Episode 51: Artist Spotlight - How to Survive Social Distancing with Anna Chedid

artist spotlight season 2 Jun 18, 2020

In this Episode, we talk to our friend and fellow paper florist Anna Chedid about how she is handing social distancing during this unique time in our history.
 
For many of us, it's been weeks since "normal." We no longer leave our houses without hand sanitizer and a face mask. We count the number of people present when we hang out with our neighbours, friends or family. Our food cravings are now conditioned around what exists in our fridge and pantry. All of our interactions are now more...complicated. 
 
As artists, we are used to working from home or our studio, often working alone for hours. But that is by choosing. So what happens when we're forced to be isolated from others for a long period of time? How do we stay healthy?
 

 
First, let's learn a bit about Anna:
 

1. Tell us about yourself! Who is Anna Chedid?

That's probably the hardest one to answer! I'm Anna, Brazilian, designer, paper artist, crazy cat lady, coffee...
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Episode 50: Friends of TPFC - The Ins and Outs of Starting a Subscription Box with Rachel Heath

friends of tpfc season 2 Jun 10, 2020

As paper flower entrepreneurs, we are always re-evaluating our business and trying to tweak our strategy so we can increase our profit margin while at the same time, saving time. In the last few years, subscription box offerings have been taking off (even our very own Quynh offers one!). So we wanted to explore why a business owner may decided to include a subscription offering as part of their monetization strategy and how they would go about designing the offer and launching it. Naturally, we reached out to the perfect person to give us a frank perspective - Rachel Heath, the face behind the Flora Fun Box, and the designer of Trill Flora
 
Rachel launched her Flora Fun Box (which is full of floral goodness) in December 2019. In this Episode, we talk to her in depth about why she decided to pivot her business, how she decided the subscription offering, and the things to consider when launching a new business product.
 
...
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Black Lives Matter

friends of tpfc season 2 Jun 04, 2020

BLACK LIVES MATTER. Today, we wish to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.  To support its community and give voice to their cause. We are actively educating ourselves about Black Lives Matter and how to be better citizens. Here is a list of resources that we are currently reading, listening and/or donating to:

blacklivesmatter.com

www.naacp.com

www.joincampaignzero.org

www.blackvisionsmn.org

 

In honour of #podcastblackout, we are not publishing our regular podcast this week. Our podcast is a platform of privilege and we have the privilege to decide, on a daily basis,  who's voices to amplify at any given time. This week, it's to the black community. Consider listening to these podcast episodes this week instead:

 

1619 by New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/podcasts/1619-podcast.html

 

Code Switch by NPR:  www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch

 

About Race: ...

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Episode 49 - Artist Spotlight: Building a Flower with Lucia Balcazar

artist spotlight season 2 May 28, 2020

Today we talk to Lucia Balcazar, the author of Build a Flower: A Beginner's Guide to Paper Flowers. Lucia has an easily recognizable signature style of deep colours and strong graphic lines in her paper flower art. Formerly a statistician, she changed her career path to follow her love for the fine arts, and her art reflects a maturity and confidence that is a hallmark of later-in-life artists. Her first book, Build a Flower, provides a refreshing take on paper flowers by exploring different types of paper materials and techniques. It's a perfect book for beginners who are keen on trying different mediums and ideal for crafters/artists who want to take on something fun.
 
Listen to us chat with Lucia about her new book, how she manages her tendonitis, and how she balances her mom-life with her art.
 

First, let's get to know Lucia a little:
 
1. Who is Lucia Balcazar?

I'm a statistician turned paper flower artist. I was born in St....

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Episode 48: Over Coffee - Selling, Teaching & Buying: Intellectual Property Considerations

over coffee season 2 May 21, 2020

In this episode, we address some of the concerns that Quynh has about her collaboration with artists for The Posey Box and the issue of intellectual ownership. We both offer online courses for purchase, and we teach workshops on a regular basis. As teachers, we want to ensure that we provide high quality content - from instructions to templates - to all of our students. If you buy a course from us or learn from us at a paid workshop, it’s more than a business transaction for us; it’s a student-teacher relationship. But there’s also the possibility that someone may take our hard work and re-sell it or re-teach it for a profit.
 
We have also been students; as students, we are interested in learning new skills and techniques and are willing to pay for it. However, it’s always unclear what you can do with the intellectual property you’ve then acquired. What can we do with the skills and techniques learned, or the templates, or the paper flower? Then...
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Episode 47: Over Coffee - International Paper Flower Day with Kate Alarcon

over coffee season 2 May 13, 2020

May 14 is International Paper Flower Day, and in celebration of this special day, we've invited one of our favourite artists, Kate Alarcon of The Cobralily, to talk about it with us. Thanks to Kate - she came up with the idea of designating a specific date to celebrate our paper flower community and our art - paper flowers are spreading like wildfire around the world.

Listen to Quynh and Jessie as they talk to Kate about how she came up with the idea of International Paper Flower Day, the impetus for it, and what she hopes it'll achieve.

 

GIVEAWAY

Be sure to head over to our IG account and check out our International Paper Flower post for a chance to win a copy of the following books:

Jessie Chui's Paper Flower Art: Create Beautifully Realistic Floral Arrangements

Kate Alarcon's Uncommon Paper Flowers

Lucia Balcazar's Build a Flower: a Beginner's Guide to Paper Flowers 

 

HOW TO ENTER:

To enter into the...

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Episode 46: Friends of TPFC - Spreading Hope with Flowers with Holly and Alex Chapple

friends of tpfc season 2 May 07, 2020

One of the highlights of Quynh's involvement in Design Days 2020 was having the chance to meet  Holly Heider Chapple! You've likely seen Holly's beautiful work all over social media and she's been featured in numerous wedding magazines and wedding blogs. Her flower arrangements are always exquisitely composed and styled. 

One look at her websites (yes, she's got 3) and you can see it reflects her personality and her style perfectly. She's the founder of Chapel Designers, the owner of Hope Flower Farm, and the artist behind Holly Chapple Flowers. She's a HUGE name in the floral industry, so much so that she's dubbed the "Flower Mama" by her peers. You wouldn't know it because she is so incredibly down-to-earth, warm and engaging. 

With the help of her family, she's turned her floral business into an empire. In this Episode, she is joined by her son, Alex, the Director of Education and Communication, who has become...

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Episode 45: Friends of TPFC - Exhibiting Your Work at an Art Gallery with Tiffany MacIsaac

friends of tpfc season 2 Apr 30, 2020

Last year, Jessie had an amazing opportunity to showcase a few pieces of her floral sculptures at The Freedom Factory Toronto after one of the owners of the gallery, Tiffany MacIsaac, handpicked her to be a part of a juried group show of 60 artists. The experience was rewarding for Jessie in so many ways - exposure to the local art community, engagement with other artists, commissions and other unexpected opportunities, and taking a prize home for placing 2nd in the juried event. The most exciting was meeting Tiffany herself - a self-taught artist, curator, and visionary behind The Visual Arts Movement.
 
In this Episode, we chat with Tiffany about her unique approach to curating art, her no-commission art gallery, and her advice to aspiring artists.
 

 
1. Tell us about yourself. Who is Tiffany MacIsaac?
 
I am a Toronto based self taught artist and curator, as well as co-owner of The Freedom Factory Toronto.
 
2. Tell us about The...
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Episode 44: Over Coffee - Transforming Your Paper Flower Passion into a Business

over coffee season 2 Apr 23, 2020

Today we talk about our passion project for the last few months - Paper to Profits

When we returned from the Masterclass in Monroe, Washington last year, we met so many incredibly talented paper florists who were hungry for more information on how to transform their hobby into a viable business and build it to last. So for a year, we mulled over how to deliver the content we knew so well. As female paper florist entrepreneurs with a wide variety of experiences, we have so much experience and skills to pass on to our students and to mentor them, but how? 

And then the Covid-19 pandemic happened and many people lost their jobs or their positions became precarious. We began to reflect on the priorities of our lives and realized that life is too short to live it working in a job that we had no passion for.

So it became clear to us that this was the perfect time to offer a Program that could help our students become their own...

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Episode 43: Friends of TPFC - Bookkeeping 101 with Meka West

friends of tpfc season 2 Apr 16, 2020

April is Financial Literacy month so it's the perfect time to talk about money with Meka West of Penny Smart Girl! Meka is a certified accountant and she is the founder of an online bookkeeping and money coaching firm called Penny Smart Girl.  April is also the month for tax-deadlines so we are picking Meka's brain today on all things bookkeeping and tax-related! She has generously shared her experience and advice in this Podcast and in this Blog post. She is seriously a wealth of information and generosity!
 

 
1. Tell us about yourself. Who is Meka West?
 
I’m a Midwest original that moved to Seattle in my twenties. I bought a house at age 21, raised my son as a single mom until he was 12 and have been lucky to work in some great roles along the way.
 
I believe in living life with a cherry on top. Which means creating a life of balanced with work but also time to enjoy the things that bring us joy and make us feel....
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