Here I am, just over a month into this starting this studio. I’m not a businessman! I’m a very reluctant businessman, forced here by circumstance. I just want to design cool spaces! To understand how I got here, I’ll need to take you back a little bit……to 2020.
You remember 2020, what a fun year! Like many others I’m sure; All that time spent home, Netflix freshly ‘completed’, and not a whole lot else to do, there was a lot of time to think. I’d been a mental health nurse for 10 years at that point. But my heart hadn’t been in it for the past few. And it turns out that a nursing degree isn’t particularly transferable. And as I was approaching 40, the thought of returning to uni, was quite daunting. But the last thing the world needs, is a reluctant nurse, it benefits no-one.
But I figured, if I wasn’t going to do it now, I never would. So that’s what I did, in something that I was genuinely passionate about. And I’d been contemplating studying interior design for a few years, I needed to make the leap.
3 years later I graduated from The University of the West of England in Bristol with a 1st class honours degree. The next step shouldn’t be hard….FALSE!
The job hunt was absolutely brutal. All in all, I applied for close to 550 jobs. This included speculative letter applications and applications for advertised positions. It was mainly interior design jobs, but some associated creative jobs, i.e. graphic designer, illustrator, set design, brand activations etc. Most gave me my rejection with a generic template email. Without any feed back as to what was lacking from my application.
I think in total I had 3 interviews. 1 was a 3 hour drive for me to attend, for a graphic designer job. He asked me what experience I had, I pointed him to my CV and explained I had none, the interview was over there and then. Another interview was for an actual interior design job. An assistant position, essentially on minimum wage They gave me no feedback, but by this point I insisted. I was told my designs were too bold. This was obviously upsetting, but probably more annoying more than anything.
Throughout my studies, we were all encouraged to ‘push the boundaries’, and ‘experiment’. All with the aim of discovering who were as designers, find our own design personality etc. This was especially true in our final year, when we were given free reign to go wild with our schemes. As such, this is what my portfolio was full of; bold, colourful, ‘pushing the boundaries’ designs. It seemed quite obvious that I would be capable of following a clients remit, and not force my own taste on them. However, it was a reason to justify not giving me a shot.
Other tactics I attempted in my increasing desperation to find work included; redoing my CV various times. Perhaps 6 or 7 versions. A low key (dulled down) version for more serious looking employers. Expanding my portfolio to include workings (i.e. more sketches, videos of 3D models etc).Making a slick video of the own flat design and using this as part of design applications.
One job advert specified they wanted a video CV. I spent almost a week making this, and didn’t get a reply. I then sent off my flat video to various media outlets. I got feature pieces in Bristol 24/7 magazine, the metro newspaper, and Zoopla’s social media platforms. These features wouldn’t sway any prospective employers.
There seems to be frequent jobs advertised for kitchen/bedroom/bathroom sales. They weren’t jobs I was keen on, but I thought it would be a good steppingstone to get where I wanted to be. I was told I was too inexperienced, and was advised to apply to be an assistant kitchen sales designer. This meant to get the job I wanted; I’d have to do a job I didn’t want, to be able to do another job I didn’t want, and then (hopefully) be able to get a job I wanted. This was a step I wasn’t willing to just suck up. If I was younger perhaps. But I don't want to just be getting where I want to when I'm potentially approaching 50.
My final roll of the dice was sending 20 hand typed and printed tailored, speculative job applications. On colour branded paper, with branded envelopes (my own logo) and a custom coaster with my details on them. None of them gave an acknowledgment.
I’m not exactly sure what I can conclude from all of this. It really did give my ego a proper kicking though. Perhaps they thought I was too old. Maybe they thought someone my age and experience in various industries and not just fresh out of university, may be too headstrong and more difficult to push around the workplace. Or maybe a guy in their 40’s isn’t hip enough and tuned into new trends and fashions. Maybe I didn’t get the right words to get the algorithms to select my applications. Who knows.
From the few bits of feedback I got though; my designs are too loud, and people don’t want to develop employees. They all want the finished product. They want me, but 5 years from now. But I’d worked too hard, and want this too much to just give up. Maybe my loudness and rule breaking means there aren’t any design firms where I would fit in. Maybe that was the problem all along. Maybe I had to go through all of these rejections and setbacks to get where I am. It can’t all have been for nothing…so here we are. This is why Acid House Designs came to be!
Hitting an endless stream of brick walls in my job hunt had pretty much forced me to the conclusion that starting my own design firm was the only way forward. But at least this way I didn’t need to compromise. Many of the firms I had been applying with were likely appealing to the broadest possible market. That means, trends, pinterest boards and pretty much designing stuff that looks like everywhere else. And that’s fine. I’m sure they are very successful and their customers very happy. But that’s not me, and its not a lot of other people either. I am sure there is a market and demand for what I’m creating.
I’m under no illusion that starting a creative business in the current economy is easy. People are careful with money, hospitality businesses are under pressure, and most people probably aren’t lying awake at night desperate for an interior designer. But I also think a lot of people are tired of everything looking the same.
Of course, as a reluctant business owner, there’s also a whole side of this world I never expected to care about; SEO stuff (whatever that is!), algorithms, social media strategy (urghh), networking events and all the other things they definitely don’t teach you during an interior design degree.
So this is my 1st blog entry. Don’t worry they won’t all be ‘poor me, I’m such a tortured artist’ pieces! I know its tough for all graduates right now, especially in the creative industries. I’m just explaining how I got here.
Anyway, that’s the backstory. I’ll keep plugging away, and eventually, I’m bound to get a break. In the words of Jez from Peep Show: “all of this depressing s**t will be a little footnote in the massive biog of how rich and f****d up I eventually became”. Onwards!
