Behind the scenes of our promo photoshoot
Well, it's done. The book is off to the printer. Now, we wait! I thought today I'd share some behind-the-scenes images from the photo shoot Martina and I did in August for the book's promotional imagery.
It was such a fun, yet challenging, shoot. After dreaming up the idea for the images and putting together some rudimentary Photoshop mock-ups, I approached Brunswick floral designers Cecilia Fox to supply the lovely blooms. I trusted Melanie at Cecilia Fox to choose a range of beautiful flowers and blossoms (16 in total, one to represent each of the book's interviewees!) but of course we wouldn't know until the morning of the photo shoot what exactly would be delivered!
In addition, what you may or may not have realised, is that we didn't actually have a copy of the printed book to photograph! Instead I had a blank book made up, and the cover design was digitally inserted in Photoshop after the fact. So while the idea was fully formed (and looked great) in my head, and the shoot was meticulously planned, there was still an element of doubt as to whether the images would come off as hoped.
The photo shoot location was the gorgeous Lightdrop Studios in Kensington's Young Husband building. Melanie, of course, came through with some fantastic options, fresh from the flower market that morning. And while Martina got to work setting up all the professional photography gear needed to get the lighting just right, I started preparing and styling the blank book and the flowers.
Again, the inside spreads of the book were also shot blank and inserted after the fact.
I'm pleased to say that the final photos - retouched slightly and with the book graphics added in - looked better than I could have ever imagined... AND my usual spring-flower hayfever stayed in check ;)
Thanks Martina & Melanie for your help!
All photos above (except for the first one) by Martina Gemmola.. Poster design by me.
You're invited to our next event!
The last of our speaker events for 2013 has been almost a year in planning, and we can finally announce it. It features a guest speaker you have probably heard quite a bit about this year on the creative business grapevine: Clare Bowditch!
Clare is a multi-passionate creative woman: award-winning musician, writer, creative-business coach, social commentator and actor. She has performed in front of hundreds of thousands of people over her career and is a passionate supporter of artists and creatives bringing their ideas to the marketplace. To this end, this year she launched Big Hearted Business - a platform to teach creative people about business and business people about creativity - the success of which has astounded her.
You can learn a bit about Big Hearted Business at their website, or via this little story from ABC TV a few weeks ago (also featuring CWC Full Member and letterer extraordinaire, Carla Hackett!).
Join us on Sunday 20 October to hear Clare's career story and the lessons she has learned along the way... it's sure to be a thoroughly energising presentation!
We are also excited to be partnering with the good folks at both Gratton Design and Good Grace & Humour who are adding some lovely touches to this event.
Tickets and other relevant details are on our Upcoming Events page.
Hope to see you there!
Interview: Annemarie Duff
By Andrea McArthur
This year we have met a range of creatives from different fields, all who make beautiful items or designs that we can see and feel. Today we meet another creative with a twist, one who makes an intangible product. Meet Annmarie Duff a composer and music producer.
Annemarie describes her work as ethereal and ideas driven. She herself is very driven as can be seen by her involvement in not one but many personal music projects: including three electronica bands Paper Electric, Mmdelai, Pinn'd, an indie band Miniatures and classical albums Shangri-La.
What led you down your current path?
I played piano kind of obsessively from a young age, but only started getting into music production when I was at Otago University. I took a few music technology papers for interest (while studying computer science) and then moved to Christchurch to study audio engineering. After I graduated, I landed a gig working full-time as an in-house composer and sound designer for a gaming company. This contract ended when most of us were made redundant early last year. So I moved to Melbourne for more opportunities and am loving it. I'm still building a contact base over here so am working part time as well.
Who do you admire in the industry?
James Lavelle (founding member of U.N.K.L.E.) - not only is the music he's produced absolutely incredible and moving (no matter what genre), he's also built a scene for himself and built his catalogue on collaboration both in music, film and art. He always works with incredible creatives, whether established or newcomers and doesn't discriminate by genre. He's built this amazing creative business that crosses between industries and has spanned across decades.
What has been your most favourite project in recent years?
I can't pick one – I love the music each of my bands make, they're all very different. If I was to name one moment, getting my special edition marbled silver Mmdelai Vinyls in the mail was pretty amazing, they look so good.
What does a typical day at work involve for you?
I work part time for an IT company, so 4 days a week I get up at 6am and go to the gym, then head back home and do some emails (the bands are each with overseas record labels, so there's a lot of communication online). I get to work for an 8.30am start and finish at 5pm. After work I head straight to band practise/gig/soundtrack work/lesson plans/more emails. On Wednesday afternoons I teach a class at AIE in video game audio which is awesome. I have band practice two nights a week, a gig at least once a week and usually have something to be doing a soundtrack for. I'm always working on new tracks to keep the creativity flowing so I try to make at least one new track a day. I'm still trying to figure out how I can organise it all into a routine, haha.
What future plans do you have for your music?
Building up the work so I can do it full time. Playing more shows and more writing/producing/releasing. It would be awesome to expand on the teaching I've been doing at AIE too, it's so much fun and I've learn a lot just from teaching the basics again.
5 Questions in 5 minutes
Getting Personal:
Studio Sounds, what's playing?
Keep Shelly in Athens, Bonobo, SPC EKO, DJ Lotion's mix for the Lela Jacobs Spring/Summer collection.
What are you currently reading?
"Making ideas happen" by Scott Belsky.
What are you looking forward to?
New opportunities. Gigs over summer and hopefully playing some festivals! Travel/holidays.
Can you share your go to resource for motivation?
My to do list! Have motivated friends!
What is your local areas best kept secret?
I'm not sure if I've been here long enough to count as a knower of local secrets… I do love Annoying Brother Cafe on Nicholson St. They serve amazing coffee and there's a great Salvos store around there too.
To contact Annemarie: Email: duff.annemarie@gmail.com Phone: 0468 452 628 facebook.com/mmdelai
Andrea McArthur has a passion for all things visual. Type is her true love and goes weak at the knees over beautiful design. Andrea works as a freelance graphic designer in Brisbane by day and lectures in graphic design by night. You will find her sharing design related goodness via @andyjane_mc
Conversations with Creative Women: Volume Two... the FINAL reveal!
As if the women we announced last week and the week before weren't enough, today we are revealing the final three talented women who are interviewed for Conversations with Creative Women: Volume Two. That makes 16 women in total working in about 14 different creative industries (though many of them cross-pollinate, as we often do!).
Without further ado, here is the final reveal...
If you'd like to see all the featured interviewees listed in one place, visit this page or the Conversations with Creative Women website. It makes me tear up a little knowing all these amazing women took the time to answer my questions for this book. I just can't choose a favourite!
Before I go, a quick reminder that today is the LAST day we are taking pre-orders of the book accompanied by the limited edition fabric wraps. Pick a beauty from Emily Green, Lara Cameron or Catherine Campbell and order away... (you can still pre-order the book until November 14th, but the fabric wrap offer ends at midnight tonight!).
Scenes From Sydney: Women To Watch
By Jaclyn Carlson Taking inspiration from Tess' second book, Conversations With Creative Women: Volume Two, today I want to yet again shine the spotlight on a few local creative women here in Sydney that are shaping their own creative paths and inspiring those around them. I strongly believe that as a community - whether here in Sydney or in Melbourne - we need to support and encourage one other to succeed. When you take a look around you there are so many women doing amazing things that I think its time we give them a round of applause and a bit of recognition. This month please say hello to...
Natalie Hayllar, Eat Read Love
What is your background? After leaving school I completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology & Nutrition) and then went on to complete a Masters of Science in Nutrition & Dietetics where my love of food began. After a short stint as a clinical dietitian I have spent the most part of the last 15 years in various nutrition communications roles within the food industry. I realised I loved marketing communications and the creative side of this part of my job so I went on to study Marketing Management at MGSM at night school and spent many years working as a Brand Manager. I have been really fortunate to combine my passion for food and nutrition with marketing and continue to work in an awesome marketing job during the day and spend my spare time taking photos and blogging. We are coastal dwellers and never to far from it - My husband Fletch and my two little boys live near Cronulla beach down in Sydney's South and also spend a lot of time on the South Coast.
Tell us about eat read love and how did it get its start? I started blogging after I had my second baby boy about 3 years ago. After very hectic days juggling a corporate marketing job and looking after little ones, I needed a little downtime at the end of the day to to relax and unwind. Some people would say - why not just sleep ?!?!? but for me I enjoyed some 'me time' late at night when the house was quiet, make myself a cup of tea, or pour a glass of wine and start exploring online, and I found a whole new world open up - beautiful food and interior sites. So I decided I would have a go at writing my own bringing my passion for food, books, travel and interiors together. It started as a fun little book club and a place to share inspiration with my friends. I also spend a lot of time on the NSW South Coast and started taking photos and sharing on the blog.
What is the best part about running a creative business and writing your own blog? The ideas continue to roll in. I am never stuck for ideas. My mind is constantly churning new stories, and dreaming of new places to visit and new ways of presenting the stories creatively. I can do it in my own time, no set hours and from home. I love that I get to support and work with some amazing local businesses - I am very passionate about promoting the work of local talent and a few of us have formed a great little creative community down in the Cronulla area.
What are the challenges? After 14-hour days working a corporate job, being a mum, getting dinner, homework, getting the boys ready for bed and then only starting to work on the blog around 9pm at night can start to take its toll. I have so many ideas in my head and so many lists of things I want to do and beautiful things to write about but sometimes there is just not enough hours in the day.
What advice would you give to other women looking to have more creativity in their lives? Just give it a crack - whether its ensuring you allow some time to read a beautiful book, go to an art class or start writing then just do it. The time is now.
What’s next for you? I am very excited to be hosting some of the Kinfolk Magazine events later this year. I will be hosting the launch of The Kinfolk Table cookbook in with Lisa Madigan in October and very exited to be invited to partner with Luisa Brimble and friends to bring theKinfolk Magazine team to Sydney for a series of weekend workshops, dinners and media events. As an avid Kinfolk fan I am just a little excited to be part of this awesome team. I am also working on some more exciting #eatreadlovepopup dinners in 2013/2014. And to keep those creative ideas flowing I am also working on a very secret project with a friend that I hope to kick off next year which will definitely be available to everyone to help people get in touch with their creative flair. Stay tuned on that one. I am also planning a milestone birthday trip to NYC and I cannot wait to return.
Where can people contact you? You can follow me on my blog, follow my adventures on instagram 0r you can email me at eatreadlove@me.com.au. You can also find me over at the ROAR fashion blog
Amanda Fuller, Kaleidoscope
What is your background? After leaving high school I studied a variety of design disciplines including Interior Design, Textile Design, Jewellery Design and more at both The Whitehouse Institute and COFA. I worked in the Interior Design Industry for a while but when I discovered graphic design, it was pure love! Since studying I have worked for a number of small magazines, and then was a designer for Fairfax Media with my work appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers. Now, I have the privilege of being a freelance graphic designer and design and lifestyle blogger.
Tell us about Kaleidoscope... how did it get its start? I have been blogging since 2009 (I just celebrated my 4th blogaversary!) on a variety of blogs, both my own and other's. Kaleidoscope was born out of the process of splitting my original blog into a personal blog, Amanda's Musings, and Kaleidoscope - a blog about the many facets of life and design.
Have you always been a creative person? Yes! From as soon as I could hold a crayon, I loved to colour in. Growing up, I loved to craft with my Grandmother and my love of interior design came from my parents constant home renovations. The seed for my love of graphic design was planted by my Dad who brought home a Mac computer when I was about 9 years old. He used to play around with page layout and clipart in his spare time. I guess it must have rubbed off! I loved art at school and photography too.
What are the challenges? Probably the biggest challenge is trying to get paid for what you do. Blogging is still a relatively new form of media in Australia. It can be difficult to get those bills paid. There can be some great product perks, but unfortunately they don't pay the rent. It can also be a challenge building your audience and getting people to know about your blog. With so much media being thrown at people everyday it is easy to be lost in the crowd. My own personal challenge is my health. There are days when not much gets done as I am just too unwell.
What’s next for you? The dream is to be a full-time blogger "when I grow up". So I will continue to blog about amazing creative people and their work and build up Kaleidoscope to be a "must-read" blog and get it known. Blogging has rekindled my interest in photography and sparked an interest in styling, so you might see more of this from me in the future. Right now I am working on the huge Kaleidoscope Christmas Gift Guide which will launch at the beginning of November. Keep your eyes peeled!
Where can people contact you? You can contact me through Kaleidoscope or find me on Facebook Twitter or Instagram
Hannah DeMilta, The Fetch & Canva
What is your background? I’m originally from Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Sydney three years ago. I studied Public Relations and minored in Deaf Culture and Language while at University. However, most of my work has been in digital roles with start-ups and a couple years of agency life. Currently I look after marketing and community at tech start-up Canva, in Sydney. The other hat I wear is as the Sydney Curator of The Fetch, something I’ve been doing for the last couple years just for fun.
Tell us about Canva how did it get its start? Our CEO at Canva, Melanie had a vision of creating a collaborative online design platform to help make design more accessible. She started on the journey five years ago when she was teaching design part-time at the University of Western Australia. She and her partner Cliff started their first company from her parents’ house and went after the niche market of school yearbooks. Five years later, Mel and Cliff teamed up with their co-founder Cam went decided to take on the world with Canva. They shared their idea with others, raised the funds, built the dream team and here we are now. A few weeks ago was our press launch and public product reveal. I joined them at the start of this year, so pretty excited to be part of their team and along for the ride. It’s just the start.
What is the best part about working for a creative company? The people I work with for sure. We dream big together on a daily basis at Canva. Being surrounded by passionate people inspires you to build, create and think. I find that spark also inspires me across the board.
What are the challenges? I’m someone who constantly bites off more than she can chew. Honestly, it usually works in my favour. It forces me to get massive amounts of work done, and I thrive under that nice extra layer of pressure. However, I’ve had challenging moments where I was in over my head and felt I came up short. I have to remind myself to prioritize constantly. Someone told me that there is no such thing as this idea of being “too busy” for something. It comes down to priorities and if something is important to you, you’ll find the time and make sacrifices. I try to embrace this approach with most of what I do.
What advice would you give to other women looking to have more creativity in their lives? Be proactive and seek out other creative people. You can’t rely on others constantly to make you move, but let their passion inspire you and help fuel your own creative projects. I’m biased obviously, but get your name on The Fetch and find out what’s happening locally in your city each week. Attend events that are interesting to you for creatives, entrepreneurs, designers, developers, writers, etc. one day after work rather than practicing your normal routine. In Sydney, check out ABCD Meetup, Think Act Change and the Idea Bombing series to name a few. There is so much happening, just go seek it out.
What’s next for you? I’m planning on starting a new blogging project with my friend Brooke, a creative thinker, entrepreneur, and fellow expat American here in Sydney. It’s something we’ve been scheming and talking about for a while, so time to make it happen.
Where can people contact you? I’m on the Twitters @HannahDeMilta or happy for people to email me if they want to chat about Canva, The Fetch, or just say hello in general.
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Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Jaclyn Carlson is the founder of Blog Society, a community for bloggers & creatives as well as 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.
Conversations with Creative Women: Volume Two... the second reveal!
WOW - what an amazing, amazing response Conversations with Creative Women: Volume Two received when it was announced last week. Seriously, I was and still am quite flabbergasted at the enthusiasm and volume of pre-orders that have flooded in. And I am very pleased you like the concept of the fabric wraps! How great are they? I'm super-keen to see what you all make from them. So I'm happy to reveal more details about the book's interviewees... so excited to have these ladies on board:
These talented ladies above join the first announcement of interviewees but there are still a couple to go! The final interviewees will be announced next week.
If you'd like to pre-order and ensure you get a copy of this limited edition book (with a special fabric wrap!), visit this page to find out how.
Interview: Lara Cameron, Textile Designer
By Tess McCabe Coming up with the pre-order packaging designs for Conversations with Creative Women: Volume Two has resulted in a some pretty exciting collaborations, one of which is with much-loved Melbourne textile designer Lara Cameron of Ink & Spindle. Lara has generously donated one of her designs to be digitally printed onto fabric and will adorn pre-ordered copies of our new book.
Recently I caught up with Lara to ask her a bit about her design, process and what remains her trickiest business challenge...
This textile design is a step in a different direction from your Ink & Spindle collection and is an extension of your Proteaflora large format prints on paper. Do you have plans to develop the Proteaflora series further or release another range of prints?
Yes it's a bit different isn't it! It was fun to design something for a completely different medium. The designs I do for Ink & Spindle are very restricted, and in some ways I really love that - we need our designs to cater for hand printed repeats and limited colour separations - and those limitations are always informing my design process. Since the Proteaflora prints were being digitally printed the sky was the limit. It was fun to break free of those boundaries for a little while. I definitely have plans to do more - I have another set of three slowly brewing, but they might take a while to become a reality!
What materials or programs did you use to create this design?
Initially the shape of the Leucadendrons were hand drawn with pencil in a geometric style. I then scanned them in to the computer and worked over the top of them using Illustrator. I tried to restrict myself to geometric shapes only: rectangles, triangles and semi-circles. I found some interesting textures to apply to some of the shapes to give it a more organic feel - there's only so much crisp digital perfection I can handle!
Where are your favourite places in nature to find inspiration for your designs?
We are very lucky to have a house in our family down at Fairhaven, on the Great Ocean Road. I love that it's only 1.5 hours drive away and a total departure from daily live. The flora down there is quite coastal but my grandmother planted some interesting natives in the yard a long time ago - my favourite is the Pincushion Hakea which is spectacular if you catch it in bloom.
What is your biggest challenge as a creative running her own business?
Two things - managing cash-flow and making time to create! I think there's a lot of misconception about what running a creative business is really like, especially if you're truly sticking to your values, producing locally and in an ethical manner. It's hard! There's a lot of time spent doing book-work and managing the production side of things and very little head space or time to create. That's why I really have to get out of town to allow myself that mental space.
Can you share any details of exciting new products or projects you have in the works?
We *just* launched our brand new website which was an epic project in itself. To be honest I'm just happy to sit back for a bit and recover from that mammoth effort before tackling the next thing :)
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Thanks, Lara! If you would like to receive your copy of the book wrapped in Lara's gorgeous design, visit our shop before 30 September 2013 and place your order. And why not have a play around with a textile-design creation tool on Ink & Spindle's new website? So fun!