We were lucky to catch up with Esther Mun recently and have shared our conversation below.

Esther , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The idea of Gather was through a dream I had in 2019. In the dream, I heard a voice saying, “Go, Make, Play”. This embarked 1.5 year journey of what this meant, exploring my next pivotal path of creative career. Gather sees a global community that encourages creatives to ignite safe spaces for play. It’s a launching pad for artists to serve the public. It’s a space where we make and play, helping each other discover the maker in all of us. With a belief that Creative expression is vital to all humans, we heal and we connect deeply with ourselves and with others. Gather seeks a future where more artists share their craft with the public, and where more people experience the vitality that comes from discovering the maker within. With the background of design studio owner, and network of creatives circling in my life, Gather launched as an experiment in 2022 with 4 artists. Now, we are up to 20 artists teaching various different crafts in various spaces. From poetry writing to calligraphy, kintsugi, songwriting, exploring scents, and tea making, Im excited to widen the spectrum of sharing unique gifts that individual artist can share and ignite.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I went to school of visual arts for graphic design for undergrad degree. After working at Pentgram Design and Duffy Design, I started a boutique branding and packaging design studio called Little Fury with a design partner. Little Fury was furiously putting out work for 16 years, then pandemic hit which gave me a pause to think about a creative pivot. Im thankful and proud of work that I was able to do as Little Fury Design and with that experience, being able to explore how Gather can grow is a gift. Besides monthly Gather sessions, I would love for Gather to grow as a Team Building agent to bring work collegues together as makers. If Gathers can be part of monthly or bi-monthly creative sessions, a creative act beyond “holiday activity” would be a dream.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Trust. Trust is earned through integrity. Keeping your word to what you are committed to is most important. Which leads to clear communication. Whether it’s money, timeline, commitment, the level of excitement especially trying something new comes down to genuine care for the person. If you place that as a priority, all the other things (goals) will follow.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met my Little Fury design partner through work referral. We knew of each other and while I was at Duffy Design, she was looking for another art director at her current work place, Martha Stewart Magazine. We connected in person, and literally in one conversation, we discovered that we had passion for physical product line, a line of linkable notebooks. That led to “we should make money together” birthed a design studio, Little Fury Design.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.calltogather.com
• Instagram: @calltogather
• Linkedin: Esther Mun

Image Credits
Rob Tarleton, Paolo Verzani