We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jason Olson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jason thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
One of the most meaningful projects I have worked on was named “Celebration of Life”. This commissioned project was to capture the essence or what was important to a life lost in an accident. My goal was to use symbolism and even parts from the wrecked motorcycle. It took several phone calls with the customer to fully understand her husbands interests and things he was known for.
It turned serious when a box of motorcycle parts, and some personal items he was traveling with arrived at the studio. Every time I touched these materials, his story ran through my mind. Continual questions about the design, was it respectful enough, too bright, and or was one portion of his life overstated.
Crafting this fountain pen, indeed did take longer than most. However, the final produceable was spot on.
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
My entire background boils down to sales and marketing, while the product and customers changed over the years. Shortly after college, I started a landscape design and construction business. We built this from the ground up, and sold the business after 10 successful years.
Why sell a successful business? A new opportunity presented itself, many of the same responsibilities, but the product changed. Capital equipment used in high acuity areas of the hospital, EMS, and MCI became the new focus. During these years, words and phrases began to take shape to accurately describe how I had always done business. A couple come to mind, “customers are assets, and relationships are extremely valuable”. These phrases help define a customer centric approach to the business. Sadly, this chapter ran its course, and I was left with a choice. Once again go work for a new company or go my own way.
After much thought, consternation, and arguing with myself, I chose to go my own way. This choice was heavily influenced by the time spent building my first business.
That choice happened to coincide with an enjoyable hobby of making pens, commercializing and growing it into a self sustaining business. Again, many of the same business hygienes carried over, but we needed to grow our footprint and meet new customers.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
To be blunt, don’t expect a hand crafted, made to order fountain pen cost comparable to a big box store product. Artists need local support to keep their craft alive, and help teach it to the next generation.
In my case, one can not read a book or go to school for pen making. The basics were shared with me, with the expectation that I would use these building blocks and grow the skills. For the most part this is very prevalent in the Maker world, but these scenarios are built on relationships and trust.
In short, please support locally made products, small business, and artisanal products. Small purchases make a difference, not just the big ones.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
There are several, all in different aspects or relativity. First though is working with a customer to transform their thoughts or story into functional art. Of course it is always fun to just let the creative juices flow.
The other part I find especially rewarding is helping newer makers or those just starting out, sharing some of those building blocks, to help them move along in their own journey. Further, is seeing them bloom as a maker and find different ways to improve their designs and grow their business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.writeturnz.com
- Instagram: @writeturnz
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WriteTurnz
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmolson/
- Twitter: @writeturnz
Image Credits
Jason M. Olson