Amy Braswell // Paper Finch Design
Amy Braswell is a fellow member of the Launch Brand Grow Community and is an inspiring force to be reckoned with! She’s been featured in People, GoodHouseKeeping, PopSugar & more and she now stocks her goodies at places like HomeGoods and Wayfair! Amy’s a fellow Floridian, starting PaperFinch Design as a way to achieve her dream of living by the ocean. Her work highlights the unique journey we each experience in this crazy thing called life. Her business took off a bit quicker than she had anticipated (you go girl!), so she had to learn and adapt along the way! PaperFinch Design specializes in inspirational and geographical modern art prints, gifts, and home decor.
What inspires you to create?
Travel is the biggest.
Which is why I do travel-based designs. But inspiration can come from anywhere, really - sometimes I'll see a color I really like. Or a new font. And sometimes I design things just for fun that never really make it into my shop - since they're not travel based. But I just have to get it out of my head and onto the computer.
How do you know when a piece is done?
You know, it depends on the piece. I do a lot of collections - where I design something and then do a version for each city or state. I have to just decide that those are DONE, otherwise I'd have to go back and update 800+ city skylines, etc. But for my more one-off designs, they're never really done. That's the joy (and the curse) of digital work - you can be constantly tweaking it. Sometimes too much - I can be guilty of overdesigning and I have to remind myself sometimes to just stop.
What are 3 words you'd use to describe your unique art style?
Wanderlusty, clean, fun
What is one take-away you'd love viewers to gather after experiencing your work?
I would love every viewer to feel unique.
To know that their story is their own and that nobody else has their same story, their same unique combination of where they've lived, their favorite inspirational quotes, their particular adventures.
I'd love to hear a little about the studio / space you've created to work in and how that impacts your process & final product.
Currently I work out of my home office. Which is being renovated. Which means I am coffee shop hopping around town. I love doing that anyway, since I love being surrounded by people and their energy. I'm getting to the point where I might need a warehouse pretty soon, but no matter what - I always need a pretty, well-lit space to work from. And I don't like working in the same place every single day either. Luckily I can take my laptop wherever I go and I only *have* to be in my office on packaging and shipping days.
What would 'success' look like to you with this passion of yours?
I'm already a full time artist, but I want to be a full time brand. If that difference makes sense. I want to be the CEO and artistic director of a small team of artists and business-minded folks so that I can focus on the designs, traveling, and speaking/teaching about how to set up your business for scalability and success.
What has been your biggest struggle to getting where you want to be creatively and how did you overcome it?
I grew a little faster than I realized I would and I didn't have systems + processes set up ahead of time. So there was a lot of wasted time (at least that's how it felt) redoing the same things over and over again. And when it came time to hire, I made it more difficult that it should have been. Which is why I LOVE helping other small business owners avoid that happening to them.
Do you have any advice / tips for someone looking to dive deeper and pursue their own creative passion?
I have so. much. advice.
Probably the biggest is - be consistent.
Both in your creativity (to create cohesion and a strong brand) and in your workflows + processes. Being organized from the start gives you more time to live in your zone of genius, creating the stuff that sets your heart on fire.
Helping others on their own journey
While Amy has now successfully built a strong business of inspiration and wins, she has never forgotten what it’s like to just be starting out. She now mentors women entrepreneurs on how to profitably balance work and kiddos.
“I love giving women super actionable knowledge nuggets that they can implement immediately so that tomorrow can be just a little easier. Because guess what – we CAN have it all… we just have to figure out what that looks like for each of us.”
Can’t Get Enough Amy?!
(don’t worry, ME EITHER!)
Checkout paperfinch.com to browse artwork and prints or follow along on Instagram @paperfinchdesign
“My favorite part of my Paper Finch design company is delivering unique designs to my customers that speak to who they are. My heart just lights up when I see my product and a smiling customer on Instagram!
My life is the perfect one for me and my family and the work (whether product or service-based) I deliver to my clients is the same way: unique to them!”
