Aimee Carruthers is a New Zealand designer, illustrator and all round creative type. I first met her through her involvement with Cross Street Studios, an art collective in Auckland; but it turns out I was already a fan of her work, with a postcard of Waaanda pinned to my noticeboard. Papercut Design is the banner under which she produces her simultaneously polished and quirky work. She kindly agreed to answer a few questions on inspiration, process and bears…
What do you enjoy the most about what you do? Working with other creative people. Collaboration seems to be what I get my kicks out of the most, especially at the ideas stage of a project. I always find when you work together, the result is greater and more original than what you could achieve separately.
What are your essential daily rituals? I feel like my whole day is out of whack if I haven’t scoured ffffound.com and the 20 or so blogs I’ve subscribed to on RSS. It’s about 30 minutes of my day and I consider it my morning creative warm up.
What dream do you still want to fulfill? I’d like to write a script for a short film and produce it.
What do you do if you’re not inspired? How do you shake a creative block off? I’ve had a few blocks in my time. For the big oh-my-god-I’m-not-an-artist-anymore kind of blocks I change mediums. I started out as a painter, then became a photographer, graphic designer, screen printer, illustrator and for my latest block, back to photography. Changing mediums breaks you out of the rut of trying the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result. If it’s a block on a particular project, I chew my writer-flatmate’s ear off about the problem and we usually find a solution together. It’s good to hear how someone in another creative field might tackle the problem.
How is your 99 Strangers photography project going? I love this project and I think it has done some marvellous things for me personally, it’s an amazing feeling to get over your fears and approach people you don’t know. BUT, I’ve let it slip these last 2 months. It was easy to do when I was on holiday and feeling relaxed, the people around town seemed relaxed too, but know stress has caught up with me! Despite my recent slackness I found that people are a lot more open than I imagined and everyone has a story. I’ve been reading a little about developing narrative in artistic works and want to start concentrating on bringing out the stories in the photographs.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt (professional or personal)? Good friends are everything. I have a whole bunch of talented, creative friends. We collaborate and share projects and I can’t help but think that all the successful people I admire seem to be friends – Miranda July, Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers – maybe we’ll turn out like them.
You do a lot of design for band/musicians – can you describe your dream music-related project? I’d die happy if I could do a gig poster for Grizzly Bear. Within 10 minutes of meeting an Auckland music promoter I offered to make the poster for free if he brought them down.
Favourite animal to draw? I seem to have developed a bear obsession: pandas, grizzlys… I’m worried about my work being too cute so bears seem a good way to balance that.
Current inspirations or obsessions? I’m a late adopter when it comes to being a fan of Stefan Sagmeister, but I am at the point where I am tired just doing things because they look nice and want to concentrate on communicating a message. I think Sagmeister is the champion of that. Watching him talk on the TED website was my most inspiring moment to date.
What are you reading? I’m geeking out and have books on writing, copywriting, art direction and design philosophy next to my bed. For a break, I’m flicking through Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected.
Thanks Aimee!
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