Tell
us a little about yourself and what you do
Born
and raised next to the sea in Melbourne with a love for 1960’s glass, all
things hand made and my vintage car (Morry). I’m a graphic designer
specialising in packaging and print, I absolutely love typography and have a
thing for patterns. My other passion is making pure and organic skin care
products and soap using essential oils and natural, plant based ingredients.
Who
(or what) inspires you to do what you love in your own creative business?
My
brother Leonard is a huge inspiration, he’s self taught creating his own
business hand making custom made furniture and sculpture, he creates the most
beautiful pieces out of wood, resin, metal and bits that wash up on the beach.
I found one of the first items he made out of wood the other day and it made me
realise just how far he’s come.
Where
do you get your inspiration from when you design?
Everyday
I see elements of beauty that inspire me and start my brain running around with
colours and shapes. I love Leunig’s work and at the moment I’m heavily into
ancient Japanese and Arabic art. I find inspiration in graffiti, theatre sets,
on the internet and in art galleries, crazy junk stores and particularly when I
travel. Panelpop is an amazing place where I see a lot of local street artists
work, I also look longingly at Pi Interest and www.dieline.com
always has juicy inspiration, I love seeing what others are creating and being
inspired by this.
What
are the five words that people who know you would use to describe you?
Happy,
passionate, kind, honest and always into something crazy (not 5 words I know
:o)
Beth's Family
Tell
us about your very first job and what path have you taken since then?
Well
I’ve come a long way from my fist job as a check out chick in BiLo, as you can
imagine I wasn’t too crash hot on the job itself, however I got to meet some
great people. From there to realising my dream to be a graphic designer and
beginning in a small design company.
I
then moved to do both graphic design and marketing in a wine distribution
company and starting my love of food and wine, part of my position was to be
involved in tastings and wine dinners and I was lucky enough to be sent out to
wineries around Australia to visit them and see what makes them special. I did
this work for some 6 odd years before leaving and moving to the UK for about 3
& ½ years and whilst living in Brighton I worked with Green People doing
their packaging design for all of their natural and organic skin care products
(I had been passionate about this area for a long time) and then moving to The
Body Shop International where I designed marketing campaigns for the whole of
Europe, Middle East and Africa, that was an amazing experience!
Describe
a typical day in your studio space?
I
always start with a nice hot cuppa tea. I find I’m my most creative in the
morning so I start early and immerse myself in design, then about mid morning I
generally make any calls I need to make and then get back into it. I find I can
become a little too focussed from time to time so I try and make sure I have a
few breaks away from the computer, then I pop out for a walk at 3ish to clear
my head. After that, depending on how much work I have I’ll either get back
into the studio or work on my own stuff.
It’s
disappointing sometimes when clients call with last minute jobs they’d known
about for a while. I totally understand that people are busy and sometimes
leave things to the last minute (I do this myself sometimes too). I feel that these
jobs sometimes don’t get the same level of attention towards the design
elements and they often cannot be allowed to grow organically so that rather
than the design being great it could have been really super ace.
Tell
us about how you prioritise your studio work.
My
first priority is when I received the brief and the timeline discussed with the
client, then to what level of urgency is it required, often this is a balancing
act. I always want to have final artwork done by the agreed date and I make sure
I keep very open communication with my clients as to how things are progressing
and how busy things are.
Beth's Studio
Since
you are working at home, can you please tell us about how do you connect with
other artists, and your customers (i.e. how do you network)?
I
meet a few other artists through Panelpop from time to time and I make sure I
keep up with friends I used to work with, as I like to know what’s going on. I
would like to work on networking with other designers more, it hasn’t been a
priority to network, however I’m really feeling now that this is something I
want to do more of.
Mostly
my clients are through word of mouth which I like as they already have a
certain level of trust in my work, other clients come through google searches
and occasionally I’ll pop up to one of the wine regions and speak with people
and drop off my contact details should they ever need my services, doing this
is also a good way for me to keep up with the wine industry and know what’s
happening (and it also helps to get me out of the studio once in a while).
| 82 Meters Group Low Resling |
What
advice can you offer other creative people who are just starting out and
following their passions?
If
you love it, then most often other people will as well. Believe in yourself and
be very clear about what your doing, for me organisation has been key and
accepting support was difficult as first, however I wouldn’t be still here had
I not had such a wonderful and supportive partner, family and friends.
What
dreams do you still want to achieve or fulfil in your life?
Definitely
to live in a tree house!
To
build Masere design and expand to have offices in Japan and the UK.
To
help people by making natural products without any chemicals and nasty, yucky
stuff
To
hike all the great walks in NZ
To
always be true to myself (I’m getting better at remembering this, but sometimes
I forget)
What
is your proudest moment so far?
Of
learning to be honest, humble and kind even in difficult situations – I’m
getting better at it every day
Who
do you most want to meet and why?
Jim
Henson (if he was still alive), what an absolute legend, can you imagine what
amazing conversations could be had with a mind like that?! Creating all of
those amazing puppets, characters and sets of Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal,
Labyrinth and Sesame Street is still going and it started in 1966! I think he
would bring out the big kid in anyone.
What
is the most important lesson in life that you have learned?
To
be true to myself, at times it’s really hard because you have all these
external ‘input’ (sometimes despite good intentions, whether you like it or
not) and I think we’re really programmed, these days, to please others. Being
true to myself always makes me happy, sometime I need to step back and take
stock to remember this, with practice I’m getting better at it.
What
book are you reading right now, and do you have a book you would like to
recommend?
The
Life of Mahatma Ghandi by Louis Fischer – WOW, what a great book. Ghandi was
such a fascinating person, such amazing shifts in the world started by such a
small man, it really makes you believe that you can do anything. My favourite
book is The Bone People by Keri Hulme, it has an odd style of writing and
grammar and the story follows three characters on their journey and the
relationships that develop, sometimes confronting but always mesmerising, it’s
impossible to put down.
Where
do we find you and your creative services?
My
design services are at www.masere.com.au,
at this stage I’m not selling my skin care products – hopefully soon!
3 comments:
Great Interview
Beth is a very talented young lady
Wow, its easy to see why she has been so successful, what a bright spark! I wish I had half the enthusiasm & passion that Beth has.
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