Mom’s Designs Turn Creatures Into Words

Seacoastonline:

An old proverb contends, “It’s an ill wind that blows no man good.”

And while Debbie Yennaco Peretz firmly believed that, as a real estate investor, the 2006 decline in the housing market was that kind of ill wind, it turned out not to be the case.

The financial burden the downturn created opened the door to a career Peretz now views as “the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.”

Peretz started her own business, which she calls Lit L Desi9s. It is a children’s clothing and accessories design business that incorporates an educational aspect.

“Aidan (her oldest son) was learning to spell and asked me to spell ‘Bug,’” Peretz said. “I decided to show him how to spell in a visual way by turning the ‘b’ and the ‘g’ into wings and the ‘u’ into the bug’s body.”

The Hampton resident, who was once a high-powered art director for a variety of major companies across the country, immediately knew she was on to something.

That night, she created five more animal designs using the letters in the creatures’ names, and the next day, she designed 10 more.

“It fed into my love of design,” Peretz said.

She showed her designs to her parents, and together the family bought a six-color screen printer. Peretz immediately began printing her unique designs on children’s T-shirts, bags and caps.