yellow monday ... Sydney, Australia

Artist: Linda Kruger
Business: yellow monday
Web sites: yellowmonday.etsy.com, yellowmonday.blogspot.com, trunkt.org/lindakruger
Location: Sydney, Australia

What do you create?
I make images on paper, and textiles.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Aahh! The question at the heart of most art practice, especially for those of us who live in the city. We have to be prepared to fit into whatever spare space and time there is.

For many years when I was doing lots of etching, I used a community access studio here in Sydney. Lately I’ve become more interested in other ways of making images which can be done in smaller areas and require less equipment, like screen-printing, drawing and painting, and I also love using the computer.
I do the computer work in my little studio (ie spare room) at home.


Painting, drawing and thinking and planning can be done almost anywhere – in the garden, in a café, in the lounge room. Printing textiles (or paper) is a bit trickier, but I have worked out a system for doing that on the dining room table – unfortunately not three-metre lengths of textile like I was able to do in college, but smaller dining table size pieces.

I also love to go away for weekends or holidays and take lots of stuff for painting, printing and drawing, because it’s so nice to be away from other distractions.


Do you have another "day job"?
Yes, I am a video producer.

Where and what did you study?
I studied film theory and practice, and printmaking (etching), and textile printing and design.


Where do you find inspiration?
Being around people who are passionate about what they do, people who like to have fun, people with a generous spirit. Eccentric animals. Beautifully made and designed domestic objects – particularly mid-20th century furniture and kitchenware. Pattern and colour in nature. Amazing shapes in nature. Handmade objects. Walking in alpine areas. Tokyo.

Inspiration can come from anywhere really. Actually it often seems to arrive at the most unexpected time and in the most unexpected places, and I think the surprise of never knowing where it will come from is part of what makes it inspiring.


What motivates you?
I think I am mainly motivated by the fact that I really enjoy doing this. It’s lovely to sell work and to know that someone has appreciated what you do, but really I’d be doing it anyway, just for the sheer pleasure of it.


When did you start doing this?
I started printmaking about 12 years ago and did a course in textile design in 2005. And drawing and painting always.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Yes, anything and everything! I’ve always loved it.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
For many years I did occasional exhibitions and group shows, but it wasn’t until very recently that I was told about Etsy, this great online venue where people sell all kinds of handmade objects. I had an enormous backlog of images and sketches and ideas for images that had never been exhibited. And so it seemed like a really nice project to prepare a group of works to put on the site. I decided to rework or develop a lot of the images and once I’d started, I found I was really getting into it, and really enjoying myself. I finally opened up shop a few weeks ago under the name yellow monday which is the name of a particular cicada found only in Australia.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Just sitting around with a friend talking about how her nephews were collecting the discarded shells of cicadas, and my partner said he used to collect them too, and that the most prized ones were called yellow mondays. It tickled my fancy. Especially since it’s an Australian cicada.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love it when things come together as I imagine, but I also like to be flexible and change direction as the piece develops. I also love it when the materials or process or a clumsy brush intervene to give an unexpected outcome that after all is pretty good – maybe even better than I imagined.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Toss up between Tokyo and the Warrumbungles (an incredibly beautiful eruption of ancient rounded hills in northwest New South Wales).

A book you love:
There are lots but most recentlyAudrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
My partner thinks I know what dogs are thinking. He always asks, “What’s that dog thinking?” But that’s really something interesting about him. I don’t know. I’m pretty boring really. Although I am capable of drinking twice my own body weight in tea over a 24-hour period.


What achievement are you most proud of?
I think it’s great that I still love making images. I don’t know that it’s an achievement exactly, but it’s something that gives me happiness.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Do something that you love, and then you will be happy to work hard at it.



What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Finding enough time and space.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I live near the beach and I love to walk along the coast. I love to swim there in summer too. Travelling as often as I can. Hanging out with friends and family. Drinking tea. Reading, films, music. Yoga. Beer.



What are you working on right now?
I have lots of things on the go at once. I have a huge backlog of ideas and sketches for paintings and prints. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few weeks setting up the Etsy store, and also the Trunkt site and blog. It’s all been a very steep learning curve, and quite exciting too, but I think I need to get a bit of a routine and make sure I actually leave enough time to produce more work.



What do you hope to achieve next?
I’d like to develop the Etsy shop more. I plan to do more painting. And I’ve been working on a range of textiles and pattern-based artwork.

Simone Walsh Jewelry & Objects ... Australia

Artist: Simone Walsh
Business: Simone Walsh Jewelry & Objects
Web sites: simonewalsh.etsy.com, www.blog.simonewalsh.com, www.simonewalsh.com
Location: Sydney, Australia

What do you create?
I primarily handmake jewellery made from sterling silver, silk, gemstones, vintage beads and anything else I'm taken by! I also create one-off sculptural pieces for exhibitions, along with more conceptual jewellery, also for exhibitions – these can be made from materials as diverse as precious metals, paper, soap, wood, base metals, lipstick, textiles and more!




Where and when do you do your creative work?
I have a basic studio set up in my apartment, which unfortunately also needs to double up as my office – I call it my 'workroom' as whatever I do in there it's always work of some description! As for when I do my making work, really it's whenever I can – I can still be up making at 2am sometimes. As my business grows it takes up more time each week, which does tend to mean I work far too many hours all up!

Do you have another "day job"?
Yes, I currently work four days a week for an interesting non-profit which has employed me for several years now. My role is primarily as a web designer/producer, but I also do graphic design and typesetting for them. Fortunately I am able to work entirely from home and have quite a bit of flexibility in my job.




Where and what did you study?
I studied Visual Arts with a jewellery major at a technical college in Adelaide, Australia for 1.5 years full time initially. After travelling overseas for a while, I moved to Sydney where I completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts with a jewellery and object design major at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. I also have a post-graduate qualification in internet design. I'm considering doing another year of jewellery-related University study possibly next year if I can possibly manage it.




What inspires you and what motivates you?
Lots of things! Currently I'm inspired a lot simply by materials and techniques – and also wanting to push myself further technically. I love working with silver particularly and right now I'm obsessed by intricate saw piercing, so that is motivating me quite a lot. I'm also fascinated by ornament and pattern, along with differences in the way western culture refers to nature in art compared to Asian cultures, especially the Japanese. Plus sentimentality and intimacy is a major inspiration in a lot of the one off work I do.

When did you start doing this?
I think I made my very first piece of jewellery with an intention of continuing in this field in around 1992 – it was an extremely basic wire wrapping piece. I ended up starting to study full time in this area in 1994.




Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Definitely. I'm sure like any kid, I love making a big mess with paint! I was also interested in simple embroidery, knitting and macrame – things we were taught at school – although I don't think I was ever very good at any of those things. As I got older and went to high school I became very interested in art history and theory. I think then I first started to develop an interest in three-dimensional work.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I started my business in the early '90s when I first began making basic jewellery. Initially I sold at markets, but as I learnt more serious metalsmithing skills I started selling work through shops. It really wasn't until around 2000 when I returned from a stint of living in the UK that I began pursuing my business more seriously and finally in 2006 things really started moving for me as I dedicated more time to it and moved my work to the web.





How did you choose the name for your business?
Actually, my parents chose it, seeing as it's my name! But the 'jewelry and objects' bit is really a simple reflection of the work I do.

What do you love most about creating your work?
I love looking at a finished piece – especially if it was quite challenging – and thinking 'Wow – I made that!'. I also usually love the process. I really enjoy soldering, for instance, and get a lot of satisfaction from a good soldering job, as strange as that may seem. Plus it's great to have the freedom to be creating things that I like and actually enjoy making rather than being directed by someone.




What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I think it would be a toss up between Istanbul and Tokyo! Going to Tokyo felt a bit like going to Mars – it seemed so radically different to anywhere else I've been and of course is so utterly enormous and busy that it makes London look like a little town! Istanbul is very big, busy and beautiful and I completely fell in love with Middle Eastern-type aesthetics and architecture while there – the mosques there are absolutely incredible and very inspirational.

A book you love:
Just one!? I read a lot. No matter how busy I am, I read a little bit every day – even if it means going without enough sleep. So one book I'll throw in here is Don Delilo's Underworld, which I've just re-read and is brilliant.




What is the most interesting thing about you?
Gosh, that's hard to answer! I guess that I've done a lot of different things in my life and have had a lot of interesting experiences as a result. I've worked in so many diverse industries from the music industry through to a charity dealing with ethics, and from very lowly roles through to relatively high flying ones. Plus I've travelled a fair bit and have spent time living in both hemispheres of the globe. And, of course, I've been an art student!

What achievement are you most proud of?
It's not really one achievement, but I think my independence. I've always been fiercely independent. I put myself through University without any assistance from my family and as a mature age student which makes things more difficult – and I did extremely well. I also managed to keep running my life without assistance through a lengthy bout of very poor health a few years back – although I did come close to giving up! Plus I've travelled quite a bit on my own to different places around the world as well. Right now I'm working hard towards being completely self-employed doing both jewellery as well as web-related work – and I think I'll get there!




What advice would you give women starting their own business?
I guess one of the things I found most difficult to learn was the importance of networking. I was always really cynical about the idea as it seemed like making friends in order to benefit yourself. But now that I'm doing it and seeing the benefits, I realise it's not like that at all! You can make very genuine friendships while also learning from someone or exchanging information or even seeing how each other's businesses might link up. Plus of course you can make purely business-level relationships which are great as well. I'd also emphasise that you need to be willing to do everything for yourself and to spend the time learning how to do so, especially if you're an indie designer or are running a very small business. You need to be bookkeeper, photographer, marketer, stockroom, packaging person, secretary, web designer, copy writer, legal expert, search engine optimiser, etc., on top of whatever it is that your business is actually about.




What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Probably time – I never feel like I have enough of it and I'm also very aware right now that if I work too hard (as I almost always do!) it puts my health fairly seriously at risk. So finding time and making time work always feels like it involves a lot of juggling and compromises, which I don't always like. Plus of course part of that is the difficulty in finding the time to simply be creative and develop new work.

What do you love to do in your free time?
Gosh, I have so little of what I'd regard as free time! Normally I'm multi-tasking even when doing 'free time' type stuff. But I love to read, catch up with friends online and offline and when I'm in the right city I love spending time with my nieces and playing with them (which definitely can't involve multi-tasking!). I also love travelling and would like to be doing more of it.




What are you working on right now?
I'm making a set of three brooches about secrets and intimacy which I'm submitting to an awarded exhibition, Contemporary Wearables, which is held every two years in Australia. The brooches feature panels in sterling silver which have some intimate secrets etched onto them in images and text. Over the top of these will be placed intricately cut out panels of semi-transparent soap, so you'll be able to see parts of the secrets, but not enough to figure out what they are. The only way to see them in full would be to use up or break the soap. They're really designed primarily to be exhibited rather than worn. No idea if I'll get accepted as the exhibition is always swamped with applications, but we'll see!

What do you hope to achieve next?
World domination! But, really, I'd like to pull my health back into shape again while simultaneously growing my business at the rate it's been growing over the last 12 months ... which may prove tricky! I'm also seriously pondering getting myself into the position where I could consider moving back to London in 18 months time or so, which would take quite some effort but could be great.