Life is weird man. It is so daunting, silly, fake, scary, cool, empowering to have Saturn be a real thing. Having strangers ask me about a fake football equipment company founded in 1995 is surreal. But I have tried my best to take my Structures professor's advice: "There is no such thing as luck, just opportunity meeting preparation".
I found out 3 weeks ago that I had won the Architecture competition for Camp North End in Charlotte. Spending that time before the announcement was some pressure. Ya know, I had a soft opening in early January which really was nothing more than me setting an internal benchmark for myself. I told myself back in September that I would open my Atelier in January and so I did. Now, I would have pushed harder for a real opening if Covid had calmed down. But just having to think about limiting visitors and sanitizing gives me a headache. I really feel for these business owners just thinking of all these hoops and completely uncertain future. But anyway, my goal for January was to supposed to be to have a good, clean opening day, maybe a few people would come through, (none came because I didn't advertise, but I did have a good Instagram Live session).
So I thought I crossed the finish line for now. My shop was set-up to a certain degree and all my money was budgeted out. I knew there was a good chance I would win the competition but I didn't let myself lean on the cash prize when thinking of the future budget for Saturn. So when it was announced that I won, it was a super happy feeling, followed by a few days of, "Oh S#$%, how can I turn these winnings into a more solid Atelier before the announcement".
By this point I am TIRED of setting this shop up. I want to slip back into making mode sooooo bad. But now I have to think of the best case scenarios. I knew that I would get interviews and be blasted over social media by accounts with super strong followings. So now, I have to make sure my website is water-tight, my IG seems active enough, my portal to book time is easy to use and understand. I had to visualize the visitor experience and if they were comfortable enough.
Thankfully, all this press (which I still have a couple more interviews this week) hasn't resulted in many inquiries to use the space. I really want to take advantage of my set up. Most businesses must turn a profit immediately. But I am blessed with a space that I pay for through my mortgage, I can build slowly and make Saturn in the exact image I want, or at least try hard to do it. I am trying to put my focus on stepping back into my 2018 form, when I really got good at making shoes.
Funnily enough I got tapped to help on a couple more architectural building projects, more of a helper not the be all end all, but still. In my head I would be left to my devices, but life will never be that way (hopefully). I am happy to help and lend my eyes and hands to projects and eventually lead some news architectural proposals. But right now I REALLY want to get really good at craft, build the essence of Saturn to be high quality, experimental, design.
The downside, to Saturn, of winning an architectural competition is that it is very confusing to outsiders what exactly I do. To the user it is:
Oh! Saturn wins a building competition. They make aprons? Uhhh in the description it is a makerspace? Why does he keep posting pictures of shoe making?
It is like I have mapped out a business plan and space that isn't really suited for 1 person to run. A shoe company, makerspace, architecture firm, can be different businesses. The challenge is convincing outsiders to understand how this can be a scaled down intimate experience that can live under one roof.
The way it is supposed to play out was:
- Saturn makes amazing designs, mostly shoes, some furniture and in rare occasions architectural drawings that carry the same Ethos of sustainability and reuse while focusing on the local.
- Saturn reveals they have an Atelier for others to come in and make things in the realm that Saturn makes
- The Atelier builds itself into a space for designers of all skill levels and stripes to come together for conversation and iteration.
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