{how design conference - chicago}

In late June, Tim and I went to Chicago for the HOW Design Conference. At the time of our trip, Tim and I both were feeling very trapped. Trapped with ideas we had, not really knowing what to do with them, how to do them, or even if they were good ideas at all. In going to the conference, we were hopeful that we would come home with a renewed and re-energized creative self - ready to tackle all of the things before us. In the end, that's exactly what happened.

We heard some really amazing speakers like Peleg Top and, Armin Vit,  the brains behind Under Consideration. We also heard designer Heather Lins talk about how she started her own company selling designer pillows, of all things! She gave tips and advice for those of us who were thinking about starting a product-based company. The most amazing speaker was the designer/artist/genius Stephen Doyle who created so many amazing designs that we see every day. We felt like we were in the presence of a true genius.

Seeing all of this work and hearing all of these stories, we noticed an underlying theme. All of the speakers were essentially telling us to do what WE wanted to do, to be creative with it, and to do it simply because we love it.

As soon as we got home, we felt this urge that we needed to do something with our creativity or we were just letting ourselves down. One of the immediate results was Tim's portfolio. He's been wanting to start/finish it for a long time now, he just needed that extra push to get going. I am really proud of him, and it looks awesome! Hopefully he will post the link soon.

As of now, Tim and I are both working on our own little ventures and hopefully, cross your fingers, something will eventually come out of them. When I sit back and think about it, I feel fortunate that we are so young. We're not really scared to take risks because we know that we have a long time to fix them if they fail. And, if we don't take the risks, we'll never know what could be. It's amazing how freeing that is.