We recently connected with Maria Filar and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Maria, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I left my corporate design job – what had once been my big dream job – to pursue a freelance career, that in turn led me to starting my own business designing products. I’d been at my office job for over 6 years and was really starting to feel stifled and burnt out. Creating designs for a large company and not seeing any of the reward was really starting to wear on me. In 2018, a day before my birthday, I left the job and never looked back. I knew it would be a struggle trying to figure out how to make income again after having a steady paycheck for so long, but I had a few steady freelance clients to keep money flowing while I figured out next steps. An entire year went by before I started my product business and things started out very slow (only to slow down even more during the first year of the pandemic) but I’ve kept a “try anything once” attitude to see what works and what doesn’t, and so far it’s working.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I studied illustration at the College for Creative Studies, thinking I’d be working as a freelance editorial illustrator, doing work for magazines, newspapers, etc. I landed an internship after graduating at a scrapbooking company – a totally different direction than what I’d expected to be doing. But it turned out to be a great fit for my artwork and I enjoyed getting to create repeat patterns and to work with typography and design. It opened my eyes to a whole industry I hadn’t even thought was an option. I left the scrapbooking job after a few years and landed my dream job as an in-house designer at a major stationery and gift retail company. I learned a lot of what I know today at that job – the ins and outs of product development, production, retail, merchandising, and branding. I’ve applied a lot of that knowledge to my current business.

My work nowadays is an extension of myself – bright, vivid colors, inspired by the graphic looks of the 1960s and 70s. Having my own brand, I have the full freedom to create artwork and touch on subjects that I think are very important – something I couldn’t do when working for a large corporation. I focus a lot of my work on social issues and activism and want to spread these ideas and messages in an accessible and affordable way, which is why everything I sell is in affordable formats like stickers and digital art prints. I also have the freedom to be as weird as I want, which is so fun – and it brings me so much joy when customers react positively to my weirdness!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In the creative community, there seems to be a lot of stigma around asking to be paid what you’re worth. There’s some people who don’t value the work that artists and designers do, and don’t understand the value of what we bring to the table whether they’re looking for a logo design or a custom illustration. If more people changed their bias of what artists should be paid, everyone would benefit. I’ve heard comments of “I could do that myself” and “you’re creative, so it’s fun for you!” Artists work and spend time on their craft just like any other person – a mechanic, a doctor, a laywer. I’d love to destigmatize the idea that artists aren’t doing real work and make it more normalized to be paid for not only our time, but our talent and expertise that we spent years building.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

My absolute favorite thing is selling my products in person at art fairs and markets and seeing people’s reactions to my work. Some of my best, creative ideas are illustrated in the stickers I sell and it feels really validating and wonderful to see people laughing at my sense of humor and weirdness. It feels so good.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mariafilar.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/5eyestudio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/5eyestudio

Image Credits
Maria Filar