We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meressa Tockey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Meressa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been creating. Creating just for the sake of creating, because it’s a never ending need and craving of my soul. But it took me a while to find something that I truly wanted to dedicate myself to and pursue professionally. I found something that is a combination of so many of my favorite things. Something that I love so much that I wanted to share it with the world.
I left my Maui home to travel a few years ago and one summer when I was back visiting, I looked down to see this incredible sacred geometry peaking though the grass blades. My eyes lit up when I saw it and I felt like I’d found Gold. It captivated me and I was bursting with excitement without having any clue what this beautiful thing was. It was love at first sight and I knew immediately that I would create art with it. I ran to my friends with excitement to show them what I’d found, and they told me it was the seed pod of a Protea Flower which grows on the trees in their backyard. The rest of the summer I spent up in the trees cultivating these seed pods. I collected 60lbs of pods and packed them into a suitcase!
You know those moments when everything is aligned just right? When you feel like everything leading up to it has prepared you for that moment.. When you’ve finally found the thing you’ve been looking for, and it’s perfect and you feel it in your soul and you just Know. Finding that pod was my moment.
It’s a combination of 3 of my favorite things. Flowers, sacred geometry and Maui.
That love, excitement, passion and inspiration is what this Maude Pod dream is made of.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I love travelling and I have a gypsy souI so I tend to move around a lot. This summer I decided to take my business on the road with me for a summer tour of art shows and music festivals. I just completed my 10th event in 2 months with shows in Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. And I’m not done yet!
I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to have a mobile business. I turned my car into a camper, added a hitch, bought a trailer and hit the road. It was busy and challenging and also rewarding and a lot of fun. I spent a good amount of time restocking inventory in motel rooms :) and sanding pods with my solar power in beautiful campgrounds. It was an adventure and I’m proud of myself for accomplishing this goal.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
The best resource I have discovered is my local makerspace. I’d never heard of a makerspace before. Not only do they have every tool imaginable, but they have helpful volunteers who will show you how to use them. You can walk in there with a vision, and walk out with it in your hand. For me the tool that helped bring my visions to life was the laser cutter. I actually had to take the laser class for a different job I was working at, and what a blessing that ended up being!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
It’s a tie between bringing a particular vision to life, and seeing a customer connect and fall in love with a particular piece. Its so satisfying and exciting to bring something from my mind into physical form, and every piece is unique, so I really enjoy seeing what each individual is drawn to.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @maude.pods
