This thing about having my own business was not really something that has ever interested me, I have never dreamed of any kind of career or being one's own. But since I injured myself so badly in my attempt to become a speed skater and did not have the opportunity to take a "regular job" due to long rehab, we chose to register a sole proprietorship in my name in 2012. So I became my own boss. At the time, I didn't know how much work we would put into it and it was lucky, because then maybe you wouldn't have dared to start the whole circus . But now I'm lucky that I have a man who believed in this from the start and he's the one who actually takes care of all the administrative stuff in the company and I take the creative part, so we do what we both do best. I also think it's fun with social media, even if it sometimes makes me stressed out.
What can also be a challenge is to finish and start creating after a period of "pause", because I have to have breaks sometimes in order to somehow recharge the desire and the creative "flow". Sometimes the break is a bit long and then I always get the feeling that there will never be a new pattern, so it is important to try to make the break a bit long enough. This spring and early summer is not quite ultimate for me who enjoys the heat and would rather enjoy it than sit in the basement/studio and freeze, because we have a cool basement, you know. You might think that lots of inspiration flows from the greenery and all the flowers you see outside, but no, it comes best in November when the darkness and cold come. It is clear that I then have use for all the thousands of photographs I took during the spring and summer, so in a way it is that time that is the basis for most of the patterns.
Working from home is really best when no one else is at home, but as we work with the company, both me and Lars, and our daughter Alice, 9 years old, often have friends at home, so you are often interrupted and everyday life comes in between . But it doesn't really bother me that much, not if I'm in the actual drawing phase of creation. But if I'm putting together a pattern report, the composite image that is the basis for being able to print, for example, a fabric or a wallpaper that has no beginning or end, with all the layers in photoshop, then I want do not be disturbed.
That job is like putting together a difficult puzzle. In a way easier in and of itself, because it is I who decides the "conclusion". In another, much more difficult way, for every little change in the puzzle, every little movement of the tiniest flower or leaf, can affect the balance of the pattern in a way that you only see when you put the report together and look at the whole. It's a lot of back and forth, test and test again.
Working at home is usually a benefit for me, who has a health that fluctuates a little from time to time, migraine attacks that make me lie down all day and then can work late into the night when I feel better, so my life would never go together if I had to go to a workplace every day. Going down a flight of stairs to the basement is perfect for me!
Now I will continue with some tinkering with my oldest pattern "Bugs & Butterflies" which will possibly adorn a mug again and maybe also napkins.
Over and out!