John (38) & Buying Time
This article was written in collaboration with Don’t Mind If (DMI) to document and archive creative journeys of those who labour within Singapore’s Communication Design industry and community. This is a preview of the entry.
I don’t know how to tell you about the feverish excitement seeing someone so relaxed and languid start talking real fast when broaching the topic of personal finance as a creative and building a circular project. So here’s John in his own words.
"I’m an artist. I like to image-make. I sometimes also do graphic design. To relax, I like to watch movies and annoy my dog.”
“Since doing my art/personal exploration 2 years ago, I started a bedroom interview series called Broom, a climbing brand called JUG I work on with a long time friend and also for-fun t-shirt project POOLS, which I spend most of my time on. Recently I also started working with good friends to throw parties under the collective @nopartyherehq.”
“I’m particularly proud of POOLS which I run jointly with Konstrukt Labs. It’s a project that allows locally based creatives to freely make their own t-shirt. My hope is that POOLS will be able to provide a framework for future community based projects. We plan to share how we engage artists, manage budgets and timelines and as well as split profits. We just completed series 3, with a special KIDS series on the way in October. So maybe some time early next year, we’ll start to share what we’ve learnt.”
“I see it as prioritising time as the most valuable thing I purchase every month. Above travel, meals, clothes, etc. It’s always good to try setting out on your own - if it doesn’t work out, find a job then try again!”
