We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Playford recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I have found in my career that sometimes when you put yourself out there and take a risk, unexpected opportunities happen that you can’t predict. This is how my most meaningful project fell in my lap.

In 2006 I had designed a small line of reusable fabric gift wrap printed with my illustrations. I loved the concept of wrapping in fabric as I have always been passionate about textile design and the idea that the wrap could be reused over and over again, reducing waste. In my market research to see if anyone else was selling fabric gift wrap, I discovered furoshiki, the traditional wrapping cloth that has been used in Japan for centuries to wrap gifts.

I decided to launch the line at the National Stationary Show in NYC and set up a booth selling my wraps. The following year I went back to New York but this time had a booth at the art licensing show, Surtex. A woman from a book packaging company approached me and said she had seen my wraps the year before and wanted to know if I’d be interested in writing a book about them. I told her I wasn’t a writer so wasn’t sure I could do it. She said that she believed I could and would send me a contract when I got home.

It was a dream for me to not only write a book on the topic of my new business but I was given a lot of creative freedom in terms of content and visual style. It was a tight deadline, I think I had about 6 weeks to write the book and I had a two month old son so I had to sneak out in between feedings to the park at the end of my street where I wrote most of the book on a park bench. The book featured my line of wraps and I flew to New York to attend the photoshoot where I styled the photos for the book. Having this creative input was very rewarding.

The book was titled Wrapagami, the Art of Fabric Gift Wrap and was published by St Martin’s Griffin/Macmillan. It was particularly exciting meeting the marketing department in the Flatiron building in New York. I remember going to the bathroom which had gorgeous marble floors and so much history and saying to myself in the mirror, “I can’t believe I’m in the Flatiron building meeting with a team of people working on a plan to promote my book!” And as a bonus, the book packaging woman that offered me this opportunity became a good friend of mine.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an illustrator, book designer, art director, mosaic artist and entrepreneur.

My mission is to create vibrant design and art that makes you feel good. Using bright colours that evoke happiness, I create reusable products that reduce waste. My designs are bold and bright and printed on my line of reusable fabric gift wrap, the low-waste alternative to disposable gift wrap. I also upcycle vintage, discarded and sometimes broken ceramics and repurpose them into one of a kind mosaic art.

I have had a rewarding career as an art director, designer and illustrator in the fields of editorial, publishing, advertising and product design. As a creative of many disciplines with an entrepreneurial mindset, I have gone back and forth between working for myself and working in-house.

After graduating from university in Visual Communication, my illustration career started by chance. I used to write letters to my friend who was an art director and fill them with little doodles. She suggested I become an illustrator which I hadn’t considered at the time but quickly realized it was my dream job. After developing a portfolio, I decided to get an agent and asked my friend for advice. She said that she had been planning to start an illustration agency and was hoping I’d be her first artist. We worked together for many years and I had some great clients including LA Times, Delta Airlines, The United Way, The Royal Bank of Canada, Fast Company, Orca Book Publishers, Food Illustrated UK, Façon magazine Australia, Klutz Publishing and Running Press. One of my favourite jobs was for Mudpuppy/Galison where I illustrated a number of children’s products.

Over the past ten years I have mainly designed and art directed children’s books. When I got hired as an in-house designer at Orca Book Publishers, the art director had coincidentally been collecting my illustration promo cards from Magnet Reps and had one pinned to her inspirational bulletin board. I have designed many books for children from picture books to teen novels and nonfiction.

Having created mainly digitally for years, I started to crave working with my hands and have delved into mosaic art. The one of a kind nature of this art really appeals to me, as does mixing a traditional art form with a pop art and vintage sensibility. I create spontaneously, using end of the line Italian glass that changes colour depending on the light and angle in which you view the art and repurposing vintage ceramics. Each piece of broken ceramic becomes it’s own work of art, I like how the imperfection is part of the charm.

I love the idea of bringing colour and art into our lives in little ways by surrounding ourselves with objects of art in our homes that carry special meaning. I recently sold one of my mosaic love hearts to a customer who recognized her mother’s china pattern in the art. I believe in the power of colour and how pops of bright colour in home decor and clothing can be uplifting. I envision my fabric gift wraps providing this dose of happy colour as they are being reused as tablecloths, fashion accessories, carry bags, cushion covers, and many more uses.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I have always felt it is a blessing to be an artist because I have a way of expressing myself and satisfying my soul. Getting in that zone where you lose yourself in the unconscious creative experience is very gratifying. And something I can do my whole life. It is my identity and my art forms are a way of expressing who I am. I love the process of creating something that didn’t exist before, starting with an idea and then using spontaneity to develop the design and art until it clicks and you know intuitively that it looks right and is finished.

There was never a question that I would create. I like that about being an artist, that you are born an artist and so you just know it is what you have to do. You can’t live without creating. It becomes necessary as an outlet, an expression and it is your contribution to the world.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I am a big fan of learning from and being inspired by other entrepreneurs. I find the stories behind how businesses have developed, how they have overcome challenges and gained success to be fascinating. I find the podcast How I Built This by Guy Raz to be especially insightful and interesting. The School of Greatness by Lewis Howes is also a great podcast for inspiration. It’s not as entrepreneurial but lot’s of empowering topics.

I really enjoy the book In the Company of Women by Grace Bonney about inspiration and advice from makers, artists and entrepreneurs.

I have a large collection of books on various artists and designers that I refer to often to learn how they developed their art careers and built their brands. Some favourites are Vera Neumann, Bernard Villemot, and Jungalow by Justina Blakeney,

Contact Info:

• Website: jenniferplayford.com
• Instagram: @playfordstudio
• Other: playfordstudio.com

Image Credits
Carla Unger