#iamcreative: 4 Makers That Will Inspire You to Make Something
For this next installment of our #iamcreative campaign, we’ve teamed up with Moto X to take you inside the studios of Jessica Hische, Future Glory, DODOcase and Farmgirl Flowers. In this short film series, we explore and celebrate all the different ways old and new technology inform the creative process, from sketching and making to re-making and sharing with friends.
Our mission here at Brit + Co is to enable and inspire creativity in women. Those of you who are longtime readers know that we believe creativity comes in many forms. It can be as simple as a handwritten letter sent to a friend for no reason, or it can be as complex as building a dining table using wood repurposed from your childhood treehouse. It can also be every creative thing in between. The key to this is one simple thing: We are all born creative.
We hope the video above inspires you to bring creativity back into your daily life, or even turn it into a career. For more thoughts on creativity, inspiration and the creative process from each of these incredibly talented makers, read on.
JESSICA HISCHE
Jessica Hische
Inspiration vs. Imitation. Some of our favorite thoughts are below, but be sure to head here to check out the full article.
It’s OK to Copy Other People’s Work
Being a good artist / letterer / designer / guitar player takes practice. A lot of it. More than you can even fathom when you’re starting out. When you’re learning, it’s not wrong to copy people—to learn from them the way that they learned from others before them. What many young artists have a problem realizing though, is that the work you create while practicing and learning is completely separate of what you do professionally. Copy all you wish in private, and once you feel confident in your skills, create your own original public work.
Diversify Your Inspirations
If you’re heavily inspired by only two people, your work will look like a combination of those two people’s work. The more work you look at and the more work you are inspired by, the more diluted those inspirations become in your own work. Your ultimate goal should be for people to look at your work and NOT immediately think “oh, she is a big fan of this person.” If you diversify your inspirations, the chances of this happening become much smaller.
Train Your Eye
As you study design and illustration, something similar will happen. At first all print-makery illustrators will look the same, but soon you’ll be able to point out who did what and eventually the differences will become so clear that you’ll be shocked when your non-art friends don’t see them. And then the nerds will welcome you into their world with a parade and cupcakes.
Next, we headed over to DODOcase, one our favorite tech companies in the Bay. Unlike most “tech” companies around here, DODOcase represents that beautiful combination of old school craft and new school gadgetry. Founded by Craig Dalton and Patrick Buckley, DODOcase creates hand-crafted cases and accessories for smartphones, tablets and more.
DODOCASE
What inspires you? Why do you love to design, create and make?
At DODOcase, we foster creativity while protecting inspired human endeavors from extinction. We create a human connection between craftsmen and consumers, and aspire to create unexpected joy and fun. Our growing team of professional woodworkers, bookbinders, sewers and silk screeners share a common vision of striving for excellence and building quality products.
What is your company’s philosophy?
The DODOcase philosophy is simple: make things locally and help keep traditional craftsmanship alive and well by adapting it to a world of digital devices.
Tell us how technology has changed and supported what you do.
Technology is the foundation of our business — both in that we were founded on an idea that came about in an effort to preserve book binding when the first iPad launched in April 2010, and in the technology we use to create our products.
What’s on your studio playlist?
We are really eclectic in the studio — it could be jazz or reggae, hipster sad core, or old school hip-hop depending on who’s controlling the speakers.
We sat down with Jennie Chen and Theresa Lee, the founders of leather handbags and accessories company Future Glory, and asked them what inspires them, why they love to make and how technology has impacted their craft.
FUTURE GLORY
Farmgirl Flowers
Flower Arranging E-Class (we can already feel you tapping into your inner creativity). For Christina, the creative process is one that is always changing, evolving and growing.
FARMGIRL FLOWERS
What inspires you? Why do you love to design, create and make?
So many things inspire us! Great design in any area (fashion, culinary, architecture, interior, etc) inspire our color palettes, variety selections, and design aesthetics. I love getting inspiration from others we admire across the creative realm and follow fashion trends to determine what colors will be relevant at that moment.
Tell us how technology has changed and supported what you do.
Almost all of our orders come through our website, so that speaks for itself. Brick and mortar flower shops are dying, as the model doesn’t work given the perishable nature of the product and high overhead, so our online model fixes that problem.
What’s on your studio playlist?
It changes a lot, but right now we’re on a ‘90s R&B kick in the studio.
How do you get into the creative flow? How does it feel?
I get into the creative flow a couple ways. First, I’m really big into brainstorming sessions. We have such a creative team, who all care so much about what we’re doing, that they all want to be a part of it. The second way is for me to hole up by myself at the beach (my creative place) and remove all distractions to allow myself personal creative time.
What’s amazing about what we’re doing is that there aren’t any rules. We’re making them up as we go. We’re creating a completely new model — and with that comes the ability to create all the time. There’s the obvious creativity of flower design, and keeping the designs fresh and new, but there’s also the more nuanced ways of creating where we get to figure out better ways to source flowers and materials, innovative ways to market, and what projects and collaborations are going to help build our brand and company. So, long story not so short — we get to create all the time.
Special thanks to Moto X for partnering with us to bring this next iteration of #iamcreative to life. It’s all part of their effort to inspire creativity in everyone, including allowing you to fully customize your phone via their tool Moto Maker. This latest innovation allows you to MAKE your phone. When it comes to customizing your phone, there are actually hundreds of different color and material combos, like a variety of leather and wood finishes you can choose from. You can forget about snapping pics of your work in progress with a phone everyone else has. After all, #makersgonnamake :)