Hiya! :-)

What turning point in your career do you consider your "big break"?

Honestly, I think I’m still kind of waiting for it! I’m still in a process of finding my own voice creatively and personally. But instead of one “big break”, I feel like professionally I’ve had a succession of important small wins throughout these past seven years. To list some of the most remarkable ones: 

Becoming part of my local type and lettering/calligraphy community at early an age: Thanks to DiaTipo, a national typography conference, and the countless workshops I took within these fields, even this complete introvert and shy person here was able to meet and connect with some of her peers and idols, even though she was only a couple of years into this industry. In a way, to feel like I belonged in this wonderful community and that my work was recognised by my industry peers gave me an important boost in confidence despite my young age. It has truly been game-changing to be part of, contribute to, and exchange ideas within such an open and supportive community—it has helped and still constantly helps me in my growth not only as a professional but as a person.

Having the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest calligraphers of our times out there: To learn from a master in their craft is a unique and remarkable experience in every way. Long after having taken workshops with them, John Stevens and Julian Waters’ teachings still reverberate in my practice, thinking, and teaching. The experience in class has also taught me that those who are truly proficient are also very humble and don’t hold back on sharing. And nothing beats having shared these experiences and to keep growing together from them with my friends and peers who were also students in the workshops. 

Becoming a teacher myself (more by an external push than by self-confidence, haha): As much as I have valued and admired the teachers in my life, I don’t think I fully understood the responsibility, load of work, and empathy that teaching embodies before having to experience that “role reversal” myself. And ironically enough, you learn SO much by teaching. Being a good teacher is so much more than just knowing (how to do) something. Sometimes you think you know something, but when you’re asked to teach it, you end up realising you don’t really know enough or how to structure it to pass this knowledge forward. 

As folks say, “The more you learn, the less you know”, or in other words, the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know yet! There is so much study, prep, and research work involved so you get your facts straight and with a solid foundation to pass it on, and then in class it’s a whole new learning experience dealing with students’ questions, inputs, and varying level of skills. It’s definitely been a life-changing and humbling experience to be able to teach and simultaneously learn from students. Before that, I never saw myself in this role, but I’ve come to realise how much I love helping students by sharing what I know and pulling the curtains of the processes behind the practice.

What advice do you have for striking a work/life balance?

Well, if anyone has any, I am all ears! But since me and my friends are great at exchanging hypocritical advice (lol), I would say treating your rest time with the same regard as work time. I know I’ve had my fair share of mild burnouts in the recent years—because I’ve always put work (and others) ahead of life, self-care and rest—and I definitely don’t wish that experience on anybody. It was by pain that I had to learn to prioritise my rest time and build walls around personal time so work doesn’t swallow it. If your body and/or your mind are unwell, it takes a toll in all aspects of your life, including work. To be totally honest, old habits die hard, so I’m still learning to put myself and my health first.

What anxieties, if any, do you hold about your life/career? And how do you deal with them?

Oof, there are many and they are constant, unfortunately. Impostor Syndrome? I have it. Overthinking every decision I have to make? Check. Thinking I’m still not where I think or wish I could be by now? All the bloody time. And yet—are these worries really true? What do I do about them? Reflect a hella lot about them and where they come from. And go to therapy, of course. Being an introvert (and an over thinker) means I have a rich inner life and spend a lot of time in my own head—which can be good (self-reflection), and bad (that’s where therapy comes in). I am currently in a phase where I have become rationally aware of these anxieties and their roots (hello, childhood and upbringing!), which is great for lessening unnecessary guilt and mental self-harm, but I’m still figuring out how to get myself out of these false belief loops. Consciously, I know they are a construction and distortion of my own mind, but when they manifest emotionally it’s not always easy to process and counter them.

Self-love, care and acceptance are a process, and I feel that acknowledging and being aware of my fears and flaws as part of who I have come to be allows me to slowly heal and eventually let go of the things that have been holding me back from being my true, full self.

How has the current COVID-19 situation affected your industry, and your work personally? How have you dealt with it?

Gosh, it’s been awful for everyone. There’s so much going on in the world, that sometimes it doesn’t even feel that what I do has any relevance at all to be quite honest. I guess that in a third-world country that doesn’t have a strong visual or art education and [also doesn't] value that a lot, it’s unfortunately only natural that amidst a pandemic, economic crisis, and dismantling of culture and education by the government, all art-related endeavors are not really a priority, especially when there’s chaos out there and people are barely surviving. 

I’ve heard from many industry peers that the first couple of months in quarantine were financially—and mentally—hard. But it seems that more recently with people settling down into this new workflow and some loosening up and going out again as if things are “back to normal” (it sure as hell isn’t), jobs have gradually started to trickle in again for them. Personally, before all this, I thought 2020 was going to be the “big break” for me in terms of finally being graduated and becoming a full-time freelancer. Things were looking bright in the beginning of the year with the prospect of a fresh start...Then the crisis hit, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I had failed in freelancing before even having the chance to fully try to make it work, you know? I had also been undergoing two crisis: one about whether I should specialise even further in my career to maybe have a better chance at a ”big break” or finding some sort of fixed job as an alternative to freelance; and the other related to finding my own identity and voice personally and through my art—to find out: “what do I have to say?” and “what message do I want to convey with my work”? 

Thankfully I had my parents to rely on in this tough moment, and that has given me time to recover from burnout and the mess in my head, and try to strategise and figure out how I could make things work—which I know is one hell of a privilege. Soon after, some unexpected calligraphy commissions popped up, and they were life-savers in more ways than one. Both financially and mentally, because they didn’t let me succumb into despair by keeping me active and hopeful.

What does productivity look like to you, and what tips do you have for managing your time?

It’s especially hard to balance work and life when you love what you do and you work as a freelancer, because it blurs the line of what is work and what is personal—working from home doesn’t exactly help with that, as everything is done in the same physical space and you have to juggle work and home demands nagging at you at every moment. 

I’ve struggled a lot with that since I became a freelancer, because personally, I work best within some kind of routine that allows me to focus for long, uninterrupted chunks of time. What has been working for myself lately is setting boundaries between work and personal stuff using blocks of time in my calendar, which allows me to manage a variety of tasks within a more or less consistent structure. But I think it’s important to add the disclaimer that I am single and don’t have kids or anyone depending on me (which I know is not the case for many people), so bear in mind this is merely what has been working for me during quarantine. 

How do you deal with procrastination?

Erm...by procrastinating, then flat out panicking and doing everything right before the deadline!? Hahahaha. It’s always been hard for me to deal with that, especially with procrastination going hand-in-hand with perfectionism—one only procrastinates on something because it matters to them, which makes the thought of tackling it feels overwhelming. I guess deadlines work because it’s when the fear of not doing/handing in anything overpowers the fear of doing something. 

These days though I feel I’m much more conscious about my own procrastination, and I notice when I start tackling “satellite” or less important tasks in order to avoid the one I’m procrastinating (hello, Sarah Andersen comic, it me). I also know that this weight that I’m putting on to this one big thing is probably a distortion of my own head, making it seem much bigger or important than it actually is. So what I do to try and reduce this overwhelming [feeling] is split the task into really small ones—sometimes almost to the point of it seeming ridiculously insignificant (like “open a new document”)—just to take away that resistance of getting started. Once I overcome that barrier, I realise it wasn’t as much of a monster as my head portrayed it to be and usually things just start flowing.

What do you consider your biggest failure? And how did you persevere and grow from the experience?

I can’t really pinpoint a specific event, to be honest. (I’m still young, so that must mean the big failure is still to come!? lol). 

I would say though that, in a way, being fearful is an ongoing failure in my life. Even I, with my Impostor Syndrome, can acknowledge that I have achieved quite some amazing things so far, but with the background, education and sorta stability that I have, I truly feel I had the potential to go beyond and take bigger leaps and risks. But my fear always makes me overthink and holds me back—I feel like I am my own worst enemy in achieving the things I want to do. But, realising fear is at the root of most of my problems is something that I only recently realised, so hopefully I can gradually get the hell out of my own way. “Everything happens for a reason” are words that I live by (even though sometimes I can be skeptical and a control freak, haha). And as naïve as that might sound in more extreme situations, I do believe there’s always something to learn from every experience, good or bad—so even failures are always a “win” in a way, because you grow from them. 

What's the best and worst advice you've ever been given?

I can’t remember anything too specific, but I’d say what always helps me when doubting myself is: “fake it ’til you make it”. And my mum always tells me “the no you already have, so what are you waiting for in asking/getting yourself out there!?”.

I remember any bad advice to be honest; it could be because as an introvert I tend to surround myself with people whom I love and trust, or maybe I’ve just learned to not hold on to toxic things that don’t serve me well.

What is keeping you inspired and sane right now?

1. Rest/Organization: setting aside my rest times with purpose has helped me avoid having that sinking feeling of guilt over not doing something else (more productive—ugh, hustle culture that I’ve internalized) and just enjoy them fully. Organising also makes me feel like I’m on top of my things (though that might just be an illusion) and helps keep my space/calendar/mind decluttered so I can focus on what matters. 

2. Online life drawing sessions/Learning new things: whenever I’m in a crisis or feeling stuck creatively, learning something new has always been the best remedy to get me out of it. During the first months of quarantine, one of the very few things I felt joy in making was drawing (not letters). So I got together with my friends that were also interested in improving their drawings and we decided to run our own sort of “art club”, where we would all join a figure drawing session video and hop on a call every week to discuss the drawings and experiences, plus keep each other accountable. I’m happy to say we’ve been running it for 21 weeks so far, and now we’re shifting focus to digital painting to exercise something else. Being able to hold on to at least this one consistent thing amidst all the chaos and unpredictability we’re living in has been keeping me sane in more ways than one. 

3. Discussions with art & letter friends: I know I’ve already hit a lot on the importance of having a supportive community, but especially during these crazy times we’re living in, it’s been invaluable to have engaging conversations and discussions with my friends and peers about not only professional stuff but personal as well. I feel really lucky to have these people who are always looking out and rooting for each other, and to have them check up on me sometimes has kept me sane even in the hardest moments, so I’m really grateful for them more than ever. 

Who do you nominate for the next interview? Why?

I nominate Vanessa Fujihara! She is a long-time high school friend who is talented, young, and really passionate about gastronomy. She is now based on Japan, so we haven’t been super in touch (I’m terrible at it, I’m sorry Vane ) but I’ve been following bits of her adventures on Instagram and she has been sharing some amazing culinary and cultural experiences. Even though we work in completely different fields (and I don't really good at cooking, haha) I do have a deep appreciation for her, her passion and her craft. I bet she has many incredible stories to tell, and I’m looking forward to reading all about them myself!

Much love, 
Lilith and Arabella

L+A xx

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