Weaving Together Colors, Confidence, and Community: Meet Lily Foucault
If you don't notice Lily right away for her vibrant and bold style, then it would have to be for her infectious energy. She's the type of person who can make you feel like a friend within five minutes, and look good while doing it. So when it came to selecting an artist to showcase on Collective Creations, I knew exactly who to reach out to.
Meet Lily
Lily Foucault, 23 years old and originally from Seattle, is currently based in San Francisco. She is the creative force behind Foubisou, specializing in crochet and knit clothing. What began as a means to fuel her love for sweaters quickly transformed into something much bigger. Today, Foubisou boasts a following of over 80,000 on Instagram, and Lily continues to grow a community that supports her art. None of this success has come without hard work, though. She runs Foubisou entirely from her living room, all while juggling a full-time remote job.
Continue reading to learn more about her sources of inspiration, the hurdles she confronts as a small business owner, and how she balances it all!


Where does the name Foubisou come from?
My last name is Foucault [foo koh], so it’s a mix between my last name and the French song “Zou Bisou Bisou.” I actually thought of it back in college and I knew then that it would be the name I used if I were to ever sell clothes. It’s technically not even grammatically correct in French either, which is kinda funny.
Have you always had a passion for making clothes?
Yes, definitely. In my heart of hearts, I’ve always wanted to do something in fashion. It started out with thrifting everything in high school and teaching myself how to sew for things that didn’t fit me. Honestly though, I didn't really connect with sewing in the same way that I do with crocheting, so knits became my vibe once I figured it out.
What does a typical day for you look like?
An ideal day in my life would be waking up at 6:30am and starting to crochet… this is ideal. So, I get up crochet, crochet, crochet as much as I can. Sometimes I workout and shower before I start my remote work day. I work until lunch, crochet a little bit more, work, crochet a little more. I will take breaks throughout the day to take a picture of a piece I made, post on instagram, or maybe make a reel.
Once I finish my remote work at 5:00pm, I hopefully have enough energy to edit a youtube video or spend more time making clothes. But sometimes I don’t and it's sad because I’d really like to have more energy to dedicate after work, which is why I wake up early because it's when I’m most productive.


What values guide you and your work?
I would say inclusivity. I just want to have a platform where it’s cool to be nice to other people and have a community of down to earth people. This guides both my life and work.
What do you personally hope to achieve through your art?
I just want to achieve happiness for myself. Running Foubisou has brought me so much happiness that I never thought I would have and so I think that’s the main goal and what drives me. Being able to feel creatively fulfilled is awesome.
I also love to inspire other people to create. It’s been really cool to see people's comments on my Youtube tutorials.
Who or what inspires your work?
In a weird way, I feel like nature inspires my work. I don’t think my work necessarily reflects nature, but I feel connected to it in a way when I do this. To avoid being overly influenced, I really try to pull inspiration from things that aren’t actually crochet or knit, but rather from everything around me like the sparkly ocean or a pretty sunset.
Your work is so bright and fun. Have you always expressed yourself so boldly through fashion?
Honestly, this was a journey for me. When I was in high school I was so insecure and had really low self esteem. I was so afraid to be bold with fashion even though I really wanted to be. So, I think the bright colorful part of my aesthetic is me saying it's okay to be seen and exist. I can express myself and I don’t need to hide. I find myself wanting to wear black sometimes just because I like it, but then I’m like “No, you have to be crazy and bold because people need to know it's okay.”
The other part stems from living in Seattle and being so hopelessly depressed and thinking if I wear a bright pink sweater that I would feel better.
Is there something you wish more people understood about small businesses/artists?
Specifically with knit and crochet, I just want more people to value that kind of work. Crafts have typically always been the work of women, so I don’t think society really values the skill it takes. With me, my entire business is that I hand make clothes and people will comment saying “drop the pattern, drop the pattern.” But no, I’m selling this because I made it. It feels like it devalues my work in a way.
I also want people to understand how much time goes into making something. It's really easy to take a piece of clothing for granted and not have any idea what journey it's been on. So, I’d like people to have more reverence for things that take time.
Also, if you don’t like something, you don’t have to buy it and that's okay.
What has the biggest challenge of being an artist and having a small business been?
Definitely figuring out how to do it for a living. I derive so much happiness from this but I haven’t been able to make it a full time thing for me so far. And because of that, I’ve spread myself super thin… like I haven’t relaxed in two years. Whenever I’m not working one job, I’m working the other. I wouldn't have it any other way, but I think it will eventually take a toll on me.
Also trying to figure out how to live up to what I see as my potential and how to get there. I feel it inside of me, but sometimes I just don't know what the next step is towards the final destination, even though I feel like I can see it. I'm trying now by focusing more on Youtube and expanding my design horizons.
If you could create clothes for anyone on earth, who would it be?
One of my manifestations for this year is making something for a celebrity. This might be a lame answer, but I would love to make clothes for Megan Thee Stallion or Tyler the Creator. I’m making my outfits for Outside Lands when I see Megan and I’m obviously going to make a reel about it. Also Tyler is a huge style and personal inspiration for me so that would be so dope.
How would 10 year old Lily feel about your current success?
She would freak out. It makes me kind of emotional to think about because 10 year old me was so insecure, and to think that I’m the type of person that she would have thought was so cool when I was younger is crazy. To see myself creating clothes and living my dream even just a little bit is so cool. So yeah, she would be really excited.
If you wanted people to take one thing away from you and this interview, what would it be?
Like I said earlier, I really want people to respect crafts and women's work more… to think that it's valuable and worthwhile.



Thank you all for reading and to Lily for taking the time to share more about her creative endeavors! We love a creative queen here at Collective Creations!!!
If you are looking to support Foubisou, you can purchase her work here: https://bio.site/foubisou [she is currently changing her business model, so be patient!]
Make sure to follow her socials:
Instagram: @foubisou
Youtube: @foubisou