We met her for a chat about the balancing act and the art of listening to not only herself but also the universe for inspiration.
Ruth, we don’t know each other but I’m familiar with your work. Still, I have a hard time trying to find the box you fit into. What is it exactly that you do?
“Well, at the age of 40, I’m still trying to figure it out. But I try not to think too much about it and keep myself occupied with my work instead of trying to fit into a job description or people’s idea of what I am. I’m a very searching person. My field of work lies within graphic design, art, creative consultancy and entrepreneurial exploration.”
I guess it’s also an automatic impulse from people - that they want to put a label on you.
“Exactly. It’s easy to call me an artist, but I dislike the label ‘artist’ and everything that comes with it. In my opinion artists are too often people who keep to themselves in a studio. I’m a different artist than that. I have a degree in design, but I think the most precise title would be visual artist.”
You work on both artistic projects and for commercial clients. How do you balance that?
“To me it’s a luxury that I can do both. I divide my time between Lynfabrikken, a shared office space, where I mostly do desk work, and Godsbanen where I have my creative studio.”
And I know you don’t have any normal days or weeks, but tell us how this week has been.
“I believe in energy and listen a lot to myself and how I feel. Very often I can sense if I’m not in the mood for one thing, then I’ll change course and do the other. This week has been busy with desk work, and yesterday I was supposed to do my bills and accounting. But I sensed that it wasn’t an office day, so I went down to my studio and worked on a creative project. The more I honour my flow, the better my outputs are. I listen to myself and wait for the energy for the right project, and then I just go with the flow and my work materializes super quickly. It’s a really nice freedom to have.”
That’s really nice. I guess you also borrow something from each discipline to utilize in the other?
“Definitely. Working in the cross section between commercial and creative allows me to constantly find inspiration. Right now I’m working on an identity for a poster for Aarhus jazz orchestra. They are playing a concert with a japanese AI robot. To do this properly I have to look at things I don’t normally research on and learn from, and it opens up an ocean of inspiration for my creative projects that I never would have discovered without my clients.”
I guess clients also find inspiration in your creative work and then ask for the commercial translation. How do you balance that?
“I’ve just made a big project for Red Bull stripped music where the client specifically showed interest in my collage work. Quite early we had a shared vision of what the output could be and how we should get there, and I ended up doing a 20 meters tall collage for a show at the national museum of Denmark. That was quite something. I’m usually blessed with confidence from my clients. They trust that I can meet their needs in my own way.”
I guess you don’t want to create commercialized artwork on order?
“If it works and people understand it and the client is happy, I don’t want to be snobbish about my art. I’d rather see it out there, alive and spreading joy.”
It’s a bit different than other artists.
“Yes. But my work life is about serving clients and making our shared visions come to life. I really love to see people happy. I love to have a dialogue with a client and end with a result both they and I are happy about.”
That’s a very interesting approach to balancing the creative and commercial aspect of your work life. I like it. But wouldn’t the easiest thing be to say; I don’t have time for art because my commercial projects take up all of my capacity?
“I have an agreement with the universe: if I don’t have any commercial jobs, I have something else to focus on. It hasn’t always been like that. I used to be really stressed, also because of the financial aspects of not having any work in your pipeline. But now I’m a much calmer version of myself because I allow myself the creative freedom to work on art and actually also prioritize it.”
And let the universe guide you.
“Yesterday when I was at the office it was as if I couldn’t get a hold of anything. Everything was far away, I couldn’t reach it. It’s hard to explain. Then I thought, well, this is going nowhere, and I came down here to my studio and began working on something else. I’m not always the one who decides what I work on. I just follow some kind of divine intervention. My work becomes so much better when I find the right balance and let something bigger than myself guide the process, so I respect that a lot.”
All content comes from the website : https://minimumfashion.com/
