want to make bad art to explore a new process.” etsy.com/shop/StuffandComp

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This article was originally published in the February 2021 issue of 225 magazine.