Brilliant Brand Stories of Creativity
From around the world, each in a different industry, all committed to daring to do business differently.
Cat Spilman ‘Mama’, image with permission from the artist
1. “to lose that sense of self-consciousness, that anxiety for perfection”
Artist - Cat Spilman
For Cat Spilman, painting is a meditative process, where rather than having any preconceived idea on how the piece should look, it is instead an expression of a particular moment and feeling.
In this way, each painting becomes a kind of self-portrait,
“They’re all snapshots of who I am in the moment and what I’m dealing with… When I’m painting I’m not trying to paint with any kind of message or specific thought in mind, I’m just painting based on how I’m feeling in the moment. Then when I look at the painting days or weeks later, I can see what that was about.”
Cat Spilman in her studio with ‘The Cineman’, image shared with permission from the artist
Using mainly housepaint and house painting brushes - originating from her background as a scenic artist in film and television - Spilman consciously limits her colour palette to encourage creativity in her work.
Part of her practice involves attempting to let go of any expectation or self-criticism and she is endlessly inspired by the innate creativity of her own daughter.
“I used to be so precious with sketchbooks. If a page wasn’t aesthetically successful I would tear it out and feel upset and annoyed with the process. Now I buy thick, cheap notebooks and try to be as loose as possible - ignoring pages that are ugly and just taking inspiration from the tiny bits that do work. One of my goals is to lose that sense of self-consciousness, that anxiety for perfection. It hasn’t happened yet…”
Spilman’s current solo exhibition is "Days in Goodness Spent" at Bark Berlin Gallery. She also has a group show opening in Copenhagen at Gallerie Christoffer Egelund on the 21st of June.
2. “No one parties like a weaver”
Weaving & textiles - London Cloth Company
London Cloth Company is the brainchild of Daniel Harris who, completely self-taught, made it his mission to rescue and restore a number of original looms dating as far back at 1890. He opened the first mill in London for over a century and is currently restoring Elvet Mill in West Wales back to its former glory. Daniel now has the largest collection of restored looms in Europe.
He shares his journey on Instagram with honesty and humour. From the highs:
“It’s go time. The day we made a warp and started weaving on a loom that had sat for over 30 years.”
to the lows: “I cannot even begin to list all the nightmarish things about setting up this loom.”
It is Harris’ creativity that has got him where he is today and it shines through across all parts of the business, from the products he makes, to his Instagram captions to the heroic job of dismantling and reassembling the often rusting, neglected machinery that has sat unused for over 30 years and get it working once again.
Food portrait of Camilla Wordie’s grandmother, photography by Natasha Alipour-Faridani
3. “moving objects by millimetres, adjusting angles by the degree”
Art director and stylist - Camilla Wordie
Camilla Wordie understands it’s the little details that make a big difference. Whether the micro-adjustments in styling a shoot to how the small habits in our everyday lives can spark conversation, connection and joy with others.
Inspired by routine and daily life, Wordie uses everyday objects to tell the stories behind her compositions with a playful yet minimal aesthetic.
One such example is Wordie’s brilliant recent exhibition ‘Eat to Live or Live to Eat’, where she interviewed 10 individuals, from artists to shop owners, designers, chefs and storytellers to learn their food habits. Based on each interview, Wordie created a ‘food portrait’, telling the stories of each person’s food habits, memories and the 10 ingredients they couldn’t live without.
Portrait of art director and stylist Camilla Wordie
“From anchovies to tinned peaches, ingredients you may love or hate”
Prints, plates and postcards from the exhibition can be viewed and bought online here.
Rosa Harradine in her studio in Wales
4. “slightly wonky with a beautiful indentation along the handle where a vine has grown around the hazel”
Brush and broom maker - Rosa Harradine
All Rosa Harradine’s brushes and brooms are made entirely by hand in her studio in West Wales. From sorting the broomcorn, cutting the sticks for handles, carving, sanding oiling, binding and finally stitching. The only mechanised part of the process is using a small chainsaw to cut the sticks for broom handles.
“I measure every piece of broomcorn by hand and sort it by length, and then quality. The scruffiest bits go on the hidden inside layers and the nicest pieces go on the outside. I stand at my workbench in front of the window and listen to a podcast as every single piece of broomcorn passes through my fingers.”
Image shared with permission, shot by Tara Juno Rowse
For Harradine, it is essential that her items are both functional and beautiful in their own right. Designed to feel tactile, something someone doesn’t want to put down (or put away), intended to be used just as much as admired hung on a wall.
As Harradine so beautifully puts it, “There are two types of people in this world. Those who think a brush would make a great present, and those who don’t”.
I am certainly one of the former.
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