Cette semaine la série 3 Questions à ..., vous fait découvrir Laurence Petit, 30 ans, Mosaïste.

Les entrevues Creacamp visent à faire connaître les créatrices, anglophones et francophones, cela d'un point de vue personnel : à quoi ressemble leur processus de création, quand et pourquoi ont-elles décidé de vivre de leur projet créatif, quels sont les hauts et les bas de leurs carrières?

Cette semaine, entrez dans l'univers de Laurence. Si vous avez des questions, n'hésitez pas à lui laisser un mot dans les commentaires!

Cette semaine débute une nouvelle série sur Creacamp : 3 Questions à ..., qui vise à faire connaître les créatrices, anglophones et francophones, cela d'un point de vue personnel : à quoi ressemble leur processus de création, quand et pourquoi ont elles décidé de vivre de leur projet créatif, quels sont les hauts et les bas de leurs carrière?

Nous essaierons de faire valoir leurs réflexions, cela en dehors de nos événements qui sont pour l'instant trop court pour accorder ce genre d'attention à chacune.

Cette semaine nous vous présentons Rachel Dhawan, 26 ans, Joallière. Si vous avez des questions, n'hésitez pas à lui laisser un mot dans les commentaires!

À quoi ressemble ton rituel créatif? Que fais-tu pour te mettre «dedans»? Crée tu mieux dans le désordre, le silence, de nuit, ou de manière ponctuelle?

RD : It’s a mix of exuberant, middle-of-night creative insomnia where I draw or carve or write ideas and methodical, routine, focused production in the studio. In moments of great passion I don’t stop to eat, shower or sleep. During my more practical creative moments of filling customer and store orders, I am I wake up at 6 am, take lots of food breaks, exercise mid-day and listen to a lot of streamed radio shows, like This American Life.

My apartment has to be extremely clean and clutter-free for me to be productive, but this doesn’t apply whatsoever to my work spaces. My jewellery bench is a complete mess of works in progress, bits of silver, wax, tools and drawings.

I really thrive in this duality of Messy & Minimal, Irrational & Practical.

À quel moment, et pour quelle raison, as tu pris la décision qu'il te fallait perséverer dans ta création?

RD : I have always been bad at working for other people - I am easily bored, need constant creative stimulation and always think I can do it better my own way.

After completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia, I began to take silversmithing classes at the Ecole De Joallerie De Montreal and immediately started dreaming of making jewellery full time. Just like working for someone else, I got very impatient with the classes and decided to teach myself.

When attending a grants and loans seminar at YES Montreal, with the idea of getting an artist grant to exhibit the body of textile work I had created during my final year at university, I realized that what I really wanted was to apply for the entrepreneurship grant and start my own business. Writing that grant was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, as an artistic type who always stayed very far away from business and financial matters. I took it on as a personal challenge to grow as a person - I told myself that if I got the grant I would start my business and that if I didn’t, it was no big deal - I would just go about making jewellery for fun and grow my line in a slower way. Well, I got the grant and here I am!

Les moments importants de ton cheminement créatif : quelle a été ta meilleure décision, et la moins bonne?

RD : Bad decisions? Where to start? How much time do you have?

...Using grant money to create a website right away, when I should have just opened an Etsy shop and started a blog (which I now have)...
...Spending so much time developing and adding expensive pieces to my line instead of focusing on more affordable ones...
...Waiting two years to create a catalogue and a marketing campaign to Canadian retailers...
...Dropping out of jewellery school as I am still very bad at soldering and have to hire it out...

...Yet at the same time, I don’t regret any of these decisions - they have made my journey exciting, engaging and challenging. And I don’t know if I would have learned as much without them.

I am glad I kept working part-time for the first three years of business. It was good to have money to pay the bills with while Brazen got off its feet, and it also taught me how to make the most of my time and energy, which I think I would have wasted a lot of had I dove in full-time from the beginning. I honed a lot of self-discipline in that time, of which I had none to begin!

The best decision I ever made was to ask for help when I started out. I got lots of great, free advice from friends and relatives that forced me to look at my business from a business perspective and not that of the artist. I know how to be an artist - what I have needed to learn is how to be a businesswoman. And forcing myself to think like a businesswoman means that not only is my business becoming better at sustaining me, but I am also becoming a better, more well-rounded human being with lots of opportunities to learn and grow.

Creacamp : http://www.creacamp.org/users/brazen-design
Site : www.brazen-design.com
Etsy : www.BrazenDesign.etsy.com
Blog : www.brazen-design.blogspot.com