Sep 14, 2008

Embracing a creative adventure with the Eyes of the WorldBy Erin RyanIdahoStatesman.com

In the improbable space between Buddha and Sponge Bob, Mishel Vanden Busch makes work a dance.

Greeted by the painted grins of wooden giraffes, the affirming nods of spring-necked camels and the perfume of far-off places, she enters Eyes of the World Imports each day with a grateful heart. It is her livelihood, her second home and an arc of sorts for interesting people and their “infinite creativity.” Piece by meticulously crafted piece, it tells her story.

Those who know Vanden Busch through the 14 years and three incarnations of her whimsical Boise store would have trouble believing where it began. In the 1980s, she and a friend were in Green Bay, Wis., going to school and selling peanuts at Packers games. Craving adventure, they closed their eyes and put their fingers on a U.S. map. Destiny pointed to Idaho, and Vanden Busch ended up graduating from Boise State University with a degree in graphic design.

She spent five years in the corporate blur until a freak logging accident smashed her company van, her head and her notions of a satisfying American existence.

“I was 10 inches from death, and I realized in a big way that ‘someday’ had arrived, that I needed to do something different with my life,” Vanden Busch said.

It took a year to rehabilitate the soft tissue injuries to her head and neck. In learning to accept the pain, she opened herself to new ways of thinking and dreams that had seemed impossible.

“I had a lot of time to think,” she said. “The accident was a wake-up call. It gave me an impetus to start my life over and do what I wanted to do instead of what I was expected to do.”

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