Well, more like why did I create an online business called Laid-Back Life? You might be thinking obviously to make money. That is partly true but there is much more to it than that. Of course we all need money to pay bills and to provide for our families and all the stuff that comes along with that. But what made me want to create a brand like this? It comes from a very personal need to be have a creative outlet.
Let’s just say I have always been the creative type and a dreamer as well. Both have helped me throughout my life. As a kid in elementary school when I got sick, and I got sick a lot, migraine headaches all the time. Talk about pain, like a knife in your eye with no relief. But anyhow I would go to my grandmother’s when sick and usually after sleeping for a few hours and a cup of tea only grandma could make, the pain would subside and I would want to draw. I would draw anything from the books she had around her house. Fish, birds, dragons or anything that looked interesting. It wasn’t something that I liked to do it was something that I needed to do. It was like a feeling that if I couldn’t be creative I couldn’t be me.
As I got older this feeling never left and I began to dream of what I could do with this talent. In high school I took commercial art class (yes I know it’s no longer called commercial art but back in the day it was), and loved everything about it. In college it was the same thing, acing all my art classes while pushing to do something very different from the other students in the classes. I was inspired by people like M.C. Escher, Oleg Shuplyak, Rob Gonsalves and René Magritte. They were all not the ordinary artists that created work that really made you think.
After starting a career as a designer and having the initial greatness of it all wear off it just became a regular job pushing each project out as quickly as possible just to start the next project. Being a designer for a company and having to follow so many guidelines can wear you down. Honestly, working in the corporate world can truly drain you and Laid-Back Life is something that recharges me. Believe it or not, after a long day at work, coming home and creating a few new designs that will hopefully inspire people or at the very least make them feel good makes it all worthwhile.
I do what I do because I love what I do. I want to bring a smile and a little happiness to people’s lives. My designs are mostly simple the way I feel life should be. I also want to be able to help others and by me designing and selling my designs I can give back. Whether it is to help the environment or someone down on their luck it’s all part of the circle of life. I hope you can find a design that resonates with you and brings cheer to your day like it does for me.
Please let me know your thoughts and what makes you do what you do. I find it inspiring to hear other peoples stories and what drives them.
Leave a Reply