Labels such as Nike, Topshop, Mini Cooper, Paul Smith, Kiehls, Vogue Magazine and Google, pepper the CV of Kate Moross, the London-based creative and director of Studio Moross.
She spoke at the inaugural Semi-Permanent festival in Sydney, a gathering of an emerging generation of creatives presented at Carriageworks over the weekend.
Moross began her career with a passion for typography, designing leaflets for a flourishing independent music scene in East London. ‘It was a free environment to make work’, she said; a grounding that set a kind of independent spirit in track and one that has seen her labeled as a ‘creative entrepreneur’.
Making ‘a huge amount of money’ as an emerging designer/illustrator after being awarded a Cadbury billboard campaign, Moross threw it all at starting her own record label – Isomorph Records – in 2006, saying ‘a record label is the best way to loose money’ – reverse psychology for “getting ahead”.
How, then, does a somewhat roguish, hacker-hungry illustrator become a creative entrepreneur, today working with global international brands, hired by leading creative thinkers such as Google and, as Moross explained, currently working with the top ten [independent music] acts in the UK?
The answers are in her book, Make your own luck, published earlier this year and offering ‘insider’ tips on how to cut it in a highly competitive field. She said it is summed up by her favourite quote by American rap artist Jay-Z, “I am not a businessman, I’m a business…man.” ‘I live by that in the work I do,’ Moross said.
‘This is something they don’t talk about at creative conferences, but being a salesman, having a business attitude, is an incredibly important part of existing and surviving as a creative person. I was lucky to have a conservative father who taught me about business; taught me how to be an entrepreneur in a creative way.’
Make Your Own Luck features chapters on how to thrive in art school, developing your own style, how to self-promote, collaboration with other artists, how to deal with “copycats,” and when to consider working for free. It also touches on the fine points of music packaging and videos, how to find an agent, and looks back on the touchstone moments that helped shape Moross’ career.
‘I don’t believe in being an expert,’ Moross stated emphatically. ‘I have an outlook on creativity that is different from the old ways of design and illustration; rather it’s just about experimenting with media. I have a whole palette of tools that I use regularly’.
She embraces the idea that being an “all-rounder” has come back in vogue.
‘Inspiration is a word that I absolutely detest. I think it is cheap; a crappy description of something that is much bigger. You put it on a pedestal and we try to find it; “I’m trying to find my inspiration” – that’s crap! It should be just something that is part of you; with you all the time.
‘There is nothing that has supported the creative community more than pizza…2am on a late night deadline and you turn to pizza.’
While Moross adopted a forthright and refreshingly honest tone with her Semi-Permanent audience she also spoke passionately about the need to constantly experiment and flirt with technology.
Speaking of the collaborative ethos she nurtures at Studio Moross: ‘We always invest time in new software, new gadgets and try and learn how to do things ourselves.’
She explained that the most seminal moment of her career was in 2005 when she started hacking the web-based network MySpace. As she explained, ‘it was on the cusp when digital images were impacting social media.
‘MySpace was where you’d go and collaborate and we didn’t even think we were making work. It was so hideous you could just hack it and make your own MySpace page by writing overlay code and changing and adapting code from all over the internet,’
Moross added, ‘We loved MySpace so much we even had parties and projected our MySpace pages.’
Launched in 2003, MySpace has always had a strong music emphasis and today is part owned by singer/actor Justin Timberlake. From 2005-2008, it was the most visited social media networking site in the world, though its unique US visits were finally surpassed by Google in 2006, and Facebook in 2009.
‘What was refreshing was this introduction to html. I learnt how to create my own web page. But there is no point of having a website unless you point people to it, so I had a habit of writing my name on everything as katemoross.com… when you are in your early 20s it is OK to be called by your URL.’
This passion for guerilla coding and self-taught production remains at the heart of Studio Moross today, a point Jonathan Richards from Sydney’s Google Lab raised in this Semi-Permanent talk. It has a synergy with Google Labs, which develops experimental projects that use Google, Android, and YouTube’s products in creative and collaborative ways.
Richard said: ‘that hacker spirit is important to us because we deal with the web as a platform…sometimes there is a reluctance on the part of people in these industries to do that. How can you encourage people to hack more, to just experience what can be done?’
Moross answered: ‘People are so afraid to make mistakes; that something will happen to their career. I was born fearless – that is my X games.’
While Studio Moross and Google Labs were hardly advocating the illegal activities of hacking, they were adamant in encouraging all to explore the potential of technology. This was fabulously illustrated by a piece exhibited – and indeed a highlight of Semi-Permanent – CUBE, an interactive installation between Google’s Creative Lab and Director Steve Ayson that allows filmmakers, musicians, artists and other creative to make interactive films where the viewer controls the narrative structure.
Wrapping up the Semi-Permanent discussion, Richard’s asked Moross what was the most important thing in her professional kit today as a creative. There was no hesitation in her answer: ‘The internet. Then a laptop,’ adding that she also had both a Blackberry and an iPhone.
She continued that Studio Moross have recently moved into doing their own post production on music videos: ‘The hard drive problem is the biggest problem you can have. I had to carry a 4 terabyte to Spain in my backpack last week,’ said Moross.
Within a flash Richards retorted, ‘You have to get on Google Drive. We can handle it…’ While Moross remained skeptical that her internet connection could not, the closing comment of the talk reaffirmed that the new world of creative entrepreneurship is made so available to us today.
Semi-Permanent sat under the umbrella of Vivid Sydney 2014.
Studio Moross
www.studiomoross.com
