OCT 2013 ISSUE 1
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BUSINESS Attitude 路 Nous 路 Growth 路 Enterprise 路 Longevity
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BUSINESS Inside: FURNITURE EVOLUTION
Evostyle
MAGICAL LIGHT Walter di Qual
The Real Thing
Megsy-Jane
THE ART OF ASKING Amanda Palmer
longevity
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BUSINESS
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BUSINESS Editor Tierri Abraham tierri@anb.com.au
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B U S I NDirector ESS Creative Tierri Abraham tierri@anb.com.au
Publisher Renata Cooper Investment Group
WHAT’s inside
Graphic design Tierri Abraham tierri@anb.com.au Online editor Tierri Abraham tierri@anb.com.au National advertising manager Tierri Abraham tierri@anb.com.au
En EDITOR’S NOTE | 5 Welcome
AMANDA PALMER | 6 The Art of Asking
EVOSTYLE | 8 Furmiture Evolution
MEGSY JANE | 12 The Real Thing
WALTER DI QUAL | 18 Magical Light
Andi Mether | 22 Chalk the Walk
HELEN FRASER | 24 Think Big
KIEL TILLMAN | 26 Letterpress
A NEW LEATHER | 30 Marvellous
Production manager Tierri Abraham tierri@anb.com.au Editorial contributors Edmond Burke Lucy Corro Nolan Giles Daniel Evans Helen Razer Photographic contributors Ky Webb Brooke Holm Saskia Wilson Candice Carlin Submissions For submission guidelines please see www.angelinbusiness.com.au Angel in Business is published online six times a year and twice a year in print Views expressed by authors are not necessarilythose of the publisher. Copyright is reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited.
A R T BY K I E L T I L L M A N
GALLERY
W W W. P U S H G A L L E RY. C O M . A U
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WELCOME
www.saporiti.net
En
dream big think big issue one ANGEL in BUSINESS is a celebration of new ideas, focusing on innovation, connection and co-creativity with collaborative, bespoke approaches to achieving outcomes in business and in life. A mirror for forward thinkers and big dreamers moving toward social cohesion, ANGEL in BUSINESS is a magazine for those who enjoy reading about the entrepreneurial and creative realm and the culture that surrounds it. ANGEL in BUSINESS is celebrating and elevating social good and an entrepreneurial spirit, working toward the philosophy that positive things will always happen when people support each other in business and other aspects of life. Please enjoy our first issue. Tierri Abraham - Editor
COVER PHOTO: Workshop BY Ky Webb
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longevity
the
art
of image of amanda by Andius lipsys
“No judgment. If you’re broke – take it. If you love it, come back and kick in later when you have the money. If you’re rich, think about who you might be karmically covering if you really love this record.”
View Amanda TED Talk at: http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html
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attitude
asking Words : TIERRI ABRAHAM Images: ANDRIUS LIPSYS
Rock musician Amanda Palmer has controversial opinions about making music; she encourages piracy – believing people shouldn’t be made to pay for music, they should be asked.
Applauded and often criticized for her outspoken views; Amanda’s popular speech on TED 2013, widely increased her fan base and started an international conversation about crowd funding. In her talk from TED2013, which has already had more than one million views, she explains her mission to change the way we think about the value of exchange and asked us to reclaim the art of asking for what we need when we need it. Palmer didn’t always make her living from music. She was a self-employed street performer who busked for a crust. She says it was the “profound contact” she had with people on the streets, the intimate eye contact she made with those who recognized the contribution she was making, that gave her the idea to ask her fans to fund her music. As part of cult band, The Dresden Dolls, she regularly sought support at gigs and through Twitter. She found her fans were happy to help her career in return for the enjoyment they derived from her music. She resolved to encourage people to download and share her music but to ask for help in the way she had asked for help as a street performer. Eventually, disillusioned with the dubious success standards of the music industry, she left her record label and set out to selfrelease her next album Theatre Is Evil with her band, The Grand Theft Orchestra. She turned to crowd funding to raise $100,000 and made international headlines when 25,000 people responded to her call, raising a mighty $1.2million via her Kickstarter page. But her belief that good work should be freely available, because those who found value in it would support it accordingly, attracted strong criticism from the media and within the music industry.
‘The media said, ‘Amanda the music industry is tanking and you encourage piracy how do you make these people pay for music’…and the real answer is, I don’t make them, I ask them,” she explained in her talk from TED2013. “Through the very art of asking I connected with them and when you connect, people want to help you. “It’s kind of counter intuitive for a lot of artists, they don’t want to ask for things. It’s not easy. It’s not easy to ask,” she said. Amanda sees recording music as the digital equivalent of street performing. Her website works on an honor system. “No judgment. If you’re broke – take it. If you love it, come back and kick in later when you have the money. If you’re rich, think about who you might be karmically covering if you really love this record,” she says. But criticism over her views and innovative business model prompted Amanda’s speech Muse and the Marketplace, which was about crowd funding and dealing with criticism earlier this year . ‘’For every bridge you build with your community, there’s a new set of trolls who squat underneath it,’’ she said. ‘People may enter without knocking. They may crash your party and drink your wine. Let them enter and let them drink,” she said. Amanda is not the first to give away music instead of signing with a record label or finding a book publisher. Radiohead gave away their 2007 album In Rainbows and made more money than all the Radiohead albums before it, Nine Inch Nails gave away the first volume of their album Ghosts on Bit Torrent and a week after its release the album received over a million dollars in orders and downloads.
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longevity
Retro Ash stool
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innovation
furniture evolution Words : TIERRI ABRAHAM Images: EVOSTYLE
Luke at work
Design duo Luke and Louise Ommundson are the creative brains behind Sydney design company, Evostyle. Louise an architect, joined husband, Luke, in the business to improve the technical aspect of Evostyle’s design capabilities. Her designing mind combined with Luke’s expert knowledge in timber - particularly ethically sourced American hardwoods cabinet making and woodturning, has been responsible for some of the most original woodwork coming out of Australia’s furniture design studios today. The company recently launched its new Retro line of funky, hard wearing wooden and leather stools and benches at the three-day design exhibition event, Sydney Indesign. Luke says the starting point for the new range was primarily budget driven. “I wanted to offer a range of stools and seating to the hospitality industry at a price point that they could afford,” he says. “With so many imports flooding the market, there was a real need for something that was affordable, yet of a really high quality that could withstand the demands of pub and club furniture.”
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innovation
Retro Bench
Bright Beads
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Available in a range of stained and natural timbers, Evostyle’s new line features stools and benches with retro inspired turned legs and solid timber frames. “Retro’s strong design links reflect a past era, when timber, vinyl and curves were all the rage. Having now replaced vinyl with leather, the design is still classic in its form, and has been purposefully designed with both budget and quality in mind to suit the commercial and hospitality industries,” adds Louise. The company offers an extended and high tech design development service, providing 3D rendered models and detailed shop drawings that customers sign-off on prior to manufacture. This high level of communication is one of Evostyle’s major selling points. Despite a downturn in the manufacturing industry, Evostyle has emerged as a bright star in difficult economic times. Evostyle products are designed to be manufactured at the most economical price to suit its application.
Heralding a signifivant change from the cheap designer reproductions and expensive European imports, Evostyle continues to initiate change to the furniture industry by promoting the best Australia has to offer “We are passionate about keeping skills in Australia,” says Louise, who oversees CAD modelling for Evostyle furniture and products as well as most of the customer service. “We also design and manufacture our own range of furniture and home ware products,” she says. “The best part of the job is seeing the designs come to life.” Evostyle works within the commercial, corporate and private arenas. Consulting with a wide variety of clients to create custom made furniture, projects range from a boardroom table for a corporation to crafted joinery for a building renovation; designer furniture for a modern apartment to tailored tables, bar tables and table tops for the hospitality industry.
longevity
“With so many imports flooding the market, there was a real need for something that was affordable, yet of a really high quality that could withstand the demands of pub and club furniture.�
longevity
The Real Thing Words : TIERRI ABRAHAM Images: KELSEY PRICE
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GROWTH
Rain Drops
A new generation of young and talented craft-makers is on the rise; opting to create their own design businesses rather than take corporate jobs, these rebel makers take pride in the revival of craftsmanship. Handmade businesses are booming. Yet, surprisingly, the biggest hurdle for these craftspeople is not so much the economic downturn but the increase in fake handmade products on the market.
Kelsey Price is the designer behind the independent handmade jewellery label, Megsy-Jane. A lover of vintage, indie designers and everything handmade, she has a strong passion for creating one-off and limited edition pieces. A self-taught artist, Kelsey relies upon her creative talent and ingenuity to develop new techniques and take her designs from the page to a stunning piece of beautiful functional, wearable art. “Once upon a time, if someone said they made it, they did,” she said. “In recent years, with the rise of popularity and the demand for handmade, designer pieces, has come the fake pieces,” she relunctantly confirms. Do you think people can recognise the difference between a quality handmade jewellery like yours and a cheaper factory made product? I often receive quite a surprised reaction when people find out I make and design my pieces. I assume that this would mostly be due to the fact that so few people -compared to the amount of imported factory made products available - do design and make the pieces for their label or business themselves.
How do you tell the difference between real and something that is a “fake”. Even when purchasing handmade, it can still be difficult to differentiate between the quality of pieces, especially online. Although Megsy-Jane pieces are superior in quality to factory made imports, with so many businesses and labels out there all claiming ‘handmade’ and ‘quality’, it is increasingly difficult for consumers to differentiate between a high quality product and cheaper alternatives. Ask questions before you buy the product, for example — Do you make these? How long have you been doing it? How much time goes into each piece you make? Anywhere from a few hours to weeks or months of work goes into each piece – from the initial sketches to the sourcing of materials, and the actual making of the piece. What is your favourite part of creating your jewellery - the designing or making of the piece? The designing is my favourite part. Making a new design is always a challenge, the logistics of taking something from the page to a tangible object can be testing but the end result is always worth it.
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GROWTH
Kelsey Price
What are the five crucial steps to take in creating your own business? 1. Do your research. Is the product or service you plan to offer unique? Is there a gap in the market? Is there a need in the market for your product or service? You need to be different to stand out. 2. You must be passionate. Running a start-up is not easy – even less so when you are designing and making the products you sell! 3. This one seems like a no-brainer, but I think an area most businesses fail in is customer service. So many times, I’ve sent a simple online enquiry off to another business and not received a reply. The level of customer service you offer can be the thing that makes or breaks you, especially as an independent label offering bespoke services.
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4. Be professional! I see so much unprofessionalism in the business arena, especially on social media. Your fans are there to hear about your amazing product or service, not your personal life. I think the Twitter atmosphere is a little more conversational and relaxed than Facebook, but still, keep it professional. Keep it relevant to your brand and industry and think twice before posting anything that may be controversial. 5.What works for one business will not necessarily work for the next. Make your own. Be your own. That is what being the CEO of your own creative microbusiness is all about. You set the precedent. You write the rules. Because there are none. Running a creative business might be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do – it will also be the most rewarding thing you will ever do.
longevity
“Be professional! I see so much unprofessionalism in the business arena, especially on social media. Your fans are there to hear about your amazing product or service, not your personal life.�
Floral Bib
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longevity
walter di qual
longevity
magica
Walter di Qual’s paintings are deeply personal explorations; a form of meditation, based on observations, hopes and dreams but based on very real connections. His imagined landscapes, images and subjects are often inspired by real life experiences and encounters. “What might look like a flower might be illustrating the death of a friend – portraying a particular time for me,” he says. Emigrating to Australia with his family in the 1960s, Walter began his artistic life painting in oils but his style has evolved; he paints every day and sees himself as a diarist of the minutiae of life. Walter paints everything from tools to toys, women, nature and fish – nothing escapes his eye. Every painting is deeply personal.
Words : TIERRI ABRAHAM Images: WALTER Di QUAL
His daily observations are carefully documented in sketch books, with titles like “2007 - a year of re-building” and “2009 - a year in a daze”. Only some diary entries make it to canvas. ”People say I’d love you to paint for me - but I say, I don’t paint for you, I am painting because this is what I need to keep my head and heart in an elevated state – I need to see things in this magical light that art provides for me,” he says. But art wasn’t always an escape. It took time for Walter to make peace with his artistic talent. As a fifteen year old he was painting commissions and at seventeen, his work was being sold through a commercial galleries. “When I was in my teens I started painting what I thought other people wanted, but it was like trying to live someone else’s life,” he said.
light
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“I paint all the time, every day, my subconscious talks through my art.”
White Rabbit Bounding
At eighteen, Walter gave art away to focus on “more useful things”. He established a successful career as an architect but he says his desire to “communicate with himself” drew him back to the brush. “As you get older, or at any age really, you can find yourself losing your sense of direction. People take up dance, take a trip while th ey try and re-group… Art provides the same kind of distraction for me and in 2006 it came back with a vengeance. I felt this sense of surrender to it. Art has helped me realise things that may seem unachievable can be achieved - just in a different way. “I’ve had to deal with depression for a great part of my life and now, for me, art is a way of doing something about it, managing it. We all have times when we go through more challenges than normal, through love, family or work, the things that come up as part of the emotional weather of life and my art would always come back to get me through it – sort of like a virus helping me,” he said. Walter gives a lot of his work away to charities. During a 2010 Children’s Foundation exhibition at the Children’s Hospital in Randwick, Walter donated a painting of a white rabbit bounding along the banks of the Nepean River. “A doctor mentioned the painting had really uplifted him after the deaths of two young patients and so I decided to donate it right away,” he said. During the same exhibition Walter was asked if he would illustrate a children’s book inspired by his painting of a paper mache rocking horse that melted in the rain in a refugee camp when he was four years old. The painting can be seen on Walter’s website in the Toy series. The book is called The Carousel. “I paint all the time, every day, my subconscious talks through my art, ” he said. ‘I can’t understand painters who say they have been three months thinking of inspiration for an exhibition but they still have no inspiration. They should be merchant bankers not artists. I can’t stop painting.” Check out Walter’s art www.walterdiqual.com
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longevity
Self-portrait
Self-Portrait
CHALK THE WALK Words : TIERRI ABRAHAM Images: ANDI METHER
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ENTERPRISE
My Blue Angel
Like most of us, documentary maker Andi Mether’s first experience of chalk art was on a blackboard at home. It was not until 1990, when she experienced the work of pavement painters on the streets of Belgium that she became a passionate advocate of the art form. Like most of us, documentary maker Andi Mether’s first experience of chalk art was on a blackboard at home. It was not until 1990, when she experienced the work of pavement painters on the streets of Belgium that she became a passionate advocate of the art form. “It was love at first sight,” she says. “As a child my mother introduced me to many artists and encouraged me and my siblings to express ourselves and share our ideas through the process of art.” Andi, who organised the first Chalk Urban Art Festival in Sydney in 2005, travelled to Italy last year with film-makers Claire Balart and Shaun Flaherty to film a documentary about Australian pavement artists Jenny McCracken and Anton Pulveriti in an event regarded as the “pavement art Olympics” - the Incontro Nazionale dei Madonnari in Grazie di Curtatone in Lombardy, Northern Italy. The documentary, Chalk : An Australian Perspective, which took 14 months to make, follows the experiences of the Australians as they go head to head with the best pavement artists in the world who compete not for prize money – as there is none on offer - but for the prestige of being declared Madonnari as part of the small medieval town’s religious festival. Like the best athletes, the Australian street artists spent the weeks before the event in intense preparation, sourcing premium supplies, seeking tips from experienced Graziecompetitors along with advice from the “da
Vinci of street art” NASA scientific illustrator Kurt Wenner, before embarking on the 24 hour challenge in front of an audience of 200,000 spectators. Pavement art is popular around the world, with incredible 3D artworks living on online long after rain has washed the artwork away. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Grazie di Curtatone is part of religious festivities for the Catholic Feast of the Assumption. Andi who claims Dutch and Finnish heritage, has always mixed in multicultural circles. She studied art at school in Canberra but went on to train and work as an exhibition designer and works as a managing director of an international events company based in Sydney. Her idea to create a chalk art festival in Australia first came about in 2000; chalk art has become her “passion project”. “My friend Bernardo von Hessberg - a well known street painter in Europe - was visiting. I was looking for something new to do and Bernardo knew I loved pavement art and knew a lot of artists both here and overseas. He suggested that I start a competition here in Australia. It took five years to get Chalk off the ground and in 2005 Bernardo came out for the event and was our first international guest artist. “ I’m always working on new ideas, liaising with artists, speaking with potential sponsors and donors. Chalk Urban Art is a not for profit association, with deductible gift recipient status. I work with members of the Board who all donate their time because they too believe in this event. “It was April last year that we decided to make the documentary. We knew it was the 40th anniversary of the original festival in Grazie di Curtatone and I was determined that we would be there to represent Australia,” she said.
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enterprise
“Pavement art is an ephemeral art form, a treasure to be enjoyed for the moment.”
ABOVE: Andi Mether MIDDLE: Freedom
Andi says the documentary would not have got off the ground if not for the support of social and ethical entrepreneur Renata Cooper and Mrs Chris Norman. “It’s thanks to these women that the idea came to fruition. Renata was one of the artists that took part in the first Chalk Urban Art festival on Pyrmont Bridge, in 2005. Many people don’t know that Renata, a well known philanthropist and business woman, is also a talented artist,” she said. “Forming Circles is an appropriate partner for Chalk Urban Art and our documentary; on our journey we were literally ‘forming circles’. We discovered we had travelled similar paths at similar times, but were all in different circles. On this journey the circles all linked up.” A chalk pavement art contest is not for the faint hearted, more an endurance event. In Grazie, the artists had just 24 hours to produce their work. “The time frames might be different, for example, Chalk Urban Art Festival usually runs for four days so you have to keep your stamina up and just like sporting events some artists will perform better over shorter time periods and others longer,” said Andi.
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“Boosts of adrenaline occur throughout the event and the rush of excitement keeps you going. Either way you need to be on top of your game to perform at your best.” The win triggered an even stronger desire in Andi to build Chalk Urban Art Festival here in Australia and develop an artist exchange program with similar festivals around the world. “I came home full of ideas and new contacts which will result in more opportunities for our artists here at home, “ she said. Chalk is such a simple material to use to get your message across, it’s easy to use, and it’s fun. You can create a line drawing or an elaborate masterpiece,” said Andi. “Pavement art is an ephemeral art form, it’s a treasure to be enjoyed for the moment – just like a flower, a song or a special moment in time. Don’t forget it can be recorded in photographs and when it washes away it’s another excuse to come back and do it all again.” The documentary, edited by Rodrigo Balart, will be released in 2014. You can view the trailer online at www.chalkurbanart.com
Photograph by Luca Volpi.
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