Camille Labarre

Oh, hello!

I'm Camille Labarre, a freelance fabricator and designer from NYC. I specialize in puppets, props, and sets for film, animation, and theater. I'm basically a professional crafter - my job is to figure out how to make anything!

Whether on commission or between jobs, I also create punch needle embroidery portraits in my studio. It's the perfect way to combine my love of portraiture with my lifelong obsession with craft. Punch needle is a unique approach to painting with embroidery that's fun and exciting (and easier than you think!) and I hope you'll think so too.

Being a fabricator is an absolute dream - a career that makes sense of what once seemed like a scattered creative background. After graduating with a degree in art from Yale university, I was awarded a year-long fellowship to study basketmaking in Europe. I then joined a guild of traveling craftsmen in France as a leatherworking apprentice. While working at a shoe factory making luxury belts and wallets, I decided to apply to graduate school. I earned my Master of Philosophy in Arts Education from the University of Cambridge the following year, focusing on what craft can teach us about the importance of embodied learning - of learning by doing.

Soon after, I moved back to my hometown of NYC and got a fabrication internship at an animation company making miniatures for stop-motion animated TV commercials. I couldn't believe that I had found a job that actually rewarded being a jack of all trades. Suddenly, my unspecialized skill set was an asset. It was heaven.

I am now freelancing, which means that between gigs I can find time to make personal work like my punch needle portraits.

The only thing I love to do as much as craft is to teach - and that's where you come in! I'm so honored to have the chance to share a little piece of my world with you. I'll give you the tools you need to approach your work fearlessly and make it your own. You can do this!

Check out my YouTube channel for more crafty madness :)