We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jodie Bass a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jodie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?
Definitely. I was already operating very independently, but COVID took isolation to a new level. I am a small business owner three times over, for the time being it is just me and a few various contractors and fabricators. So operating in a bubble is something I have had to grapple with since I established Soul Proprietorship in 2015, and began doing work for myself. The pandemic leveled the playing-field, in that working from home, or remote work, as I had been doing, became less rarified. For me, it has been somewhat of a relief, as I have always struggled to express what i “do” since it is not one thing, and does not fit neatly in people’s or institutions understanding of career. The fact that I was juggling multiple small business, as I still am, meant that I could easily pivot.
Foraging was one of the pursuits that grew in that time, and happened to also be on trend as people began to seek nature through social media and directly, as it offered an expressly safe, socially distanced, past-time. Being alone in the woods with my dogs, literally veering off path, but with the directed discovery of wild foods, became increasingly gratifying.
Initially I had followed an interest in brownfield remediation through mycorrhizal dispersion from a development and design perspective, which morphed into a naturalist hobby. A few years prior to the Pandemic, I taught myself to identify and utilize fungi and endemic plants through field guides and a few mentors. The break from regular life and being grounded in Kentucky, meant I had to really figure out how to navigate the wild-spaces available.
I did not grow up camping or in nature explicitly. But I have always been curious and adventurous. Having that time to appreciate, and the circumscribed freedom to move slowly, afforded me time to dig deep and share what I was finding with others, both digitally and on the plate. The exploration became critical to my well being. It also meant that while many restaurants and chefs couldn’t afford what they considered extras, like wildfoods, and were simply struggling to stay afloat, I had a special moment to embrace the opportunity to get to know them, and explore together creatively the products I found and cultivated.
This exchange has become one of the aspects I love most about being a forager. I had to be inventive. I would offer samples of what I could offer through Mad for Mushrooms, and seek collaborations and revenue streams where I might not have otherwise. It made me take that aspect of my practice more seriously. It still feels like I haven’t “made it” on any front, but that I am preparing for future projects and successes. What for most, including myself, seem like divergent pursuits, begin to find glimmers of connectivity and overlap, as I had imagined.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I wear many hats. I began a design and realestate development business called Soul Proprietorship back in 2015, after working in museums, and being priced out of the market in Los Angeles. My goal was to utilize my background in architecture to realize a dream of renovating existing properties in a sustainable and community-affirming way. The name was generated through a text conversation with a lifelong friend of mine who was mentioning the legal designation of a business, Sole Proprietorship. The autocorrection was both humorous and auspicious, a text prediction encapsulating this idea of infusing deeper meaning into a solo capitalistic endeavor. It also worked in abbreviation as I had wanted to serve as a prop house, location, and support to set designers in film and otherwise.
When I had my places featured in commercials and videos, it felt like a full-circle success. Mostly the business has tapped into sort-term and extended-stay rentals. The concept of hosting also appealed to me, as I have always loved to travel, so anticipating the needs and wants of individuals in a space, is something I can get real particular about, in a good way. The pursuit was meant to generate passive income to take me into the next creative endeavor. But the pandemic meant that I have not quite seen my way into the passive aspect just yet.
My approach has been to have a hand in every stage and detail. As hotels are becoming more plentiful and Airbnb has become ubiquitous, I am constantly looking for other ways to grow my businesses. Fostering thoughtful and eco-conscious design for me has meant relying on my long-held love of vintage design, something I’ve been passionate about since I was an adolescent, from fashion to homewares. ChairWhore is the encapsulation of that obsession; its about upending taboo and recognizing the value and fetishization of design at once. It began as a repository of all the old things I was clearing out of the project homes I purchased. It has evolved into an online resource for designers and curated shop for those that like what I do too. My style is quite eclectic, and I am committed to that. There are no rules and I do my best to not follow trends.
Recognizing and rescuing the visions of past designers and fabricators, and minimizing our collective footprint by reuse and rehab drives me to continue. I try to keep all packaging limited to reused items as much as possible, to circumvent that waste-stream as well, and that feels pretty good.
Until now, the rental properties are both rationale and showcase for the vintage business. I finally have a temporary studio space, where I am looking to connect with fellow designers, art directors, artists and creatives, to use the space for mindful output. I held a first pop-up art show, featuring a few local artists and street photographer friend from NYC, Amy Touchette. I have been a fan of her work since we met through a mutual friend well over a decade ago.
I try to be cognizant of branding, but honestly I have yet to figure out the best way to reach my larger audience, which I feel certain is out there. Social media can be a powerful tool, but it can also be mind-numbing, so I try to keep a healthy balance there.
I hope to grow the business through wider placement, and ideally more collaborations with artists and crafts people, where refinishing is more than just sanding, upholstery, and paint. These are indeed necessary aspects, but I am curious to figure out new ways to reclaim our interior spaces and move away from the “fast fashion” or precious antique mentality, offering a democratization of space. Less pretension, more delight.
I’d love to think more about developing finishes and building materials from natural waste items like sargasso and find better systems to capture and limit single-use plastics.
Besides all that, I am an independent journalist. I interview artists I am interested in, and try to get it published. For me it’s another way of processing the world and connecting. I have endless questions, so this is me channeling that compulsion. The pay is paltry, and keeping up with editors and publications is a job in and of itself. I don’t have people knocking down my door. Still, I hope that sharing in forums like this is meaningful to someone somewhere. Having deadlines and goals that are focused around supporting the work of others keeps me feeling sane. Writing is a craft I find incredibly challenging and that makes me want to continue trying to improve. It puts me in a different headspace, one where agonizing over not having a properly functioning website or 5 digit following melts away.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
I hope this doesn’t jinx me. I don’t tend to be a good self-promoter. Self deprecation is my M.O, humor my essential life force. I tend to underplay my achievements, and not speak of them before they happen. So too do I recognize that words are powerful in manifesting what is to come.
While it has not yet solidified, I have been in the process of forming a co-investment strategy with a friend who is also a designer, entrepreneur and small business owner. We met after college in New York, when I was living with one of my closest friends, that she grew up with. We are very different and have a lot in common in terms of goals and interests. We once did a small design project together for VICE way back when we were both starting out in design, but it was a wee bit of a disaster, mostly because we tried to make it happen for no money. I am always wary starting out. I’ve had a couple of personal / professional agreements that did not work out at all. I’ve been conned and taking advantage of, but I try to remain optimistic. I grew up riding horses, and even when trampled, I learned you have to get right back in the saddle, otherwise your fear will overtake you. Having had real rough patches, dealing with people that did not have my best interest in mind, helped me to know the difference. I trust her implicitly, and that’s what matters. I think she feels the same way. We have grown a lot as individuals since our twenties. Founded our own business and grown personally. So we will take precautions to make sure our friendship can bloom in this collaboration. We are currently seeking funding for investment and renovation of commercial space in South Los Angeles, in areas which we believe will benefit from our work and care. We aim to bolster relationships with like-minded business owners and investors, who hold community development as the richest aspect of sustainable growth. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Honestly, I want to offer that I don’t know. I don’t think I have. And while there are come surges of stress from not knowing how and when I will make it work, I try to just keep plugging away and hope that the next move will set me up slightly better than last month. It is not easy, and I am not just talking about clientele, or social media, or marketing. I want to be my own best hype-person, but I am not. No one may want to hear it, but I don’t feel like I have been successful yet, and I think it’s worthwhile to say so, because I feel fairly certain that there are folks out there that understand that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChairWhore
- Instagram: @chairwhore @mad_for_mushrooms @soulpropllc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodie-bass
- Other: https://www.foraged.com/foragers/mad-for-mushrooms#about-vendor
Image Credits
Mushrooms shots are by me, Jodie Bass ChairWhore Workshop Space, photos are by Don Lehman