Welcome! Anna Livia was created by two sisters, Michele & Cynthia. We grew up together, playing, mirroring, competing, diverging, and coming together to make this for you. No one belongs here more than you.
When COVID-19 first showed up in the US, Michele started making face masks to protect her family of 6 and friends. She custom designed face mask patterns using the 100% cotton fabric she had on hand from her time working as a children’s clothes seamstress, with melt-woven mesh for liner & insertable filters. Cynthia is a digital marketer and creative who likes to build new things. Due to positive feedback, we’ve launched an online shop!
Our goal is to sell high quality face masks, and grow Anna Livia to employ our fellow out-of-work seamstresses, artists, and creatives at a fair wage. If you’re interested in sewing masks for Anna Livia, please email hello@annaliviashop.com for more info. If you have any special face mask requests, we want to hear from you too!
In Gaelic, Anna Livia means “River of Life” and in English it means “Graceful Life.” This is the way we live.
“Anna Livia” is named after the character in James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. Anna Livia Plurabelle’s husband calls her “Livvy” and “Leafy” for a pet nickname. She’s “only a leaf, just a leaf and then leaves.” She bends, twists, and flutters through the life of the novel. As she’s dying at the end of the book (spoiler alert, we all end this way <3 ) as “only a leaf”, she becomes increasingly “Leafy” until she finally becomes the river Liffey, which flows through Dublin and out to the ocean.
Salt water heals all wounds – you can also find Cynthia at her blog Likely by Sea.