Scenes From Sydney: Women Making Waves - Micaela Campagna
By Jaclyn Carlson In anticipation of CWC's upcoming event in Sydney, today I pay tribute to another creative woman that is making waves in our city's creative scene.
Like Deb Morgan, who we featured last week, Micaela Campagna is a talented woman who wears many hats: while running the city's coolest, yet to be discovered, exhibition/event space call The Corner, Micaela is also the founder of Dear Henri, a new design studio in Sydney that is set to impress.
I asked Micaela a bit about running her various creative ventures...
Have you always been a creative person? Apparently so! I don't really remember but my parents tell me that I spent all my time as a toddler wandering around with either a pencil or a paintbrush in my hand.
What is your background? I studied Design and International Studies at UTS and majored in Photography. I also spent a year in Milan at the Politecnico di Milano.
How did Dear Henri get its start?
DEAR HENRI was born after a recent name change and rebrand from Two Studio. Our new name DEAR HENRI was inspired by one of our favourite photographers Henri Cartier Bresson - we like to think of it as an ode to the Masters!
What is the best part about running a creative business?
- Actually enjoying going to work every day is something that I definitely do not take for granted!
- Working and collaborating with super talented designers and artists, especially through The Corner which is an gallery/pop up space run by us at DEAR HENRI which offers designers and artists a platform to exhibit or to hold a pop-up store/have a launch etc
- Being able to constantly shape/develop the direction of the business and tackle something creative and exciting every day (or most days) 
What are the challenges? Switching off (I find that hard to do)! What advice would you give to other women looking to take the plunge and start their own business? Do it! Don't get stuck thinking about all the variables. If you are dedicated and you know your stuff, then you will be able to make it work (even if it is a slow process). Also, don't forget about what drives you and your original business idea... it is easy to get lost in ideas that are commercially viable but soulless (be careful of these, they may kill your passion!) What’s next? Lots of exciting exhibitions and events at The Corner and also developing our artwork & installation side of the business. We are really excited about being commissioned by other designers (particularly architects and interior designers) to do art installations and custom graphics/art/murals for their projects. We also have a group show planned at The Corner with our friends and industry colleagues Eggpicnic & Nowhere Famous.
Where can people contact you? You can email us at henri@dearhenri.com or check out our new website is coming soon (www.dearhenri.com) but you can follow us on Facebook for updates.
Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Jaclyn Carlson is the author behind the Sydney-based blog, Little Paper Trees. When not documenting her expat adventures, she can be found working for one of Australia’s top design & homewares trade shows. Passionate and prone to wasting hours on Pinterest, she has years of experience in marketing, advertising and PR and aims to put Sydney’s creative women in the spotlight with her monthly column.
Member's Morning Tea is on again!
In May we launched our Member's Morning Tea series of get-togethers. Held in the light-drenched NorthCity4 education space in central Brunswick, a dozen or so CWC Members enjoy a cuppa and discuss their businesses and creative ventures, workshop issues and ideas, and generally get to know each other a little better. There's a topic to get the conversation flowing, and provoke new thinking about your creative work before the event even begins!
After the last morning tea, we received some fantastic feedback. Jasmine commented, "It was a helpful and thought provoking morning and I have spent a lot of time mulling over the different opinions/achievements/outlooks put forward during those couple of hours. I hope to come along to more events and get to know other members better!"
And Fiona added, "it was such a good topic and great that everyone had some input and troubleshooting ideas as well".
The next Morning Tea takes place on Tuesday 23rd July - that's next week! - and it would be great to see some of our newest 'Join in July' members there.
Bookings here.
Scenes From Sydney: Women Making Waves - Deb Morgan
By Jaclyn Carlson After writing last month’s post about Sydney’s creative revolution, I received so much positive feedback from locals who finally felt like they had been given a chance to fly their creative flags. It was both encouraging and uplifting and for that reason I wanted to pay tribute this month to a couple of creative women that I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with recently and that are making waves in Sydney’s design underbelly.
First up is Deb Morgan, a jack of all trades and genuinely all around pretty rad person. She is the driving force and founder behind Create or Die and I had the great pleasure of teaming up with her on a recent Kinfolk dinner. I sat down with Deb to pick her brain about what it means to be a woman business owner…
Have you always been a creative person? I've definitely always identified with being a creative person. My first memories are of drawing, making paper sculptures and falling asleep with texta's in my hands (which somehow would always go all over my face). I've dabbled in most creative disciplines over the years including art, music and photography.
What is your background? My background is largely in events which has allowed me to explore multiple creative fields. From age 15 I crewed for youth, music and extreme sports festivals, which included hip-hop culture of breakdancing, DJ's and graffiti art. I became the director of a not-for-profit event organisation when I was around 18 years old and believe it or not I actually was fairly involved in politics for a few years... but that's another story! Visual arts and graphic design has always been a passion. My brother and I spent countless hours on Corel Draw teaching ourselves design (he's now a digital Creative Director). I moved onto Freehand Macromedia with the help of a graphic design mentor and I was mainly obsessed with Photoshop and hundreds of LAYERS! My first computer carked it as a result! I've now been working in the brand, corporate and special event industry for the past five years.
How did Create Or Die get its start? Create or Die was an idea that I had years before I got the chance to officially launch it. It started as a guild, if you like, of creative people to encourage and inspire one another with their own personal art (as opposed to client work...which also has it's creative merits of course!).
I had the opportunity to launch COD officially into the world in 2011 with the website showcasing creative’s personal work, letting people know about upcoming creative events & inspiration and an industry competition to design a bar coaster.
The response to the competition was overwhelming and very humbling - I think we struck a chord by giving people an opportunity and a platform to create and showcase their own work. A panel of judges (Semi-Permanent, Shillington Design College, Digital Press) chose the winning designs which were printed in large format & displayed in an exhibition and then produced onto the bar coasters.
Since then Create or Die has morphed and grown organically and in late 2012 we had the opportunity to found a creative space where people could work, collaborate and hold exhibitions, workshops and events (like the recent pop-up dinner with Kinfolk!)
What is the best part about running a creative business? I think it would have to be the people. One of my close friends calls it the "sometimes" moment, when you can step back and have a moment of feeling like you doing exactly what you are meant to be doing right there and then, with the right people. If you can fill your life with more of those moments - I think that is the ultimate goal.
What are the challenges? Ah, there are so many - as with all businesses! Choosing the next project is a real challenge for me personally as I always want to do them all at once!
What advice would you give to other women looking to take the plunge and start their own business? If there's anything I can say - it's to keep things as simple as possible from the beginning. Start with a good foundation and then build it up. That has been one huge lesson for me, amongst many others! Then surround yourself with other amazing women! Find people you trust and respect to encourage you and also help keep you on course.
What’s next? Next we'll be launching our new website! Along with this will be a calendar of events, exhibitions and workshops. We've got some exciting new spaces and collaborations that we'll be working in over the next 12 months!
Where can people contact you? www.createordie.com.au or at deb@createordie.com.au
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Next week we'll meet another Sydney-based creative business woman who is making waves in our community. And fellow Sydney-siders, don't forget to book your ticket to the upcoming CWC event with Sharon Givoni. More details over here!
Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Jaclyn Carlson is the author behind the Sydney-based blog, Little Paper Trees. When not documenting her expat adventures, she can be found working for one of Australia’s top design & homewares trade shows. Passionate and prone to wasting hours on Pinterest, she has years of experience in marketing, advertising and PR and aims to put Sydney’s creative women in the spotlight with her monthly column.
Join us on Instagram!
Finally - Creative Women's Circle is on Instagram!
Follow us @creativewomenscircle and let us know what is inspiring you.
Here are a couple of snaps from our event with Melanie Katsalidis last Saturday by some of our lovely attendees. The event recording will be up online for Full Members to access soon.
We're coming back to Sydney!
Exciting news: after the success of our CWC event 'Your Intellectual Property and How to Protect It' in Melbourne in February, we've decided to take this show on the road and head to Sydney later this month!
We continue to hear stories of local designers facing copyright infringements of their work by other companies, and since the rise of blogs and image-sharing websites such as Pinterest, understand that protecting our designs is now more important than ever.
Intellectual property lawyer Sharon Givoni has established a reputation for being an entertaining speaker and explaining the law in ‘plain English’. At this special Sydney CWC event, she will discuss a range of IP-related topics and will answer your questions.
This event is highly recommended for anyone who makes or designs their own products to sell, creates custom designs for clients or creatives who design for an employer.
We're thrilled to partner with our venue hosts Shillington College in Sydney's CBD. We hope many of our Sydney fans will join us for this informative event, and you'll meet others in your creative community over tea and cake as well :)
More info and tickets over here.
Interview + give away: Tanya Collier of Tickle the Imagination magazine
If you're coming along to our speaker event in Melbourne this weekend, you'll go home with a copy of Tickle the Imagination magazine! Tickle the Imagination is full of inspiration and ideas to spark creativity. It showcases talented artists, crafters and designers, discovers emerging talent and shares real-life stories and DIY projects. They publish regular issues online and in print.
This week I spoke to Tanya Collier, editor and publisher of tickle, to find out the story behind this beautiful publication.
Tell us about the mission behind Tickle the Imagination. Who do you hope to reach and inspire?
Tickle the imagination is a lifestyle and craft magazine. My hope is that it inspires creativity - by showcasing Australian designers and makers, sharing real-life stories and offering crafty projects.
What has been the evolution of Tickle the Imagination - from first idea to the print format we see it in now?
I had always dreamed of creating a magazine, but was never sure how. After many years as a freelance graphic and web designer (along with lots of little handmade businesses) I guess the idea for tickle really evolved in May 2011. I was studying interior design at the time and one of my assignments was to create a spread for a design magazine - style it, shoot it and design the layout... I was hooked! About the same time I discovered Adore Home magazine... and, in turn, digital publishing which offered an affordable entry into the world of magazine publishing.
tickle combines all my passions and love of design and handmade... I imagined a magazine filled with inspiring stories about creative people, beautiful images and gorgeous craft projects... and that is what I set out to create. I was also aware of just how difficult is is to market a handmade business and I hoped tickle would create a new platform for people to share/market their creative businesses.
I shared the idea for tickle on my facebook page at the time and got a great response. Two of the first people to get in touch were Leanne from Possum & Banjo and author, Tania McCartney - these two were my biggest cheerleaders and really helped spread the word and introduce tickle to lots of new people.
The next step was developing a website and facebook page for tickle to help spread the word. Then I worked on developing an underlying theme and inspiration board for the first issue - 'the road less travelled', and invited submissions from our small group of followers. I am forever grateful to that group of contributors who showed such faith that I would create something beautiful with their hard work!
And, after many hours of work and lots of late nights, the very first digital issue was released in September of 2011. I was so nervous pressing the upload button...after all this was a magazine of everything I loved, in layouts that I had put together... what if no one else liked it? ...it really felt like I was baring my soul to the world!
Thankfully the response was overwhelmingly positive. Almost immediately people started asking if/when it would be available in print...
How did you fund the transition from an online magazine to a printed magazine?
It was our lovely readers and advertisers who funded the first two print issues of tickle through crowdfunding campaigns with Pozible.
While I was super keen to see tickle in print I didn't have the capital myself and really wasn't in a financial position to risk taking a business loan. And so, I continued publishing digital issues - a second in Nov, and another in Feb - all the while our Facebook following and mailing list were growing.
Then, in April of 2012 I was introduced to the idea of crowd funding when a friend of mine supported Littlesweet Baking's campaign. What a fantastic concept! How had I never heard of it before? After researching printing costs I discovered I would need $15,000 to take tickle to print. I submitted my idea to Pozible, and it was accepted! I had ninety days to spread word of the campaign and ask people to pledge their support for a print issue in return for rewards. I Facebooked constantly, emailed everyone who had ever been part of the magazine and we did it!! With just over a week to go our target of $15,000 was achieved.
The first print issue of tickle, Annual 01, is a compilation of our favourite stories from digital issue 01 -issue 07. A second print issue (also funded with crowdfunding!) was released in May, it is a special celebrations issue.
What is your favourite part about curating a magazine?
There are so many amazing creative people out there, I think my favourite part is introducing them and their creations to our readers. Having the opportunity to meet and chat with some of my favourite designers and makers is rather special. And when someone emails to say tickle has inspired them to start their own creative journey... that's pretty awesome :)
What are your hopes for tickle in the future?
My hope is that tickle continues to support and inspire the designer/maker community of Australia. I would love to see quarterly print issues :)
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To receive a copy of Tickle, come along to our event this Saturday. And Tanya has a special offer for friends & members of Creative Women's Circle: Bonus digital issues when you purchase the Celebrations print issue. Visit this page for more info!
Join in July and win some great stuff!
It's July. We're reeeeally in the depths of Winter now. Would a community of warm-hearted people around you, or an inspiring book to curl up with, or a great night out with Clare Bowditch cure your winter woes? I think yes!
Become a CWC Full Member during July for a chance to win...
If what you need is a little boost in confidence in your life and work to pursue a dream or achieve a goal, try any of the 17 little ways Michelle Landy suggests in her new book. Michelle will show you the way forward like a beacon of light on a frosty night.
Plus there are all the other great reasons to join CWC as a Full Member!
... and more!
*By joining CWC in July 2013 you will be automatically entered into the draw to win one of the above prizes. Winners will be drawn randomly on August 1st and you will be immediately notified via email if you have won a prize.*