After what felt like a pretty dry May (and long, too), June has been anything but. It’s been the good kind of busy for me, work-wise; I’ve started on three (!!) new projects, all wildly different: sourcing furniture for a new out-of-state project, helping plan a remodel, and consulting/collaborating on a commercial build. Not only that, but Xiao Ye is deeper and deeper in construction, and there’s actually been visual progress every week, which has felt so refreshing. It’s not without it’s fair share of headaches, like material and equipment delays, but I’m not sure there are many other problems I’d rather have right now.
The kind of variety I get from my work these days is what I’ve always wanted. I love that I get to bop downtown for a design meeting in the morning, then make a pit stop at a wood supplier to source building material. After that, I could have lunch somewhere in town, and then go straight to the restaurant to do a photoshoot with our friends before going home to finish up some stuff on the computer. I’m SO grateful for the work. The other day, I was thinking to myself, I still can’t believe people pay me to design. Probably because I haven’t fully allowed myself to believe that I’m a freelance interior designer (like, that’s actually my job), and that there is this whole other way to work in my field, even while I’m literally doing the damn thing. Is this just a me thing? There’s proof and yet I still can’t fully believe! Ha!
But when I talk to my other freelance friends, who are in their own creative fields like photography, copywriting, or graphic design, they all say the same thing. I guess it doesn’t matter how long we’ve all been doing freelance work, there will always be this little part of us that thinks that all that has happened was a fluke, the well will run dry, and we’ll never get work again. That’s what we call the trade-off for all that freedom and autonomy 😂.
SET DESIGN
I’ve mentioned in an older issue that I’ve always wanted to be a set designer, working on films or TV. In Vanity Fair’s recent video, How 'Asteroid City' Production Designer Creates the Worlds of Wes Anderson, they break down their thought process when creating Wes Anderson’s world, and I love how they use clever ways to cheat certain shots (something interior designers do all the time in their photos, btw!), making them appear straight or changing the depth of field. They show which scenes are actually made with miniature models and how they make sets that float and break apart; what a dream it would be to location scout for a film and be a part of transforming it to fit another time period or world!
READING
Not going to lie, I’ve been slacking on my reading goal this year (which I upped from 30 to 35). Currently on my nightstand is The House in the Pines. I’ve been taking my time, slowly getting through this one; I think I’ve realized that, since this book might be my first ever mystery/thriller, reading it before bed actually makes me more anxious than relaxed.
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