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

Louie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

Our current educational system reminds me of an assembly line. We are products packed onto a conveyor belt, grouped by our expiration dates, and carried on a track. Once you get to the end, they slap a label on you and ship you out to the world.

But what about the people who don’t fit on that track or don’t agree with that label?

For a living I design, fabricate and craft, but it all goes back to the secret doodles at my desk, hoping the teacher wouldn’t catch me.

One time I did get caught, and my earth science teacher ripped my doodle up in front of the whole class to set an example.

I loved using my hands for creativity, but on our current track, that’s not encouraged. The current educational system tries to standardize how we are supposed to go about the problem and doesn’t condone out of the box creative problem solving, or even just alternate perspectives.

I felt trapped in a system that decided I was just built wrong and needed to conform. Instead on just bending the knee, I went to my high school guidance counselor and started ranting about my issues with this system.

It was odd, even though I was angry, they seemed fascinated. He asked if it was ok if he invited his boss to join us, I said yes, then walks in Joan Fretz, our superintendent. I start explaining my issues with our current educational system with her. She stops me, runs out of the room and comes back in with a video camera asking me to continue.

I was honestly too heated to even process the camera in the room. But it turns out that my rant was referenced in her next book Developing Inviting Schools page 18-20, and that video she made was added to her end of year teacher’s conference held on Long Island.

I’m lucky to have been stubborn enough to forge my own path in life, because if I didn’t break off the track I was suppose to be on my life would truly be miserable

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 was born in raised in Long Island, New York. I became a graphic designer working there and in Boston till 2015. It was during that time where I achieved my first ever goal in life. My dream was to see something I designed on a billboard some day. That dream came true in 2012 thanks to work I did for a theater company called ArtsEmerson.

I then moved out to LA where I quickly fell in love with the film and television industry.
I discovered the art department, a place where I could expand my creativity and satiate my curiosities. This is where I learned to fabricate props, build movie sets and experiment with special effects.

It wasn’t long before I became a Production Designer, the head of the art department, This allowed me to run my own crews with more creative agency than ever before. I truly found a career that fit me!

If I just stayed on that “track” when I was in school, I would have never made it out to LA or found the career of my dreams. 10 years later, I’m still doing what I love; sculpting, painting, carpentry, graphic design, interior design and with constant new creative problems to solve.

I have expanded my business to LA, NY and Portland flying all over for different projects. I have now built up my clients and reputation, designing for Disney, Pixar, Paw Patrol, Harbor Frieght Tools, Heineken, Arri, McLaren, 100 Thieves, Netflix and Bollywood star, Diljit Dosanjh.

My favorite project so far was a Christmas special for Heineken and 100 Thieves. I had to build a winter wonderland in the middle of the desert. I got to add a lot of crazy Willy Wonka style elements like, 6 foot candy canes sprouting out of the ground, a snow ball fight arena, and an 8ft tall snow man.

Every once and awhile I think back to the day the teacher ripped up my doodle in front on the rest of the class. In ways, that teachers mistake, fueled my pursuit to take my life into my own hands.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

When I moved to LA I had nothing but my car and a co-sign from my mom was the only way I was gonna get an apartment.

I had no assets, no reputation and no clientele.

So I made a website offering media and content creation.

But I needed to figure out a way to stand out, something that would help me talk to potential customers but also something that no one else was really doing.

I then decided that paying Google pay per clicks or trying to generate organic SEO. Would not be enough for my business in the short term.

So I drove around with a pen a paper, and would go into each and every business I saw within a 10 mile radius. Before I went in, I would look them up online, if their website was outdated or their social media page had only a few pictures on it, I knew I found my target.

I would find out their name, and get a card or contact information. Then immediately go back into my car and write down any jokes or things we talked about. Remembering the name is absolutely crucial.

Rejection and negativity were common reactions, but even some of those reactions turned into sales a year or two later. The key is persistency and consistency. This is a numbers game and it doesn’t matter how many nos when all you need is one yes.

Every month to two months, I would reach back out, through email or text, often without even a call to action, sometimes just reaching out to a company to tell them your positive opinion of their current projects was enough to keep the conversation going.

Eventually you have a catalog of possible clients to check back in with on a regular basis.

The key is the human touch factor, nobody wants to be sold to, and everyone love talking about themselves. With that you can frame your dialogue with potential customers. You want to get to know them and their business, in the beginning of the conversation, get as much info as you can and then when you figure out how you can solve their problem with your product you save it in the back pocket and wait for them to ask you what you do.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is to learn as many new art styles and mediums as I can to evolve as an artist but more importantly as a person.

There is wisdom in art. When you make a mistake and it staring back at you on the canvas, do you allow the mistake to win? Or do you try something new?

Failure’s beauty stems from the raw vulnerability within us all. To dive face first into failure for the sake of wisdom is true freedom.

My goal is to start buying large plots of land and turn them into sculpture gardens for the public, where massive 30ft sculptures I make can be intermingled with lush vegetation and gardening, which is my favorite hobby outside of work. I discovered a sculpture park in Demoine Iowa that blew me away, and I want to help light the creative fire within the next generation of artists.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Loucontino
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-contino
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/epla0VgTiNs?si=79Hjw6xq0ToLx67V
• Other: https://youtu.be/epla0VgTiNs?si=79Hjw6xq0ToLx67V(Is a link to my reel just for context)

Image Credits

Heineken shot was taken by 100 thieves