If you’ve been following me on social media for a while, you’ll know that my jewelry has gone through some major shifts in the last year.
First, it was my Essaint Collection, where I broke free from the simplified leaf/teardrop shape that’s been my staple for the past decade to explore a greater variety of organic shapes.
And then, in perhaps an even bigger shift, I began powder coating my jewelry back in February, shifting my work from a palette of black, silver, and bronze to one that is now an explosion of color. (Albeit a carefully chosen, personally specific palette explosion of color.)
As artists and designers, we are constantly coming up with new ideas. But as business and brand owners, we can also sometimes feel paralyzed by those ideas.
“How do you know if you should bring in a new product or collection?”
“Will people get confused or think your ideas are out of left field?”
“Will pursuing a new idea make you seem scatterbrained or inconsistent?”
I think most (all) creatives have struggled with these ideas at one point or another, and so I thought I’d share how I was able to evolve my work and my aesthetic while still maintaining a cohesive brand.
Of course, if you’re in the early stages of your business or creative practice, you might still be working out what your brand is about. But if you’re more established and worry about the repercussions of releasing new work, hopefully this gives you the confidence to explore those new ideas you’ve been dreaming about.
#1. I have a strong sense of my Core.
Core is a concept I teach in my class Core & Explore, and ultimately, I think it’s what keeps us consistent as artists and designers even when we want to branch out and try new things. Core is essentially your sense of self as an artist. It’s the influences and aesthetics you are most drawn towards.
At the end of the day, I have some pretty clear themes in my work, dating all the way back to my underground metalsmithing days. (Themes that I can now identify, thanks to the book Joyful, as all being related to the idea of Abundance.)
While my work has been defined by a single shape and material for a long time, understanding my Core allowed me to expand on those things while still remaining true to what inspires me as an artist. (Which enabled the changes I’ve made to feel like a natural extension of my line rather than a burst out of left field.)
#2. I recognized that a brand is so much more than a color palette.
When I teach branding, one of the concepts that I touch on is choosing a color palette for your brand. And a strong color palette can certainly help build a distinctive brand. I spend over a decade focused on black, white, and grey as the foundation of my brand.
But at the end of the day, a brand is so much more than a color palette.
A brand is an emotional connection repeated over time.
Yes, color can play a big role in that. But I think it’s easy to get fixated on brand = color because it’s easier than doing the hard work of understanding the emotions related to your brand. And if you get stuck on the brand = color part, then it can be hard to allow your work to evolve, especially when color played such a huge role, as it did in my work.
Which meant I definitely had some hesitation when I decided to start powder coating and bring in other colors. But ultimately, I understood that my brand is more than a color palette. My brand is about being bold and creative while creating work that is comfortable and easy to wear. Nothing about that is tied to a specific color, and understanding that let me make big shifts in my work.
#3. I embraced the idea that artists are allowed to change and evolve.
As an artist and designer, there’s a lot of pressure to keep making the work you’ve made, especially if that work is commercially successful. But at the end of the day, never allowing your work to evolve not only leads to creative frustration, but can create commercial problems as well.
I remember walking a well-known (and now defunct) handmade trade show when I was in grad school, and marveling at how many artists hadn’t evolved their aesthetic since the 80s or 90s. And I vowed to never let that be me.
Beyond that, while I’m proud of the work I designed over a decade ago (and the fact that it still sells today) I also want to push myself as a creative. I want to give myself permission to change and evolve, because that’s what artists do. And since I’ve embraced that idea, I’ve been having a lot more fun in the studio!
I know it can be hard to give yourself permission to make new work, especially when your old work hasn’t sold. But as artists and designers, we are explorers by our very nature, and it’s hard to resist the siren song of new ideas for too long.
So if that is you (especially now), embrace it. If you’ve taken the time to understand your Core as an artist and the emotions behind your work and brand, there’s no reason you can’t release new work that is also true to who you are!
And you might find that doing so is both creatively and financially rewarding. (That’s been the case for me!)