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

Mai, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I would like to rephrase the question to “Do you wish you had started your handcrafting-creative career sooner or later?” as I started my creative career pretty early on. After graduating high school I obtained an apprenticeship in an advertising agency to become an account executive where I developed my interest in the creative side of the advertising profession. This led me study at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf, Germany (majoring in communication design) which included a semester in Tokyo, Japan (Musashino Art University) where I focused on packaging design. Upon graduation I worked as a graphic designer in advertising and other industries for about a decade. Hence, I can say that I have worked in a creative field for quite a while – and even thought I had my proud moments – now, looking back I can say for certain, that it was never fulfilling.

However, now having taken the plunge and starting something completely new, the shift to my handcrafting-creative career as a woodturner and leather crafter, I can say that this is my true passion. It took me a while and required a huge leap of faith to finally overcome my fears to leave a decent career I felt reasonably competent in. I had felt this connection to handcrafting already all those years ago during my studies in design, where I had taken a single class in a wood shop. It had felt so right but I was too afraid to shift gears and start over with another apprenticeship as a carpenter or woodworker – at the age of 25 I thought I was too old …

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 and raised in Germany. My father, a Japanese artist, and my mother, a German photographer exposed me to design and art from a very young age. Growing up in a creative household with two different cultural influences may sound very exciting, but it wasn’t always easy. Financial struggle for example, has shaped my identity as well as my design sensibilities. To support the family, my father worked as an illustrator for advertising agencies and that’s how my older sister and I, got exposed to that industry. My sister already worked in the agency I ended up doing my apprenticeship after high school. During high school I unfortunately did not seriously pursue any interests nor did I have any and had no vision/idea of what I would like to become … something I truly regret. Fast forward to the time I came to the US and I basically had to start from scratch in many ways, I played with the idea to go to college to become a carpenter but again, I thought I would be too old and I also needed to earn my own money and so I ended up working in the field I was used to – with the big difference that this time I was on the “client side”. I don’t want to sound arrogant – and other designers can relate, I am sure – but working with non creative people is very challenging at times to say the least. Design for me is a passion that takes time and details are essential. Branding design for example takes a lot of pre-work in researching to truly understand the brand, its messaging and analyzing benchmarks. Structured work sessions with the client to get a better feel for what they expect and how they want to be recognized as a brand is critical. For someone who works in the profession, this is just part of the process. However, for non-creatives and professionals from different fields the design process is often not valued and a final product expected right out of the shoot -which can be very frustrating. In a way, it would be very easy to just be pushing out some thoughtless “designs” and be done with it …but that is something I am not able to do. To a fault, I seem to convince myself that I have delivered a good job with a meaningful idea and concept behind the design. And with the growing variety of automated design tools and AI, “quicker and cheaper” has taken the upper hand which has been very discouraging to me.

Fast forward to 2016, I signed up for a woodturning class to clear my mind and tame my frustration and got hooked! There I was, FINALLY making the decision to change something. My personality is such that once, I grow a passion in something, I can’t help but dive deeper and deeper. That’s how I also added leather working to my portfolio. First, I just put finishing touches out of leather to my wood bowls and now I am also making purses out of leather. Similar to my work as a graphic designer, the pre-work before I even start producing is critical. I take a lot pride in creating my own designs and so there is the same design process: benchmarking, sketching, producing paper models before actually creating. Going through my regimen and process to finally holding the finished item in my hands is so incredibly satisfying. And that gets topped by seeing the reaction of customers when they hold their custom made product in their hands. It is so very important to me to connect with the customer and add a personal touch to each creation.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being my own boss and at the same time the most difficult critic to satisfy. Challenging myself and succeeding by holding the final product/creation in my hand and of course receiving acknowledgment from friends and family. This feeling can be topped if someone is so impressed, that they actually want to purchase my work. Who wouldn’t be? (^-^)

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

All the stations I went through – beginning with my career as an account executive – led to the designer I am now. I am very organized and structured when pursuing my job as a graphic designer. Sometimes even too structured … Woodworking taught me to accept that I can’t influence everything which made “design follows material” my new guiding principle. I am still learning to let go of things and not to take myself too seriously.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://maiwerk.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maiwerk17/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mai-suzuki-40229/

Image Credits
Satoshi Teshima (portrait) Mai Suzuki (product shots)