While our team may be small at Trek Light Gear, it certainly takes a village as they say, and from our product suppliers to our design partners, we work with a range of incredible folks that help us bring the Trek Light dream from our home to yours.
To that end, we’re shining a spotlight on some of our favorite makers, dreamers, and doers that help make Trek Light Gear what it is.
Today we're highlighting Jen Grant from A Ruby Moon in Lafayette, Colorado.
Jen is a self-taught printmaker who draws inspiration from her love of the outdoors to make beautiful and inspired art and she's the talented artist behind the beautiful and modern Prayer Flags sold in our shop.
Tell us a little about yourself...
I’m originally from the East Coast and moved here nearly 25 years ago, after falling in love with Colorado.
I’ve got four amazing kids that teach me new things every day and bring joy to my life. They are the inspiration for much of what I create.
What’s your background with art?
I’ve always enjoyed working in many mediums but have had no formal art training. My degrees are in Outdoor Education and Occupational Therapy, and these professions and experiences absolutely inform and influence the work I do today.
I am a self-taught print maker, and I love the challenge of carving a block, figuring out the positive and negative spaces and creating the image I imagine.
Printmaking has become a terrific way for me to celebrate and honor life's moments, passions, milestones.
How did you start creating prayer flags?
It started with a camping trip.
Years ago, I ran a mother-daughter group, and on a group camping trip, I brought along blank flags for us to color and decorate our campsite with. We wrote and drew images and words on the panels of what we wanted to celebrate about ourselves and bring more of into our lives.
At the end of the trip, we took the flags home as a reminder of the experience. Four years we still have them, and they still mean something.
I chose to create flags as I’ve always loved the Tibetan Prayer Flags and the concept of spreading written words, prayers, hopes, and intentions across the world as the flags move in the wind.
What is the message you hope your flags deliver to people who purchase or receive them?
I hope people feel inspired to celebrate and honor someone or something important in their lives.
I love to hear flag stories: what, where, and with whom they share the flags with.
I hope people look at the flags and think of a person or two, a friend, family member, community member, and how they want to celebrate them.
I hope people share them far and wide and frequently, putting good intentions and loving connections out on the wind to the world.
What are some of your favorite ways you've seen people display the flags?
I love and am honored to see my flags hanging in my community and all around the world. Some of my favorite places are hospital rooms, classrooms, new homes, and campsites.
One woman even gave a set to her brother who tied them to the outside of his pack and hiked to Mt. Everest Base Camp. That is one of my favorite photos that I ever received.
Could you share some of your favorite stories about the flags and/or someone you've connected with through these flags?
The flags stories are by far my favorite part of the work I do. Here are a few that stand out:
I had one woman purchase some blank flags to bring into the office to support a coworker battling cancer. They disappeared from the break room so quickly that she called me the next day to pick up more. The entire office created two beautiful sets filled with words of encouragement and support and hung them in her coworker’s office. Unfortunately, she ultimately lost her battle with cancer shortly after, but her two children each took one of the flag sets with beautiful words written about their mom as a way to remember and honor her.
I also think often of a customer who picked up a set to send to his sister who was living in Thailand and working with a nonprofit organization that gets young girls out of sex trafficking. I was so moved by his thoughtfulness to support his sister’s work and by the work she was doing. I love that perhaps the flags would be a connection between them and an expression of gratitude to all those doing that difficult, important work.
I’ve had the privilege of creating custom Mountain Bike flags for a memorial service. I’ve sent flags to support and cheer up children battling cancer in hospitals. I’ve made sets for weddings celebrating couples and families.
I love what the flags symbolize: spreading prayers, dreams, hopes, and intentions out on the wind to the surrounding countryside. They’re a beautiful and colorful way to honor events and to show support for a friend or family member. I love to help people connect, support and celebrate each other, and these flags are a beautiful symbol and visual representation of this.
I am grateful every day to create something that brings people together to celebrate this beautiful, crazy life.
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We're grateful for Jen and love working with her to help bring her beautiful prayer flags and artwork to more homes, yards, vans, and campsites around the globe!
You can purchase these beautiful flags in several different styles and designs right now on our site.