Macrame artist turns tying knots into small business

Natural light streams in through the big front windows of Anne Cops’ Cross Plains home, enhancing the calm, earthy vibe of her living room. This is where she creates many of her décor pieces — and it represents an important shift from where and how she used to work.

Before moving in fall 2022, Cops lived in a near-downtown high-rise, and she spent the pandemic cranking out more than 1,200 macramé coasters.

Featuring a coil form with fringed edges and offered in a variety of soft colors, the coasters were an immediate hit for Cops’ Meraki Handmade Décor business, but they soon became almost too much of a good thing.

Coaster sales have slowed since those early pandemic days, but Cops welcomes the change. Now, she creates at a more intentional pace and dreams, experiments and shares with her more than 33,000 Instagram followers.

In some ways, she’s stepping further into the meaning of her business, as “meraki” is a Greek term for putting creativity, soul and part of yourself into your endeavors.

And having more space — in her living room as well as her upstairs studio and basement workbench — lets Cops bring more ideas to life.

“I love macramé because of all the different things you can do with the one piece of rope,” she says. “I’m just kind of going with the flow and doing what makes me happy.”

Cozy Habitat: Cops’ home studio is a place to create, store supplies and handle the computer tasks associated with her business. White and wood furniture — much of it featuring arches and texture — coexists with a cream checkerboard rug and her own macramé pieces on the walls.

• Photo by Beth Skogen

Going Big: While commissions make up a relatively small part of her business, Cops is always enthusiastic about custom orders. “I don’t often get the chance to make big wall hangings, but I love it,” she says. “I think it would be amazing to make large wall hangings for businesses, like hotels or spas.”

• Photo by Beth Skogen

Knot Done Yet: Wall hangings with a wood arch, cane backing and macramé feature have become a new passion for Cops. “I have the wood custom-cut, then I sand and stain it and add the cane,” she says. “I want to expand in variations of them.” She’s considering incorporating faux marble or other materials to add a modern feel.

• Photo by Beth Skogen

Rope Work: Cops’ cotton coasters are small, but creating them is labor-intensive. Each uses about 33 feet of rope, requires more than 100 knots and takes about 30 minutes to produce. “It’s still one of my favorites to make,” she says. “But my fingers get mad at me.”

From the Artist: Anne Cops

Hands-On

I went to the University of Wisconsin–Stout for apparel design and development, and I graduated in 2017. I chose my major on orientation day. It was really the hands-on aspect for me.

Color Story

Usually, I stick to warm colors. Pink is my favorite and I love gold. This year, I have a more bronzy color coming, and I’ll do more peach and pink.

Star Power

My Etsy shop was a part of two home collections in collaboration with Etsy and JoJo Fletcher, a previous “Bachelorette” [star], in 2020. I designed a unique set of coasters for both collections. That is part of why 2020 was so busy.

Trending

The fact that I’m a designer as well, I have a lot of exposure to trends in home and fashion. It’s the designer in me that’s always catching trends and thinking of new things to make. But you have to know which trends to pass on; you have to stay true to yourself.