We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Damian Dickson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Damian below.
Damian , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.
Firstly I must say, there is a lot more scaling to go. However for me it has been very important that I take advantage of every opportunity. Personally I feel like no opportunity is too small or too big. One day I’d show my work in a gallery or museum and the next day I’ll show at a café or coffee shop. For me I always approach life as though I never know where the next real stepping stone in my career will appear so unless something doesn’t align with my morals, I almost always take advantage of any opportunity and because I am able to create solid work I always make connections where people help me get on to the next thing, whatever the thing is often times it is unexpected however it builds awareness to me as an artist and my cause and therefore I am able to continuing serving my community and creating a blueprint for a lot of kids that we are in the same situations I was in year ago but I had no idea as to where to start.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Damian Dickson, friends call me Kurve artist name KURVEKING. I am from the Caribbean , born in Port Of Spain Trinidad 1992. I am an artist, designer, curator and most recently an art teacher. There has been a lot of trail and error for me figuring out what works for me as an artist. In the early days I was considered an ” instagram artist” and I was ok with that. But in the real world at the time, i didnt realize being an instagram artist and an ARTIST were two different things to the “artworld”. The artworld can be very political at times but the beauty of it is that there is no specific way to “POP” as an artist. However it works, as long as you are able to create and live off of your art then thats all that matters. However for me personally I have a will to reach as many people as possible and the very first thing I did was generalize the storytelling in my work so my audience can see themselves in my work. It took years to create something solid. But once ideas are executed everything else is easy, I was able to sell all types of merchandise from hat, tshirts, puzzles, household items posters etc, There are so many outlets and tools for artists to monetize our ideas the most important part is just executing the ideas you know. I am most proud of the fact that I able to get my merchandise in stores and galleries around the world. I feel as though Ive opened a door for many other artists after me to get those same opportunities and I intend to help them.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Nothing is what is seems, things dont happen the way I thought they would. Its a slow grind, Being young and hopeful you think one day someone will just SEE ME and boom, career takes off & that just isnt realistic, Its possible of course, anything is, But its important to do THE WORK, put time in and things will slowly unravel, Its a safe bet to grind it out as opposed to being talented and just waiting for something to happen. Most likely you may find yourself achieving goals and getting to your destination in the most unlikely way with people you least expect to be helping you. More times that not I realized its the people we often overlook are the ones who would be able to help us the most,
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Because people can see themselves in my work, people are more incline to support me and my ideas, The work sells itself, One thing I do right now is , I sign EVERYTHING i can get my hands on. I personally take the time to thank and personalize as many orders as I can, sometimes I surprise my customers and I gift them things, I send them extra stuff for the holidays, birthdays, special occasions. I find ways to show them appreciation for being a part of army, Because thats what they are when they support me, a part of my army and I do not take any one for granted. There are so many brands now, everyone does everything, so when people choose to support your business out of the other million businesses, You must appreciate them and let it be known. Dont be greedy, give back however you can, Let your support system know that they are a part of something that means something,
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