Windowsill Chats

Margo chats with Rochelle Porter of Rochelle Porter Design. A lifelong lover of global design traditions, the Atlanta-based artist takes cues from the breezy hues of her Caribbean roots, the stark simplicity of Scandinavian design and the bold geometrics of West African weaves to create vibrant, eye-catching textiles for the home décor and apparel markets. Her travel-inspired patterns feature joyful, unexpected bursts of color and classic motifs with a fresh, modern twist. Upon learning of the unethical and environmentally hazardous labor practices of today's globalized "fast fashion" industry, Rochelle nearly abandoned her dream of becoming a designer. That is, until she figured out that style could also be sustainable. Combining her passion for patterns with her commitment to social responsibility, she formed Rochelle Porter Design (RPD), a lifestyle brand specializing in thoughtfully made, eco-friendly home and fashion accessories.

Margo and Rochelle discuss:

• Rochelle's unconventional journey to becoming an artist
• Suppression of her creativity before going all in
• Her collaboration with West Elm and how it came to be
• The importance of staying true to her core values as a creative
• Making sustainable fashion fashionable
• Trusting in your inner knowing
• Her exciting upcoming projects and where to find her work!

True to its tagline, "Design for abundant living," the company believes everyone along the value chain should have the chance to live well—from the farmer who picks the pesticide-free organic cotton for its textiles, to the customer who puts them on her sofa. RPD prioritizes fair pay and sustainable production practices. RPD has recently collaborated with West End and The Happy Planner. Rochelle's designs have also been featured in Elle DECOR, Essence, BuzzFeed, Popsugar, HGTV, and a host of other media outlets.

Connect with Rochelle:

www.rochelleporter.com

https://www.instagram.com/roporterdesign/

https://www.facebook.com/roporterdesign

https://www.pinterest.com/roporterdesign/

@roporterdesign (Clubhouse)

Margo is Joined by Jennifer Orkin Lewis. A deep love of color, pattern and nature are the foundation of Jennifer's work as an artist, illustrator, author and teacher. Her joyful gouache paintings of flowers, random objects, people and occasional meditative abstract musings open a colorful and enticing window onto a detail of the day one might ordinarily overlook.

Jennifer and Margo discuss:

• How she got into painting and making the transition from textiles
• Not being precious about your work and why it's so important
• What Jennifer does when she feels stuck creatively
• What she loves about teaching
• The power of not giving up on yourself even when you do feel stuck
• Her experience with licensing
• And where she finds everyday inspiration

Ten years ago she made the move to switch careers from textile design to illustration, to fulfill a long held goal, and began a rigorous daily sketchbook project, doing a 30 minute painting every day. The looseness and intuitiveness of those paintings became her signature style and they are the source of much inspiration to herself and others. She is endlessly amazed and satisfied to see her shelf filling up with completed sketchbooks.

Connect with Jennifer:

www.augustwren.com

https://www.instagram.com/augustwren/

https://www.pinterest.com/augustwren/_created/

Resources:

100-Days-Drawing-Guided-Sketchbook

Sketchbook Idea Generator

Draw-Every-Day-Guided-Sketchbook

Margo is joined by the founder of creative agency, Creative Sparrow, Hannah Curtis. Having been in the industry for over fifteen years Hannah has worked as an Artist Agent & Creative Director, developing long term relationships with clients globally across various industries.Hannah works closely with artists developing their portfolio, with art direction at her core she brings a wealth of industry knowledge to ensure a standout and highly sellable portfolio of designs for each artist. Primarily from the Art Licensing background she works with artists to develop new ranges & styles including one-off designs available to license.

Margo and Hannah discuss:

• Hannah's path to starting a creative agency
• How she's doubled the size of her agency in just seven weeks
• How she helps creatives outside of agency representation
• Her main focuses within the agency
• Using LinkedIn as a creative as well as an agent
• Sifting through the talent of creatives that she seeks out and vice versa
• And more!

Since graduating from Art School Hannah has managed and mentored creatives. She is known for her diligent, patient and fair nature and is highly respected within her industry. Clients know her to be reliable and organized. With a good dose of humor and a flair for all things beautiful Hannah enjoys a full life and always has time for everyone. After a long and successful career across various industries Hannah set up Creative Sparrow to meet the growing demands from clients and artists.

Connect with Hannah:

https://creativesparrow.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/creativesparrowart/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-curtis-9b19ba36/

Margo is joined by Michelle, the creative and business brain of Allen Designs. She has always had the dream of doing something big with her art, and at a Saturday Market, years ago, Michelle marked the start of what would become Allen Designs, a World of Whimsy. Her lack of schooling did not stop her from learning everything she needed to know to grow a successful business. There is no shortage of getting her hands "dirty" because she believes that is where the magic happens.

In this episode Michelle & Margo chat about:

• Why Michelle originally hated art classes
• The book that changed her career trajectory
• Her first of many trips to China (which was her first trip out of the country!)
• Meshing problem solving and creativity
• How she oversees quality control
• The challenges she's overcome as a small business creative
• Her can-do, figure it out attitude
• And more!

In her free time, she cherishes being with her family and grand babies. She also enjoys traveling, exploring and cycling with her husband, Gary. Michelle is always inspired by the beautiful and imperfect world around her.

Connect with Michelle:

www.allendesignsstudio.com

www.michelleallenart.com

https://www.instagram.com/allendesignsstudio/

https://www.instagram.com/michelleallenart/

https://www.instagram.com/vanwanderings/

Margo is joined by Christine Hoffman, owner and designer at Foxglove, the Twin Cities first exclusively local and chemical-free flower studio. In 2017, Christine also founded Twin Cities Flower Exchange, a cut flower market for wholesale buyers. As a local flowers advocate, Christine is striving to form a strong community of sustainable flower farmers, small business owners, and folks who care about supporting these mindful endeavors. By providing a local, sustainable option to traditional flowers, putting a premium on collaboration, and reaching out to the community, she hopes to foster change in the floral industry.

Margo & Christine Discuss:

• The original path Christine had planned for herself and how it quickly changed
• How she got involved in merchandising
• Why and how she came up with the idea for Foxglove
• The things you don't always think about before starting a business
• Embracing new skills and tasks that come along with going from a solopreneur artist to a more community centric business
• How breathwork and meditation has been pivotal in Christine's business journey
• The silver linings of COVID
• And more

Since her days growing up in a river valley, gathering endless bunches of wildflowers from the woods surrounding her childhood home, Christine has been in love with flowers. Her parents are both gardeners, and their knowledge of plants and flowers settled into Christine with each bed she helped prep (grumbling all the way), and each garden picked bouquet brought into their house. She still holds those fresh picked blooms as the standard for what flowers should be.

Connect with Christine:

foxglovemarket.com

Tcflowerexchange.com

https://www.instagram.com/foxglovemarket/

https://www.instagram.com/tcflowerexchange/

Margo is joined by the infamous Lilla Rogers. With a degree in fine art from San Francisco and a second degree in illustration, Lilla spent the 1980s working as a full-time, highly successful illustrator, whose art has featured in publications including the New York Times Magazine, Vogue magazine, the Grammys and many more. She then went on to found Lilla Rogers Studio, a visionary art agency that represents over three dozen artists from around the world and has sold art for products worth over $300 million. As well as representing some of the most sought-after artists worldwide, the Studio has licensed artwork on a huge variety of products, including best-selling children's books, home décor, major ad campaigns, magazines, wall décor, and greetings cards: their client list includes Crate & Barrel, Chronicle, the New York Times, Blue Q, Godiva, Barneys New York, Warner Brothers, IKEA, Target, Paperchase, Anthropologie, and hundreds more.

Lilla & Margo chat about:

• How Lilla got her start in art and was inspired by her mother
• How and why she decided to become an agent
• Nurturing artists with her warm and whimsical teaching style
• Her biggest pieces of advice for artists
• Breaking down creative ideas into manageable steps
• How to go about finding an agent
• Overcoming fear and putting oneself out there
• And much more!

Lilla Rogers Studio has become one of the most respected illustration agencies in the US, serving clients all over the world who count on her deep knowledge of trends. Being an illustrator and teacher gives Lilla the unique ability to help her artists grow, as she fully understands the creative process and how to nurture the best in each artist.

Connect with Lilla:

www.lillarogers.com

www.makeartthatsells.com

Margo is joined by Bex Morley, a British-Canadian artist living on Vancouver Island with the two teenage sons and daft dog. Bex creates joyful digital art for a variety of products including bolt fabric, stationery and home decor. Her work is inspired by the lighter side of life and nature, often featuring fun animal characters and colourful botanicals. She is also drawn to nostalgic colour palettes and funny or meaningful hand lettering.

Bex came late to her art career. She got her degree in Creative Arts many MANY years ago but her artwork was criticised by art professors for being "too commercial", which discouraged her from continuing after university. Whilst Bex remained creative and always kept a sketchbook, it took her 25 years to finally embrace making art again when she found the Make Art That Sells classes online. It suddenly dawned on her that being "too commercial" might actually be an asset, instead of a fault. That was in late 2015. Since then Bex has done lots of online classes to learn the technical aspects of the surface design industry. In late 2017 she signed on with her agent Brenda Manley and has now sold and licensed her work all over the world.

Bex & Margo discuss:

• Bex's unusual path to making a career in art
• Why she originally pursued a degree in music instead of art
• Her personal mantra of Create, Share, Repeat
• How her mom is a source of inspiration and has reinvented herself several times over
• Repressing creativity due to comments and opinions from others and how to block out the noise
• Her experience of working with an agent and how that relationship came to be
• Repressing her own creative desires and working a '9-5' for several years before making a living from art
• Why creating is better than meditating and acts as a source of therapy
• And more

Bex turns 50 next year and feels happier, smarter and braver than ever before. She is a passionate believer that it is never too late to reinvent your life and career, however scary that may seem. She also knows that so many creative people repress their creativity owing to one small comment or opinion during childhood from an adult, which makes them feel that they aren't good enough. This is such a shame as she feels that finding a creative outlet you enjoy is like therapy, but cheaper. It has certainly helped her through some tough times in the past 5 years. It's never too late to change the direction of your life and start doing something you love.

Margo is joined by Jane Dagmi, editor-in-chief of Designers Today magazine, a B2B magazine for interior design professionals, and also host of the brand's SAID podcast, and an avid participant in industry events and panels. Jane launched her editorial career at Country Living magazine (where we met!), which was followed by several years of freelance writing and content development for designer-focused technology platforms.

Jane and I discuss:

• The winding path Jane's creative career has been on
• Giving back and inspiring the creative community
• Her time at Country Living Magazine
• Why they put art on the cover of Designers Today magazine
• Stepping out of your comfort zone to make an impact
• Interior designers she's recently spoke with and has been inspired by
• And so much more!

Jane has a B.A. in American Studies from Tufts and an AAS in Interior Design from Parsons.

Connect with Jane:

www.Designerstoday.com

https://www.instagram.com/designerstoday/

https://www.instagram.com/jdagmi

Margo is meeting Maria Over in her windowsill. Maria is an artist, children's books and surface illustrator. Part Dutch, part Greek, she is now based in Munich, Germany. She comes from a Fine Arts background with studies in painting, sculpture and digital art, and her journey has taken her from the Netherlands and Sweden for her BFA to New York City, where she earned a Master of Arts degree at NYU. She then spent a couple of years working as a designer and art director in NYC, mostly doing web design and ID for big name agencies. After a move back to Europe and more years of digital agency work, her desire to combine on-screen with off-screen work grew, and she created her one-of-a-kind jewelry label indígena that has grown to sell online and in several boutiques across Germany.

Margo and Maria discuss:

• How many moves and cultures has shaped Maria's art
• How she got inspired to start children's illustrating
• How Maria finds daily inspiration
• Finding balance between digital and hand drawn art
• Legendary artist, Georgia O'Keeffe
• The power of marching to the beat of your own drum
• Creating connections throughout COVID

In the past 4 years, Maria has immersed herself in illustrating and returned to the kind of work that she had always been most passionate about, enriched by the wealth of knowledge and experience that she gathered across the fields of art and design over the years. Today, she loves illustrating with watercolors, inks and gouache, with a keen eye for the smallest details, colors and a good composition. She enjoys exploring surface patterns with lush watercolor florals and cherishes the challenge of working large scale on shop windows and murals.

Maria recently finished work on her first fully illustrated children's book for cbj (an imprint of Random House) blending in her favorite motifs of flowers, birds and people to tell a story about why happiness lives in our hearts.

Connect with Maria:

www.mariaover.com

www.instagram.com/maria.over

[email protected]

Margo chats with the one and only Lisa Congdon to answer questions submitted by you and fellow Windowsill Chats listeners! Lisa is an American fine artist, author and illustrator and has worked for clients including MoMA, Harvard University, Martha Stewart Living, REI, and Chronicle Books among several others.

Lisa delves on:

• Finding your artistic voice
• Boundaries and commitments
• How she manages her work and productivity using spreadsheets and time blocking (and how you can too!)
• Making time and space for both digital and analog work
• Ways to get work with dream brands and clients
• How she goes about setting visions and goals for all aspects of her life
• Making space for work just for you and allowing yourself to be messy and imperfect
• And sooo much more!

Lisa works for many clients around the world and she is the author of eight books, including the starving-artist-myth-smashing Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist and her latest book Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic. She was named one of 40 Women Over 40 to Watch in 2015 and she is featured in the 2017 book, 200 Women Who Will Change the Way you See the World. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Want more Lisa? Good news, she will be coming back for more in depth topics on Windowsill Chats in the new year!

Connect with Lisa:

https://lisacongdon.com/

https://www.instagram.com/

https://www.pinterest.com/lisacongdon/