We were lucky to catch up with Amy Pogue brady recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Amy, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I essentially have two creative careers at the same time, Service Design and Jeweler. As a Service Designer I spend my time learning about people’s behaviors, what they are trying to do and why and then design a system and a service to help them meet their needs. For that profession I followed a more traditional route, went to graduate school and have been working as a designer for 20+ years.
But as a jeweler I took a different path than the traditional university education. I started with individual classes at jewelry stores and studios to learn basic fabrication skills to meet the creative concepts I wanted to make.. At this point my ideas far exceeded my abilities and was constantly frustrated by what I couldn’t do. I kept identifying and pursuing classes, books, mentors who could help me build a set of skills to build the specific concepts I wanted to make. And as I built up skill competencies my design universe expanded, which in turn led me to explore even more skills. I”m a lifetime learner and imagine I will always find new skills, ideas, theories to learn.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a creative problem solver and maker, which I think of as two core elements of Design. For the past 25+ years I’ve been designing communications, products, services and wearable art (mostly jewelry, sometimes clothing and other accessories). I use the human-centered design process to help me define, discover and design solutions that work for the people that actually use them. I love to start with examining the problem to be solved, looking at it in a holistic way, thinking about who’s problem it is, why and what it means. When I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time ‘inventing’ new products or designing clothes for my dolls and generally breaking and making things. I’ve turned all of that curiosity and creative drive into a design career. During the day I spend my time designing services for a financial institution. I love it because finances are so central to many core parts of our lives and the behaviors, attitudes and ideas around it are fascinating. It’s never boring.
As I moved from more tactile forms of design (communications, products, etc.) to services, I really missed making things with my hands so I explored jewelry. I quickly fell in love with melting metal and then reshaping it into anything I could imagine. I call it my ‘hammer and fire’ therapy. When I’m in my studio I let myself daydream and design things I like vs. solving problems for others. My brand has evolved into offbeat fun jewelry that you’d want to wear daily. It’s for people who have a strong sense of style and feel comfortable mixing and matching patterns and prints (for example). Lately I have been using antique designs (pre 1930’s) and using them in modern ways, using a delicate birth flower design to make a chunky ring. Although I often design pieces from my own vision, I also do a smaller number of collaborations and custom works. When I’m working with someone I really try to focus on who they are, when and how they would wear the piece. One of my favorite collaborations was with Katayoun Amjadi, an artist in Mpls. We were in my studio and I was showing her a tiny scissors that was in process. We talked about the women’s protest movement in Iran and ended up designing a piece together that spoke about how women were showing their courage and protesting by cutting their hair. The piece uses a small braid of Kat’s own hair. I loved the back and forth conversation and brainstorm we had to get to the final design. I really just love making people feel confident and special through the power of jewelry. Plus it’s fun to wear
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn the assumption that people around were more knowledgable in my area and were somehow more skilled than I was, even if I had more experience and education. I grew up appreciating information and looking to others to teach me what they knew, but I always discounted my own knowledge, creative ideas and intuition as nothing special. I really don’t know where that attitude came from, but it wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that I finally rid myself of it. I was working in a corporate environment surrounded by people (seemingly) confident in their own experience and skills but because I had this orientation around constant learning I was in awe that they seemed to know so much more than I did. It wasn’t until several years into my corporate career that I realized knowledge-seeking doesn’t mean I didn’t already contain a wealth of information.
I made the same exact mistake when I started my metal-smithing career, and it took me about 10 years to unlearn the exact same mindset I had in my design career. I think the lesson has finally stuck.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
About 5 years ago I had really started to finally hit a groove with my jewelry practice. I was able to realize my creative ideas into wearable art pieces. I was excited about my plans for future lines, skills I wanted to learn, new materials to explore and different aspects of metal smithing upon which to focus.. However, in that moment I was struck with sudden kidney failure due to a rare disease. I had to put all of my creative work on hold while I managed my condition and looked for a kidney donor. I was too tired and too sick to even think about anything beyond daily activities. Since my creative work is part of my mental health practice it was really difficult to pause. I had no idea when I was going to feel better, it could be 6 months or years.
Luckily I was able to find a donor match within a year and my kidney transplant was successful. I was so relieved and ready to focus on making jewelry again. However, since that time I’ve encountered health complication after complication. Just when I would feel a bit better or get a medication mix right, I would be hit with another problem. For example, two weeks before a major art event I broke my right hand. The break happened in a way that necessitated a bone graft; the whole healing process set me back again. It was a cycle of hope, sadness, recovery and cautious hope again.
I’ve had to adapt through all of it, to constantly accept my new constraints and imagine how my work could be improved by them. I have gotten smarter and faster with my process and have put some techniques on hold for now.
Contact Info:
- Website: poguebrady.com
- Instagram: @poguebradyjewelry
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-pogue-brady-719104
- Other: https://nemaa.org/artists/amy-pogue-brady/
Image Credits
Amy Pogue Brady Karrie Vrabel