We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Higgins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, appreciate you joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?

I got my first job in a flower shop in high school and from there I went on to work in a different flower shop through college. I was a floral designer and an event planner, so I did floral arrangements for weddings, funerals, daily gifts, and special events. The details ALWAYS matter in this job. It is super messy. In special events, you are required to work sometimes 72 hours at a time with no break getting paid very little. I loved this job because every day was different and new, but it felt merciless until you saw the end result and how absolutely beautiful it was. I was always proud of what I had accomplished in the end. I learned that hard gritty messy laborious work pays off in the accomplishment at the end, no matter how much you get paid or whether you have time to eat or not. I was hooked on the thrill of seeing my work and creativity turn into something beautiful that I knew not everyone could do. Being a founder of a company of my own was very much like that. Most of the early years in my business I actually paid my own money to have a job. Only crazy people would do that, but I knew there would be a payoff and that the work would produce something that was mine and was unique to me because it had my signature.

Jennifer, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up in a family full of self made entrepreneurs in the Home Industry. My father was a builder, my uncle was an architect, my aunt and uncle owned a lighting supply company, my grandparents on one side were realtors, and my grandfather on the other was a roofer. I spent my summers working for my Dad and learning the ins and outs of building a home, and building custom furniture. On occasion, I also answered the phones at the real estate company. He also taught me a lot about the behind the scenes running of a business. Around our holiday tables, everyone talked about their businesses and the housing market. So I already knew a lot about the order of operations in Construction, design and property management. I went to University of Kentucky and studied Interior Design. I really wanted to be an architect, but there were no girls in the college of architecture at that time, and it was housed in a dungeon-y basement which seemed depressing, so I opted for the next closest thing. I was already an artist or a painter and a lover of art, so all through design school I spent time painting walls and furniture in my apartment and for friends. We had a color class in which my professor taught us about the art of trompe l’oeil which means “to fool the eye”. I aced the project and became obsessed with learning more about this kind of art and faux finishing. For the next 10 years upon leaving school I decided to pursue this as a career. I did mural painting and faux finishing and I built furniture and refinished cabinets and painted countertops to look like granite or concrete or stone. I loved this work, but it didn’t pay well, and I couldn’t keep enough work to be full time. I decided to rebrand myself as an Interior Designer/Artist and pursue that. My company in the early days was called One To Grow On because most of the murals and furniture were geared towards kids. Once my business matured and I was doing more for adults, the name didn’t fit, so I changed the name to Metamorphosis Studios. I got me a brick and mortar store and got to work going after a broader audience. As soon as I was up and running, the recession of 2008 was announced and things looked bleak. People all around me were losing their jobs, but I had a job to go to every day and work to do. I was so grateful for that time because it taught me so much. I wasn’t making any profit, but I was doing the work I loved and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. If I could get through that, then I could get through anything. I bootstrapped this business from the beginning and have had nothing but will to persevere no matter what to keep me going. I’ve never wanted to do anything else except create art and beautiful spaces and I don’t think I ever will. These days, I do full service interior design meaning I design interiors from the ground up or remodels or just update decor, whatever the client needs. I work my art or my faux finishing into as many of my designs as the clients will allow. I really feel a space and the people in it and get to know them and how they move through it and I think my intuition about spatial relationships and my understanding of color are my greatest assets as a designer. Because I am also an artist, and I have to create the colors I want to paint with, I am very tuned into how colors mix together and how light is reflected in it. For any interior designer, the use and combination of colors in a space and even understanding the psychology of color is so important, so I enjoy this part of design the most. I have a deep love for historic architecture and I love old buildings with a history the most. I particularly love Italianate or Italian Renaissance style combined with some modern lines and colors. I loved muted colors found in nature the most. To me, these colors have a calming feeling. I have always designed any style of home or business that appeals to my clients so I have experience in many different styles. At this stage of my career I hope to get many opportunities to stretch myself as both an artist and a designer.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

When I was still just a painting business, HGTV and makeover home shows were just starting to take the world by storm. Ty Pennington had a show called Extreme Home Makeover. The premise of this show was that they would go in and kick the family out of the house and completely renovate their home in a few days. They would bring in teams of people to help and a lot of the big items were donated by local vendors. They always selected a family that had a heartbreaking story and truly deserved and needed this renovation, but couldn’t afford it. I cried every time I watched it. My family didn’t have much either, we were buying a business after all, but I dreamed of the day that I would make enough money in my business to be able to pay it forward or do something like that for someone. When I had my storefront, I declared the 15th of every month “Spread Your Wings Day” where I would give a percentage of the days earnings to a local charity. I was super excited about it and each month I would advertise which charity I was sponsoring, but it was the height of the recession and the days earnings were almost an embarrassment to give. I did it anyway but It felt defeating to not really be able to give the way I wanted to. The charities I chose to give to, never even thanked me so I’m sure it seemed like more trouble than it was worth to even cash the check for them. Those were hard days…. But as hard as they were, they didn’t stop me or even slow me down. When the storefront closed, I moved everything home, but I never shut down the business, I started teaching private art lessons to make enough money to keep it going. I’ve done that on the side for the entire 26 years that I have been in business. That became the way I could pay it forward, to invest my knowledge into others who I hoped would be as passionate about it as I am. I loved teaching and I am still in contact with students that were just 4 and 5 years old when we started together and all of them still love and pursue art, which makes me proud.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I have always been creative and felt like I observed the world differently than everyone else. I couldn’t just look at the sky and see clouds, I saw a million swirling images of dinosaurs and babies and clowns and numbers, and so many other things. I could get lost in looking at the clouds or watching swaying tree branches for hours and hours. I see the world in colors and squiggly lines and straight lines, I think in pictures. I was a quiet child so people thought I wasn’t smart. I took in everything and really felt it. I think most all kids are that way in the beginning, but our world and our culture edges it out of most people. We are taught to learn in an analytical way and punished if we don’t learn that way. The true creatives stay that way because they don’t have any other choice, but also wouldn’t want it any other way. I have an insatiable need to create that is equal to my need to breathe. People say that I’m talented, but I just think I’ve had enough passion for it to keep going even when I was bad at it. I just need to do it and I want to keep experimenting and exploring what more I can do. I love learning from each experience. I have never set out to be a famous artist or a famous anything or be rich or well known. I’ve simply done what I know how to do and followed my instincts and as long as anyone was willing to pay me for it, I welcomed every opportunity. The pursuit of a creative is both a journey to finding who you really are and becoming confident enough to sell it to others. This path takes one almost a lifetime before it ripens to the point where it becomes enough. Even Leonardo Da Vinci’s last words were “ I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have” It is noted from his many sketchbooks and notebooks that he only completed 20% of all the works he designed and invented and set out to do. He is remarkably one of the most famous artists in history and never knew it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.metamorphosisstudio.com
• Instagram: Metamorphosisstudios
• Facebook: Metamorphosis Studios
• Linkedin: Jennifer Higgins

Image Credits

Erica Lee Photography
Sydney Duncan Photography
Melissa Hall
Matt Peel
Hannah Davis