On Screen-printing, Storytelling and Walking Your Dog: Alyson Beaton of Urbs Studio
Today, we’re chatting with one of The Front Market’s Spring 2024 vendors, Alyson Beaton of Urbs Studio.
“Doing my work is like breathing. I so often wish it wasn’t and that I could just sit at a computer and do work like a normal person. I am a very active person and my work feels like I am solving some puzzle that only I know exists. For some reason I think that the world needs my work and I hope that it is meaningful to someone besides me. I am striving to create a body of work and at this point it has become my life’s work. I hope that all of my projects are a small part of the same story. ”
Tell us about your creative journey. What made it hard? What made it easy?
Wow, that is a long journey ;) I started working as an independent designer/entrepreneur in 2003 after graduate school. I got an MFA in visual communication at SAIC in Chicago, in their program we did a lot of hand work, experimenting a lot with printed matter. When I started out, I did letterpress invitations. After about 4 years of printing non stop, I wanted to write a book about kids and the environment (I have always been an environmentalist) so my friend and I wrote a book and hand bound them. I really enjoyed connecting with kids and also have a background in architecture, so when I was using a laser cutter one day I decided to cut out the house I was living in in Chicago (an abstract version). I gave it to my daughter and she loved it, the idea was for her to make it her own and explore the idea of “home” and our neighborhood was called “Lille Huset.” The project became very successful, sold in stores across the country and internationally.
In 2015 we moved back to Texas. Lille Huset opened lots of doors for me with companies and I did lots of collaborations, one in particular with Windham fabrics. I designed a collection of quilting fabrics for them and other collabs that were really interesting and creative. Once the collection was off and running I became bogged down with the day to day, allocating units and packing and shipping boxes, it was at that point that I realized I was tired of the project and needed to do creative making again. I got a membership at ASPCO and started experimenting with screen printing on fabrics and developing home goods from them. Nine years later, I have been evolving the collection and my message to be more and more true to who I am as a maker. I have recently added furniture and am also doing interiors to bring the whole story together.
To answer your question about what made it hard: Honestly, everything is hard, very very hard at first especially if you don’t have a business degree, but once you get over a hump that you think you’ll never get over, it becomes easy… until the next hump!
The thing that made it easy (or enjoyable) was the markets. I have done LOADS of markets and it is seeing people like what I make that fueled me.
What does your day-to-day as a creative look like?
I wake up around 7 and first things first, make coffee (if my husband hasn’t already), let the dog out and sit on the sofa and drink it. It is my favorite ritual that centers me. I try to keep a physical calendar to keep me on track with my goals. Honestly, every day is a bit different, some weeks I am running like crazy and others pretty chill. I balance my interior clients and my making. I set a goal for myself to complete a collection including: furniture and linens by the end of the year. I carve out time every week to work on that from screenprinting the fabrics to building the furniture with Austin, at Austin School Of Furniture. I try to compartmentalize things so I don’t get overwhelmed. If I have to work on invoicing, I do it on one day of the month, not try to do it at random times.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
The projects that are the most important to me are the ones that come from my experiences. Graduate school helped me discover how to constantly be seeking a way to tell a story. The story I tell is about where and how I live, hoping it will connect with others. Everything I create is very personal and stems from my life.
Our theme this season at Future Front is RITUALS. What are some of your favorite rituals?
My favorite ritual is taking my dog on a walk, it helps me clear my head and just think a bit about my day. She makes me do it, so it forces me to get out and walk around regardless of the weather. Also, when I don’t “make” for a period of time, I get really depressed and start to overthink everything in my life, when that happens I force myself into the print studio since it is the most accessible space. My ritual of printing is setting up, printing, drying, and then I go back and print on the pieces again, at the end I lay all of my prints together that I made that day and snap a photo. I have dozens of these photos and it helps me track my progress. I see my work as constant experimentation until I reach a result that I think is really working.
Why is your work important to you?
Doing my work is like breathing. I so often wish it wasn’t and that I could just sit at a computer and do work like a normal person. I am a very active person and my work feels like I am solving some puzzle that only I know exists. For some reason I think that the world needs my work and I hope that it is meaningful to someone besides me. I am striving to create a body of work and at this point it has become my life's work. I hope that all of my projects are a small part of the same story.
What advice would you give to a creative just starting out?
Find what makes you tick. If you are just starting to make, practice your skill a lot, until it is yours and you can own every aspect of it. Keep iterating, and be true to the thing that you do or the message you want to send.
Let’s spread the love! Who are three vendors from The Front Market this season that you’re obsessed with?
This is not an easy question to answer, I love so many things that people make and I love supporting other makers. If I had to choose 3 from the last market I’d have to say: Tawa Threads, 6pm Candle Co. and Ashdel…
What does your relationship between work and play look like?
I keep them very separate! When I was younger, I worked all the time, never stopping until I fell asleep on the couch. When you do that, you get burned out!!! After I closed Lille Huset, I set up new boundaries for myself, my family needs my time and I also need to take care of myself. Just as an aside, I remember when I was doing my first trade show in NYC, one of the other vendors told me to work yoga into my life and I did and IT HELPED! My husband and I spend a lot of time walking around Austin, eating great food, hanging out with friends and traveling when we can. Our kids are older, so they don’t need us as much. Our version of play is just starting to open up as they move out, ha!
What part of running your business do you secretly love? Secretly hate?
I swore to myself that I would stop trying to be good at everything (or do everything), so I focus on design and making because that is where my strengths lie. It is the first version of a design that makes me super happy, I am trying to keep that
If one song had to be playing on repeat while you crafted/worked, what would it be?
I am really into Nation of Language so I’ll say September Again
