Name: Helena Hong
Location: San Jose, California
Company: nice owl design studio
What is your aesthetic? I’d have to say my aesthetic is drawn from nature, simple pleasures, vintage and kitschy color mixes (usually inspired by fashion and home goods) and things that just make me feel happy.
How does your studio style convey your professional aesthetic? My studio space reflects my style in the details. Let’s take my mismatch furniture, for example, that somehow all works together but doesn’t match one bit. Though my walls are a bare white, I welcome color that comes in all shapes and forms that dresses things up. I meet with a variety of clients, so I kinda like how I’m in a space that starts off bare and gets added to and layered on.
Favorite part of your studio? It’s just a blessing to have so much space to be creative. But I’d have to say my favorite part of my studio is my storage shelf. I love that it houses all my papers, materials, boxes i collect, samples and more. I love how organized it makes me (well, as organized as I can be!). Oh, and I love that I have a window to stare out of… 🙂
Where do you go for inspiration? In the virtual world, I have loads of blogs and web sites i visit to keep me inspired through photography, typography and even quotes. But in the real world, it can take a walk through a thrift store, a drive through a small town I’ve never seen before or a walk by a bakery. I seem to take with me something artistically pleasing and enjoyable that later gets put into my work, journal or a sketch.
What tool do you use in your business that you can’t live without? This is a hard one, because there are so many tools and gadgets that help me create…but here’s the short list:
Is there anything you’d upgrade to? I’d love to give my hands and fingers a rest with machines to score and cut my papers, but that’s an upgrade way down the road. I’m happy to be a human paper cutter for now.
Anything else we should know? I’m a pretty nice gal, so let’s connect!
To learn a little more about my business, please click here.
A special thanks to Mark J. Sebastian for my photos.