We were lucky to catch up with Kwasi Ransom recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kwasi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Taking my art seriously, and doing it as a professional has been my risk. Last year (2022) in April I started making music for TV film. I joined an online course my friend Josh Williams, a production music composer in Kansas City, put on and I would do weekly meetups where I would share music and cues I made for production use (TV, film, video games, etc.) with a group of passionate students.
I for a long time have also been passionate about style and fashion, and I decided to make something out of it. I joined with a friend of mine that’s equally passionate about functional fashion, Ian Quimby, and we started working on my fashion brand which would become Terre Monde. The goals of Terre Monde are to create sustainable fashion (clothing that doesn’t add an excessive amount of waste, use excessive amounts of water, uses recycled material where possible, workers and suppliers paid fair wages and treated well in their work environment,and more) that is a mix of techwear and haute couture. It’s high fashion, but the goal is for it to be affordable for most people. The brand and it’s pieces are theatrical in their own right as every piece is based on a plant or an animal from the ecosystem that the season is based on, and every piece has functional aspects of that plant or animal built into it.
As I worked more and more on advancing these passion projects, I found myself investing more into them, looking more into the logistics of making these dreams come true, and trying my best to network effectively. Eventually, I found an opportunity late last year to take a big trip around the world that would help me to advance both endeavors. I was gone for 10 weeks from home, in that time I went to New York Fashion week with my good friend B.V. , where we went to different shows and shot photography for a few models and brands, then the PMC (Production Music Conference) in LA, California where I met some important people in production music, that I would later be able to work with. After PMC, I went to Paris for fashion week. There I met costume designers, and influencers, and went to a wholesale fashion show, where I could build relationships with designers I could work with in the future. From their I spent a month in Europe (for the pure enjoyment and inspiration of it), and then I went to the Taxi Rally production music conference, where I met important contacts and made some friendships in the production music world.
After this big tour, I felt empowered to work towards these big dreams, and like I had a clear path forward.
Not long after I got back from the trip, I collaborated with a friend of mine, Ryan Rossi of Foldum (which is a sustainable folding housing company based in California). We did a mural for Art Basel in Miami (painted by the very talented Brian Velazquez) that communicated mutual goals for both of our brands. The mural was titled “A Vision of Sustainable Housing and Clothing”.
Now I am in full swing in working to make my clothing line a reality, and with the contacts that I made along the way in the production music world, I make covers for movie trailers with some very accomplished movie trailer composers.

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 a composer, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, piano, and saxophone), software developer, network engineer, music producer, fashion designer, entrepreneur, and overall creatively free person. I make artist music, as well as production music (music for TV and Film). My personal style of music is indie RnB. I started playing guitar when I was 9, saxophone in middle school at 11, piano at 18, and bass at 20. I’ve always enjoyed creating and performing, but I never took it seriously and worked on my craft rigorously until I considered doing it professionally. The opportunity to sell music for TV and Film without having to be famous (because I desperately do not want that) and without having to tour, was amazing to me. I learned quickly the differences between commercial music and production music (crafting feelings and theatrics vs. making something extremely listenable).
I always loved fashion and style. I saw the movie Cruella, in 2021 and I was very inspired and realized fashion was something that I always loved. From their I started looking at more fabrics and styles of clothing (especially women’s clothing) that I’d never really considered before. I was interested in making a clothing line and when I found another friend that was interested in fashion as much as I am, Ian Quimby, I felt like I could make it a real thing. From their we planned our brand’s style objective, artistic performance clothing. We wanted Terre Monde to embody aspects of haute couture like ornamental bijoux pieces while still being extremely functional and comfortable (as is most important in techwear).

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 think trying to be a professional in a field where the value of your product is determined by how much pleasure it brings the client is in itself challenging. I often find myself walking the line of what my audience wants and what is true to my vision. What I’ve learned is not to get overly consumed with my audience. Just make something I am extremely proud of and the right people will fall in love with it.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

The War of Art is a brilliant (and short) read. It definitely shaped my perspective on what it means to be not just and artist, but a professional (it’s not really about money).

Contact Info:

• Website: terremonde.clothing; ransomrhythm.com; 4dmedia.group
• Instagram: kwasiransom; terremonde.clothing; 4dmedia.group
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwasi-ransom-223b7114a/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kwasiransom; https://twitter.com/4dmediagroupllc

Image Credits
Sketches done by B.V. Cooper (designs by Kwasi Ransom)