My name is Joseph Murawski, and I am the sole proprietor and man of action at Carnival of the Maniac. I do all of the shopping, modeling, photography, editing, listing, packing, shipping, etc. Admittedly, I take this business very seriously – especially customer service and lighting-fast shipping – but I do not view it as a job, or as work in the traditional sense. As a process, running the shop is quite therapeutic, and it’s my current chief creative outlet, not to mention a social experiment.

I’ve always had a love for the past and artifacts that tell a story – including, of course, vintage clothing, and especially dapper and dandy men’s formal clothing and suits. In addition to being a peddler of vintage wares, I am also a painter and photographer. In the 10 or so years before I opened my shop, much of my photography was focused on self-portraiture.

A few years ago, I began to grow very weary at my job as a biomedical engineer. I also began to lose steam and focus with respect to photography. At some point, it dawned on me that I could mesh my ever-growing collection of vintage clothing with my special brand of theatrical self-portraiture to make a few extra dollars and lighten the load in my closets. Not long after, I realized I could make a proper living running the shop, so I quit my job and the rest is history.

The reasons that keep me going, other than making a living, are manifold. For one, I simply love shopping; I attack the racks like a machine. To me, it’s all about the thrill of the find. Once I find something, I like to imagine new, better, more refined, more amusing, and more striking ways to exhibit the item. When I photograph items in my shop, I find myself giving in to and embracing the performance.

The words “carnival” and “maniac” are not in my shop title for the hell of it. I really do try to bring a carnival-like atmosphere to Etsy, or more accurately, I can’t help but bring it. That’s who I am. Sometimes I describe my shop as a unisex clown show – and that’s ok because it’s balanced out by high-quality tuxedos and suits, modeled with great care. Everything is in my shop for a reason – I’m never simply trying to make a buck. In fact, sometimes I will list an item with no real expectation that it will sell, which is an odd concept I suppose, but one that keeps my shop interesting and engaging, both to me and to my customers. I love to entertain but I am also terribly shy, so it is nice to do it from the safety of my suburban fortress.

To me, Etsy means freedom and structure, which are two things I desperately need in the right balance. Running my own business is all about freedom, of course, but I don’t think I could do it without the user-friendly environment and framework that Etsy provides. My creative business hasn’t changed me at all – if anything, it has allowed me to be more “me” than I have been at any other point in my life.

All photographs by Carnival of the Maniac.

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