Unboxed: Fiber Artist Chelsea Billingsley Featured

Some people pivot onto new paths later in life. Others just know that an unconventional life is what they’re meant for.

Chelsea Billingsley, 29, has always been drawn to art. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, she was a track and field star: fast, focused, and disciplined. But it was a seemingly ordinary moment in her high school homeroom class, when her teacher decided to teach students how to crochet, that quietly changed the course of her life. She traded in her spikes for a sewing machine and hooks and never looked back.

"It was almost like the puzzle pieces kind of clicked for me," Billingsley says. "Tinkering away with crocheting just allowed me to tangibly bring these visions or things that I wouldn't necessarily speak about to life. Art was always calling me. So, I figured, let me just follow this constant."