Jac: So T, in the spirit of this series, it would be remiss of me not to ask - what is your go-to coffee order?
T: It really depends on the day. So this morning, a mocha… I normally get a half-strength, cos’ I get all bajiggity on full strength coffee... I’m high energy already. Partial to a caramel latte also. Coffee's new for me. I'm a tea gal, just basic English breakfast. That's what I'm drinking in the studio all day, every day. I can’t have too many coffees or I’ll have a heart attack. What's yours?
Jac: I'm a soy cap.
T: Oh, classic, love it. It's on brand for you. I love that, actually. It's tidy and clean and cute.
Jac: So, tell me, you're a woman of many, many facets. Sometimes I can't keep up. I don't know when you sleep? [To package this up in a nice little bow, T is an artist, designer, type-A planner and organiser of many excellent events, host, mentor and teacher - it’s challenging for her to articulate the many hats she wears, with good reason.]
T: I know. Yeah, it's a bit heckers. So when I was working full-time, or part-time for someone else and doing my own stuff, that was a lot. I was running on fumes. But now I'm working for myself and it’s soooo good. So J (T’s husband, Jason) and I bought the house in Ipswich and that was so I could quit my job and not freak out about having to pay a mortgage in the city. We could either spend all of our money on a sh*thole that needs reno’ing, or we move 40 minutes out of the city and then I can quit my job. So that was the deal. My last employed job was Art Director of Howard Smith Wharves. I did one freelance day for them because they needed a designer to cover, and the next day I went in and they offered me a job as the Art Director, which the dream job. So I accepted that, quit my role at the time and then COVID hit. So then I had no job, which is like, you know... [pauses]
Jac: So this was pre-house or post house?
T: We missed out on one house by like five grand - we were out-bid. COVID hit like two weeks later. It would have been real rough to lose my job and still have to pay a mortgage, so it worked out. I think COVID was the only thing that made me not keep working for other people because I was like, I don't need to have a part-time job on the side. I can literally do this by myself. So silver lining, because I don't think I would have quit working for someone else - the safety net was too comfy. But I kept them (Howard Smith Wharves) as a client for a year after that anyway. And then I got brought in to create The Great Artist Market for Felons Brewing Co, nearly two years ago now. And I still work for them.
Jac: So you had the market going on, as well as your work as a designer for your own studio... and I think at that same time, you were also hosting Creative Mornings?
T: Oh, yeah, so that was volunteered. It was cool, but a lot of work - there’s no money. Pre-COVID, they had sponsors, but I wasn't the host then. The host at the time was a friend of mine and she was pregnant, so she was going off to have her little one. On a call one morning and she's says, I think you should put your hand up to host. And I was like, yeah, that's hilarious… like I'm an introvert. I do not like public speaking. I stay behind my computer. People knew of me, my work, but didn’t know what I look like because all of my photos were either my vans, or my face behind a shark mask or behind a bunch of flowers. I never really put myself out there. I was just like, that's crazy. I'm absolutely not doing that. Like, I don't like mornings. I’m an introvert, I don’t like public speaking. It seems dumb to me. And then I had a ‘brave day’ and I thought, well maybe this will make me better at public speaking.
“I had a ‘brave day’ and I thought, well maybe this will make me better at public speaking.”
Jac: Oh, a brave day! I love that… is that a thing?
T: I have ‘brave days’, yeah. And that’s when I end up doing crazy shit. Otherwise I’d just stay behind my computer working with cats, or just keep comfy... which is fun, but none of the good stuff comes in the comfort. So then I applied, and I was confirmed as the host... then I was like, fuck.
Jac: It’s one thing to put your hand up and accept the job but then getting up there in front of all those people... how did you find that?
T: I didn’t introduce myself for three months. I forgot to say who I was. I was so focused on the speaker and the volunteers, the sponsors etc. that I didn’t really think that people would notice or would give a shit who I was. I had to have a ‘hello’ slide in my presentation, just so I’d remember to introduce myself. I did it for two and a half years, and it was awesome, but a lot of work. No money, no funding, helping speakers get prepped for their presentations, because it’s a big thing to get up and talk about your work. Most of them haven’t done that before.
Jac: Oh yeah, that’s kind of like the anti-creative, isn’t it? We don’t like to talk about ourselves.
T: Oh yeah, when you’re talking about the work, it’s super easy. That I can talk about, talking about yourself is weird. I cannot do an elevator pitch. There’s too many things... so I just focus on one. It depends on who I’m talking to, what they’re into, because I talk to so many different people. I do programming and event creation, but I’m also a designer and web designer and I’m doing some coaching classes.
T: So Super Retail Group was probably one of my first intense design jobs, like I worked at this shitty studio retail group for BCF, Super Cheap Auto, Rebel. When I started there, there was like three brands. When I left there was about seven.
•••••
PRESS PLAY [02m:41s] T recalls designing for (now defunct) Ray’s Outdoors and we chat design nerd things - and our busted eyes as a result.
