FK chats to creative husband and wife team of Sydney label, Deleted Scene debuting at the upcoming Sydney Markets!
Can you tell us the story behind your label?
My wife and I have a background in architecture and interior design. We live in Sydney, dividing our time between work, our kids, family and various hobbies. We have always felt a need for a creative outlet not limited to the usual rules and regulations of our professional lives. One day we were looking for some gifts on the internet, and we discovered an evolving community of fantastic indie artists on Etsy. We went to our first Finders Keepers Markets in December last year to have a first-hand look. At that stage we had been setting up Deleted Scene for a while, and the visit convinced us that there was a gap in the market for the kind of pieces we wanted to make.
Who are the team behind Deleted Scene and what are their roles?
The two team members of Deleted Scene are my wife Liz and I. We only set up our label a few months ago, so the roles are not yet clearly defined. So far it seems to work like this: I come up with a new idea that I’m very excited about. Liz looks over it with her expert eye for detail and tells me how it could be better. Then we work together on refining the idea into something we are both happy with. After that, the tasks involved with producing the artworks, marketing, sales, blogging etc are divided between the two of us – mostly based on who is not chasing after the kids at any given time…
What inspires your work? and what keeps you motivated creatively?
It might sound like a cliché, but we really do find inspiration everywhere around us. Being involved in the fields of architecture and design we have a natural curiosity about the world. Ideas just seem to be ready to jump out at us at every turn, and the trick is to catch them early, either by jotting them down or doing a rough sketch. After that, motivation comes from discovering new directions in what we do. Our artworks combine architectural model making techniques with art/craft processes. We are only starting to discover what this combination is capable of producing.
What is your workspace like? and what is your creative process?
At the moment we do not really have one dedicated workspace – we seem to oscillate between a few locations in our house depending on the task at hand. The majority of the materials and tools are stored in our garage-cum-studio, where most of the experimenting, cutting, drilling, sanding, gluing, painting and varnishing happens. We like to do the initial drawing and sketching anywhere, but mostly in the living room with a glass of wine in hand and a good movie or doco on TV. The final packaging, wrapping, label and business card printing happens in the study.
What challenges have you faced starting your own label, and what are some things you love about it?
So far the start-up process has been relatively smooth, only really hindered by periods of our procrastination. Now that we’re up and running, we can see that marketing will be a challenge as there are so many great labels out there, all creating unique and beautiful work. We have been lucky enough to be selected for the upcoming Autumn/Winter Sydney FK markets, and we are very excited as this is one aspect of Deleted Scene we suspect we will find most enjoyable. The thing we love the most about our label is that our concept is still young and has the potential to develop into something we’re not aware of yet.
What new projects are you working on and where would you like to see Deleted Scene in the future?
Our first series of artworks is based on lasercut patterns mounted on plywood blocks. We are currently experimenting with pushing this technique further, cutting into different materials etc. We are also working on some prints and various graphic media techniques to add more colours and expand the range. We would love to see our works in local design/art stores and we hope we will be able to attend many future markets. We are counting on feedback from the upcoming Finders Keepers markets to help us evolve our ideas – at this stage we are excited about trying out new things. As far as a future direction, we’ll have to just wait and see…