Hello!
This week we are talking with Esther Thorpe from . Esther is an origami artist that I met her last year at the Mollie Makes Award ceremony in London, we were both for the ‘best workshop award’ and she got the award, rightly so!
She does run fantastic workshops, I’m waiting for the summer to attend one of her mini lampshades. She has also published a book contains step-by-step instructions for 15 stunning origami projects.
Enjoy and comment below sharing your thoughts.
Hello Est!
When did your creative journey start?
I’d say my creative journey actually started from birth BUT when I really started to discover where my creativity was most unleashed was about 5 years ago. I was teaching small people and really itching to have a creative outlet after many years of designing & doodling beforehand. I started to fold paper for fun and discovered that people really enjoyed my creations, something I still can’t quite get my head around!
Can you pick three words that describe how you feel when you are being creative?
alive, eager, myself
As a creative where do you find your inspirations?
I find inspiration often in the most unlikely of places. The most common theme is when I have space and time to think. As a designer/maker it’s really easy to just busy yourself and not step back to allow creativity flow. I have found my biggest light bulb moments have been on the train home, when my phone has died and I didn’t have enough change to buy a magazine.
What’s the most valuable tip you would give to an aspiring maker starting their own creative business?
I would say stay true to yourself & trust your personal creative instinct. It’s when I have not conformed to what I think everyone will love but created what I am inspired to, that I get the best results. When you are most true to your intuition the most creative you are.
If you were not a paper artist, what would you love to be instead?
If I weren’t a paper artist I think I would actually go back into teaching. I do love other crafts but not as passionate about them as origami. I also LOVED being a teacher. There are huge opportunities to be creative when teaching 4 & 5 year olds and I think I would be keen to really unleash as much of my creativity as possible if I did end up in the classroom again.
Could you share three IG accounts that inspire you?
I am a huge fan of @allthatisshe – such creative posts and a brilliant sense of humour.
I’ve always been a big fan of @cherylrawlings’ feed – her writing is like no other and her feed has little snippets of what a wonderful soul she is.
@thelovelydrawer – I have been following for years, Teri is such an inspirational creative, she actually makes DIYS I attempt to make myself as they don’t look like a DIY!
