#MakersPOV is a new series highlighting our diverse community of professionals and their unique points of view.

 

This time we had the pleasure of interviewing Santiago Vasches, who recently joined MOB and inspires everyone around him with his genuine motivation and eagerness to learn new things. In a career-changing transition, he tells us all about his vision of creativity, and when he realised he had to change his path.

Tell us about your work: what do you do?

I am an Industrial Designer. I work with small businesses and entrepreneurs, mainly designing furniture. I am transitioning to working as a Creative Coach, my second profession.

What is your favourite part of your job?

When it comes to industrial design, the research phase. Depending on the project can include watching documentaries and reading interesting books, learning new things! When I coach, my favourite part is seeing how people react to creative exercises.

When did you realise that you wanted to take your profession in a new direction?

In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic! I decided I wanted to stop doing things I didn’t like and sit down to work so I could make a living from what I am really passionate about: helping creatives to make a living from what they are passionate about (yes, it’s ironic but that’s how it is haha).

What advice would you give to someone who has a creative block?

Clarification, we are never unable to create. When we are blocked we don’t lose any skills or knowledge, we are just choosing not to act, not to do, I can think of several pieces of advice:

  • Get together with people who want to do things (and who actually DO things)
  • Commit to a project delivery (many people need to be under pressure to perform)
  • Look for purpose-finding or motivational courses or workshop
  • Contact a creative coach. You can find a list on the website of Laboratorio GAIKI (the guys I studied with), or follow Facu Arenas who is the creator of this lab and uploads super interesting stuff on his IG.

I decided I wanted to stop doing things I didn’t like and sit down to work so I could make a living from what I am really passionate about: helping creatives to make a living from what they are passionate about.

What is your perception of ‘creativity’ in the society we live in?

I think the word ‘creativity’ is very abstract for most people, there are as many definitions as there are people. I like to see creativity as the energy that calls/moves us to do the things that we like and that make us happy, that implies exploring, trying new things, allowing ourselves to play. Creativity is generally under-encouraged in our education because it is not an attribute that is of much use to the ‘system’ for its employees. This causes us to grow out of our creativity, which for humans is like clipping our wings, it tends to make us unhappy.

What is your favourite project you have worked on so far?

A set of street furniture I designed for an Egyptian company. They wanted products with an Egyptian identity but modern. I had to do research on their culture, watch a lot of documentaries, draw with brushes to imitate their hieroglyphs and things like that. I played a lot during the process, it was a lot of fun and the result was very interesting!

Thank you!