We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alex Pillow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alex below.
Alright, Alex thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My parents did everything they could to set me up for success. I’m very blessed to have a strong support system through my family and have parents that understood the creative path to begin with. My mother is a painter, so she already knew what that path entailed. And my father was always supportive of her work, as well as mine. No matter which outlets I pursued to express myself, they had my back. Knowing that I had this support behind me allowed me to venture further and try things outside of my comfort zone. Even as a kid, they supported every interest, every hobby, every sport I wanted to try. They never told me I couldn’t do something I was interested in trying, so long that it wasn’t anything harmful. I definitely feel as though their support helped me get to the place I’m in today.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Alex Pillow, a creative based out of Durham, North Carolina. I create physical artwork through mixed media, as well as graphic design work (branding, web design, and print design). Though these are the fields I primarily work in, I love incorporating other forms of art and creation such as photography, furniture design, and designing physical spaces. I feel as though this wide creative net has allowed me to blend ideas and forms in my work in various interesting ways. Taking digital designs and bringing them to the physical, or taking physical work and bringing it into my digital work.
I currently work for a design agency as my full time job, so most of my personal creative work is done on the side. Because of this busy schedule, I accept only select projects and clients that I feel would be a great fit. I’m very proud of the work I do with my clients and I feel that they’re very involved in the process. My main goal is always to help someone visualize their ideas and use my knowledge and expertise to help guide those ideas to a place where they can stand out among the rest.
Have you ever had to pivot?
One of the biggest pivots for me recently has been transforming my brand – Outlet. Outlet grew from my senior design capstone at Appalachian State University where I studied graphic design, then it morphed into a clothing brand, and now I’m trying to find out where it goes next. The struggle for me was having this clothing brand on the side and also trying to develop my personal brand as an artist and a designer. Managing two social media presences, trying to split my attention between two pools of work, and doing all this work by myself. It became exhausting. Knowing myself, I tend to give up on projects I feel exhausted by, so I needed to pivot my game plan.
I’m now in the process of merging both Outlet and my personal work under Alex Pillow. Outlet will be my hub for all my creative work, existing as both a clothing brand and a space for my personal work to exist. I didn’t want to give up on Outlet considering I’ve put a lot of work into it over the years, and it remained fairly successful before I put it on the back burner. It was that knowledge of myself and my past decisions that allowed me to find the best way to move forward creatively.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The biggest thing driving my creative journey is self exploration. My work is like a public journal for those around me to see and interpret, but also for me to look back on and remember where I was at in my life when I made certain work. I also use my work to better myself and get out of my comfort zone, especially when it comes to social media presence. I try to do things I want to do, regardless of how I think others will perceive it. For instance, if I want to post a certain piece that I don’t think will get a lot of engagement, I’ll post it regardless. Or if I want to post something funny that I think other people might judge and think is dumb, I post it anyways and try not to worry about the perception of others.
I’m using my creative journey to better myself, to learn more about myself, to connect with others, and to make the things that I think contribute beauty and expression to the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: outletcreative.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_alexpillow/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexpillow/