The founder of The Archipelago is Mike, who was also the founder of Studio Mik Mik. The Archipelago is a new studio that Mike recently set up and is based at The Tower Works in Leeds. I had been emailing Mike through Studio Mik Mik while he was moving into the new home of his new studio. Once he had moved in I went along to see him. He asked me to take some work with me to talk through, which at this point I panicked because I didnt have a portfolio. I put together some random things, which to be honest I wasnt even proud of, but it was all I had.
When I got to the studio I met Mike and he was so friendly and welcoming. I sat down and he got me a drink. I was very nervous because this was the first time I was showing anyone my work and actually talking through it and it was stuff I wasnt even proud of!
We talked for a bit and he told me a bit about himself and how he got where he is today and then we looked through my work. I got my good old Toshiba out and opened the PDF. I started to go through my work and didnt really know what to say, then I froze and just had to stop. It got a bit too much for me and I just told him I dont like the work ive bought along and I panicked when he asked to see some. We didnt look at any more.
We started talking about university and how I didnt really know who I was as a designer at that point in time. He was telling me how he was exactly the same when he was at uni and he told me all of the things he had studied and was interested in. I think hes done most things and hes only just figured out who he was as a designer, 10 years later. This made me feel so much better, he gave me so much useful advice and gave me more confidence. I didnt need to know who I was just then, I had third year to find out and even the rest of my life.
Mike told me to stay in contact and go and see him again when I have a body of work that im really proud of. We ended up talking for just over 2 and a half hours and I learnt so much!
I emailed Mike to say thank you again for his time, advice and reassurance! We had a bit of banter after him telling me there was nothing worse than receiving badly written emails, because he sent me one with a typo! :)
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