Essimar {paper goods}
There's no end to beautiful paper products and Essimar is living proof of this fact. Although this Chicago artist studied Interior Design in college, her focus has shifted a bit to creating intricate lace-like paper goods. And I'm glad it has because looking at her creations in her online shop, on her blog, and displayed so nicely in flickr, I can tell this is her current calling.
Essimar is listening to her voice of today, and I say today because our voices change as we age, but for right now she's following her passion and I think that's beautiful. I featured her work in my '08 calendar round up thanks to Abby's tip, but in case you missed her I thought I'd highlight her again because her paper goods are far to pretty to not know about.
I find much inspiration by observing the creative process involved in just about everything. Cooking, fashion design, interior design, painting, sewing, all of it. Even that Orange County Choppers show inspires me because those guys build some amazing bikes and though I'm not a biker chick, I appreciate the level of work that goes into building an amazing bike. The goal of any project is to complete it at some point, but I always enjoy the journey. It can be compared to driving across country. If you are so focused on getting there you may not enjoy your travel and arrive at your destination totally drained and uninspired. Instead, enjoy the ride by pacing yourself, stop along the way for refreshment, observe the landscape as you pass... Then once you arrive you'll feel really good and be ready to take on whatever lies ahead because your journey there stimulated you. Essimar's journey is one she appreciates and takes time to document and that is inspiring to her, influences her body of work, and inspires the rest of us too.
Documenting a process is exactly why I enjoy reading the blogs of artists who talk about their creative journey vs. only showing the end result. I like seeing what things inspire their work, who they look to for inspiration, even the music and movies they watch because I believe that everything we absorb in our daily life influences our work somehow. In the case of Chicago-based designer Essimar, her process is just as captivating as her finished product.
I thought that to remind and encourage all of us to pause and enjoy the view along the way so to speak, in whatever you're working on right now, Essimar is now our blog of the week. Having her there in the left column is your daily reminder to not only click in on her blog to see what she's up to, but to take a moment to breathe in, breathe out, ya know - chill. Enjoy the moment.
And this time of year, everyone needs this reminder because of the rush to get things done before the new year. But enjoy today, take a moment to be in your life right now instead of flicking on the autopilot switch and "just getting things done" so you can reach your goal already. I believe that when you enjoy your process, the end result is a better quality of work. As we can learn from the talented Essimar, it's not always the destination but the beauty of the journey that allows you to gain insight and experience and to produce beautiful things.
(images from essimar)