Paper Houses Connects with Hackley
Welcome back to another maker’s blog. This month I chatted to Rachel of Hackley. Rachel has been the amazing energy I’ve needed this year and we’ve done some great things like fundraising and John Lewis pop up with Camban and Helen Ruth Scarves. It’s great to chat to Rachel and I hope you love the interview too!
Hackley
Rachel creates tactile practical and beautiful bags, cases, and purses. I’ve got one of her lovely crossover orange bags and I feel super stylish wearing it, plus my hands are free to chase the wee boss!
1.Tell us who you are and what you do?
Hi! I am Rachel and I am a self-taught designer and maker, working predominantly with textiles and leather. I create a range of bags and accessories under my brand Hackley, all of which I design, stitch and assemble myself.
2. Why are you a creative?
I have been creative ever since I was a child. I would spend hours in my room as a kid making objects from cardboard boxes. I think I found the construction and process of creation enthralling. I dabbled with drawing and painting along the way but design, and especially physical creation was always what I landed on. I think I find a real peace and sense of purpose to taking component parts or something that starts out as quite unremarkable and harnessing the potential to create something new. Ironically I didn’t pursue my creativity as anything more than a hobby for many years. It was following a career change several years ago that I really came back to creating and making as a restorative and healing practice. More recently I have been returning to this initial exploration of the mindful act of working with my hands and how this can me find a new balance and way of working.
3. If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing when you started out what would it be?
That being self taught isn’t a negative. I let this hold me back for quite a long time when I started out and now I try to be proud of it and hope that it can show people that it is possible to pursue a creative practice or career in many different ways.
4. What's your favourite task/job to do and your worst?
I LOVE playing around with new designs and so often I find myself getting really distracted from the task in hand by constantly thinking about the next thing and the next thing. The worst, I sometimes get a bit fatigued with repetitive making. I think I find the real joy in realising a design and bringing it to life, but once I am on the 20th one I can get a bit restless! I can also be really bad at staying organised. I have created a really cozy and inviting corner in my new studio for my desk and computer so I am hoping this will make me more inclined to keep on top of the admin side of things.
5. What song/podcast gets you in the zone?
I listen to podcasts constantly when I am making. I try to very these between light hearted, business focussed inspiration, to things completely unrelated to anything I do as total escapism.
Some of my favourites at the moment are Off Menu – Ed Gamble and James Acaster chat to celebrity guests about their favourite ever meal. It is hilarious, interesting and I love food and cooking so I love to hear people talk about their relationship with food and eating and the way this links to memory, family, how it intertwines with our lives etc. I also frequently find myself laughing out loud to it whilst walking the dog which is always a good sign!
The Business and Beyond podcast is a new one I have been listening to. I find the hosts really practical, they come at business in an accessible way that I find I can really apply.
You’re Wrong About is really great for random topics and finding out everything you thought you knew and how wrong you were!
Business Wars – A friend recommended this over Christmas time. Each several episode series within covers two ‘competing’ businesses and how they develop and what helped, hindered, the different approaches. I have only listed to the Patagonia and North Face one so far but it was so interesting I immediately went and bought Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s book Let my People go Surfing. I would really recommend I as a really different way to approach business and the values he has worked really hard to keep central to what he does.
Song – man so many, but Christine and the Queens – Tilted NEVER fails.
Thanks Rachel for giving us an insight!
Have you read our other maker’s chats? Not yet? Then make sure to check them out here - PAPER HOUSES CONNECTS