Interviewing to Claudia Owen, a pattern designer.

 
I have a great guest to share with you today. I am very happy to interview Claudia Owen a talented designer who is originally from Chile but has lived in Australia for many years now.



She is a friendly, cheerful and very positive woman, and it is a delight to talk to her. I love her patterns and style. I hope you enjoy this interview.

Did you feel you wanted to be a designer since you were a child? Did you have a strong vocation for it?  

I always enjoyed doing creative projects as a child but my desire to be a designer came in my teens. Early on I didn’t know exactly what creative field I would end up specializing in but somewhere along the way I fell in love with the world of surface design. I started designing patterns way before I realized there was actually a name for what I was doing!

Tell us something about your background. Are you a self taught designer? Have you done any course about patterns?

I have a bachelor degree in graphic design from the University of Canberra but I’m a self-taught pattern designer. I have also completed one of the modules in The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design featuring Rachael Taylor and eventually I’m hoping to complete all the modules.

There are a number of other courses that I would like to complete but I find it hard to balance my work, studies and all personal commitments. I don’t like to enroll in courses unless I can commit to it 100 percent! I’m interested in taking courses about running a creative business as well as pattern design.

How long how you been designing patterns?

I’ve been designing patterns for about 6 years – time permitting with all my other life commitments. I have a young daughter (4 months old) so now I sneak to my computer in the middle of the night while she’s sleeping to create patterns, it’s the only ‘me’ time!

How would you describe your style? Which colours do you like most?

My style is mostly geometric and abstract. I’m particularly drawn to geometric and strong bold patterns so that’s what I find myself creating most of the time although that’s not always the case. In terms of my favourite colour, I don’t think I have one although for my own brand I use yellow and I’m captivated by the colours’ sweet brightness and light.

What inspires you to create your designs?

There are a many things that spark my creativity, such as architecture, photography, nature or simply taking a trip to a new place. I always find myself searching for patterns no matter where I go, a simple trip to the mall can be a great source of inspiration looking at the patterns and colors around me.

Do you usually paint by hand? How is your creative process?

My creative process depends on the look that I’m trying to achieve, there are designs that I create directly on Illustrator and there are other designs that I create based on hand-drawn sketches which I later modify either using Photoshop or Illustrator. My geometric designs tend to be created in illustrator and my designs that are based mostly on textures are based on hand sketches.

Do you license your work? Which brands do you work with?

You can find my work in a number of places:

GREENVELOPE: https://www.greenvelope.com/designers/Claudia-owen
KEKA CASE: http://www.kekacase.com/designer-cases/claudia-owen.html
THE KASE: http://www.thekase.com/EN/designers/claudiaowen/index.html?ida=BA481750096B383C
JUICY CANVAS: http://juicycanvas.com/claudiaowen
BESPO: http://www.bespo.co.uk/claudiaowen/
CELEBRATIONS: http://www.celebrations.com/gallery/designer/claudia-owen
SOCIETY6: http://society6.com/claudiaowen
SPOONFLOWER: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/claudiaowen
ENVELOP: http://www.envelop.eu/shop/claudiaowen

You can find me on other places as well but I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many links so if you would like to find out more about me, the best place to go is my website http://claudiaowen.com/ 

Could you tell us the worst and the best for you about being a freelance designer?

I love the freedom to be able to do it from anywhere in the world without being tied to a particular location and I love it that I can do it at a time that suits me, which now means in the middle of the night!

The worst part about being a freelancer is that until you are an established name in the industry your income fluctuates a lot and the path to become an established independent designer can be a long journey.

Do you think it is necessary to promote your work using the social media?. Could you give us some tips and tell some of the best sites to do it?

I think it’s very beneficial to promote your work using social media as long as it doesn’t consume your day or stop you from creating your art. I know how hard that can be since I’m one of those people who is never more than a meter away from a computer, iphone or ipad!

I find that Facebook and LinkedIn are probably the best social media platforms. It’s easy to interact with your customers, fellow designers and brands that you admire. I find that with Twitter you seem to get lost in a sea of endless tweets and nobody sees you, at least for me this has been my experience so far.

It would be nice to discover something about your daily life. How is a weekday for you?

Life for me in the last couple of months has been very different since the birth of my daughter. She’s only 4 months old so I spend most of my time with her which is a great joy but that also means that for the moment my design time is quite limited. When I do get time however, I have to make the most of it and be very focused and productive.

What are your plans for the future? Any dreams to fulfill?

I have lots of plans and dreams for the future. In fact, I have hundreds of them! I like to write down all my plans and dreams using an app called Wunderlist and I categorize them and break each one of them into tasks. For me it’s the only way to visualize and help me get a step closer to achieving my dreams.

Some of my plans include having my own fabric and wrapping paper collection and establishing new licensing deals with a number of prestigious international companies.

It was a pleasure to talk to Claudia. Lots of thanks.