I’m very excited to introduce the first maker for my ‘meet the maker’ interview series, Wayne Pate, designer & illustrator extraordinaire! I have been a fan of Wayne’s work for ages and am so full of big joy to welcome him to my fledgling pages. My interviews will all be short, just ‘quickies’, with the first two questions always being the same, favorite’ visual feast’ movie & workplace music choices (I am always on the lookout for A/V inspiration), and the last will change according to my whims & fancy.
One of the things I like best about Wayne’s work is it’s commitment to clean & colorful boldness. Because I’m a color-phobe in my own work, I think that makes me even more attracted to work that embraces it. ”It’s so brave, all that color” – that’s what I say to myself… Another best thing about it is that it’s completely affordable! $35 dollars will buy you a little piece of lovely and maybe even an heirloom, when Wayne goes on and gets super famous (even more famous than he is already that is). I highly recommend doing this at his online shop!
Wayne Pate and his Good (Shape) Design:
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1. What is your favorite movie for visual/design amazing-ness?
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Probably the one movie that does it for me would be Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (Elevator To The Gallows) 1958. Soundtrack by Miles Davis. My favorite era is the end of the 50’s and early 60’s in regards to design, music and fashion and this movie embodies all of that for me. (A man after my own mid-century heart!)
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2. What is your favorite music genre/band to work to?
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50’s & 60’s jazz and a handful of modern day contemporaries. The Five Corners Quintet, Nicola Conte, Mark Murphy, Michael Naura Quintet, Chet Baker Quartet, Sahib Shihab, Frank Cunimondo Trio just to name a few
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3. Over the past year I’ve been learning to navigate being my own boss. What’s been the most helpful component of your entrepreneurial machine to get you past/through the challenges? A mentor? Delegation? Learning to get by on 2 hours of sleep?
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The one key factor is experience and that’s across the board. It helps you make good decisions, staying true and having confidence in what you do best as a designer/illustrator and not waste time wishing you designed more like somebody else, don’t rush creativity because the best stuff never response to those demands.
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Thanks Wayne! I can’t wait to check out the movie/music suggestions. I will report back my findings here in the coming weeks. And I love the final question wisdoms. Being a designer, it IS a struggle to have faith in your ideas and not get all doe eyed about what others are up to. If we can just all follow those wise words and maybe throw in a bit of “stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold” for good measure, we can’t help but get out there and rock our uniqueness.
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Thanks Paige. I love Wayne’s work. The funniest connection is that I used to live on the same block in Brooklyn as Wayne does now (don’t know if we overlapped – I moved from that block 12 years ago) and then you and I used to work on the same block in Burlington. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
[...] there creating some seriously stunning work and kindly agreed to join the ranks of our other maker Wayne Pate (our first & only up until this very moment…), officially making it ‘makers’ [...]