Design, my first love…
A section from an interview with Boston Voyager, a small online magazine, in June of 2018.
Emma, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’m not really sure where to start. I guess I would have to start by saying I am more of a designer than an artist. Not that there is anything bad with being one or the other but I am definitely a designer by nature.
I have always been into inventing things, especially with my dad. The reason I do what I do is mostly because of him. When I found out it was an actual career, industrial design, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do. I can’t say I know exactly what I want from design yet. I’m not sure if it’s for the money, or the potential to work with major companies or maybe nothing in particular, but it is my first love. Love in the sense that it means more to me than anything else and yet it makes me madder than anything has ever done before.
When my dad passed in August, in all honesty I didn’t think I would stick with design. For a while it was too painful to even think about designing products. But in the end, I think it would have been even worse to leave design behind, being that is it one of the main connections I have with my dad along with my love for automobiles.
I want my work to take up space in a conscious way…
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I definitely put most of my creative efforts into industrial design. I also run a car Instagram of all the interesting cars I see parked in Boston.
Since I am in school right now, most of my design work is short term project based. Two project I did this past semester was a skincare travel bag line and an air purifier/ashtray for cannabis smokers. I do freelance/trade modeling as a form of stress release and fun. I love modeling because it is so exciting to get the photos back after they are edited and to be like “Wow I made this awesome photo with another really cool artist.” I began modeling back in September a few weeks after my dad passed. I think I did it mostly to keep my mind off of what was happening at the time and I just enjoyed it so much that I stuck with it. I don’t see it as a forever hobby, but it is a good distraction for now.
There isn’t a specific message I am trying to convey in my work, whether that be my design or modeling. Just that I hope people want to work with me and respect what I create. I am still growing as a designer, and also just as a human too. Not that we ever stop growing, but I hope in the next few years to find my way.
I use design with the hope that I will help make the world a better place, though that sounds cliché I know. In the end, I hope that people will respect me for the products and systems that I design. I would like my designs to take up space in a conscious and helpful way.
My happy place…
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
You can’t please everyone. But you definitely can try to! For a while I spent so much time and effort trying to design things that everyone would like but that’s just exhausting. I can’t say I do not care at all what people think of me because I think that is impossible, but I don’t let what other people think bother me as much or dictate how I live/design. I used to really let those thoughts get to me, but they were never productive or helpful at all. I think that has really helped me find my own style and other genuine artists/designers to work with.
And finally, what is your happy place?
Definitely driving around in my Saab 900 with the top down. I grew up with that car, sitting in the back seat watching my parents laugh as they whipped around corners listening to jazz or opera. When I drive it, I think about those days, or the times I would drive my dad around, running little errands.
That is somewhere I can feel close to him again.