We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jess Goehner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jess below.

Jess, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

It’s an absolute honor to make very specific, bespoke leather bags for clients who are looking to commemorate major life goals like a graduation, a big job opportunity, a wedding or travel. My most recent major custom was a laptop backpack for a landscape designer who has her own firm. She had a collection of patches gathered over her travels over the past two years and wanted to highlight them on a honey colored leather, functional backpack. We met a few times to discuss the work, and I loved learning more about her and her work- so inspiring! The bag took me a long time to conceptualize, I had multiple dreams about the actual construction of the piece. When I was able to dedicate myself to completing it, while a bit nerve-wracking because of the precious nature of the patches and the expense of leather, it was so incredibly satisfying and super fulfilling to see it come into being.

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’ve been working as Directive for 11 years now, and it all started with some canvas bags made for bike commuting actually! Each bag had hand painted or hand printed patterns that I spent hours creating in the beginning, tapping into my fine art trained self was always important even from the beginning. I dabbled in selling handmade canvas and vinyl bags for a few years before a chance encounter with a retired leather salesman from a local tannery back in Milwaukee. He hired me to make custom leather pouches as gifts for clients, a few golf tournaments in the UK, and some other small scale custom projects. Most importantly, he introduced me to leather and I went on to buy overrun hides from the tannery for years.

Fast forward to the present where I am now building my business in a new region, the Mid Atlantic, and hoping to expand my travels to sell my work, while still being a one woman operation. I spend much of my time learning new leatherworking and patternmaking techniques, designing and sewing up bags in my studio for clients across the country. I am forever grateful for the longtime support and even friendship of many clients, especially as I navigate the uncertainty of being a self employed artist. It takes a lot of resiliency to weather the storms of being paid for your creative work and I still feel like I am learning how to adapt, but I am pretty dang proud I have made it work through lots of changes in the world and personally.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Because of Directive, I have had to unlearn the “requirement” that my job follow typical corporate employment. I’ve had enough non-creative jobs to know that working for myself will always have to look different than a M-F 9-5 situation. For a while, I felt bad that I wasn’t exactly productive in the morning, that sometimes I love to work in the middle of the night, or a sporadic errand in my day that keeps me out of studio for a bit could refresh me creatively. Being an artist does not always align with the workday, it’s fluid and setting yourself up for creative success is important. I’m still learning how to manage it, but I have found that I do my best, most efficient work in the mid afternoon to evenings, that Sundays are an amazing day to work in the studio, and that creating my own work boundaries is important to keeping my creativity flowing- I cannot work days on end and find fulfillment so working a show on a weekend requires I take some time off later to recharge and rest. And I will probably always be learning this.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Sharing our stories is important.

I never knew artists could have careers like the one I do, if I had I would have maybe gotten here faster! All I knew as a child is that I wanted to be an artist when I was older. I waffled a lot on if I wanted to pursue fashion design or fine art, because I did not realize maybe I could do both. The older I get the more I realize how many incredibly creative and smart careers are out there and many are just iterations on hobbies and interests we develop in our childhood. Allowing kids to explore and consider creative paths that also align with commonly “accepted” career choices is really key, we don’t need to use the “starving artist” trope anymore.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopdirective.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/shopdirective

Image Credits
Two Models Aura Backpacks photo by Dahyembi Neal All other photos by Directive