We collect stickers, bookmarks and pins to remind ourselves and others who we are. Display your joy and passion with The Great Write North. Don't fear being different, embrace it. Welcome to The Great Write North, where everyone belongs.
Ever since I was young, I’ve always been searching for things, for little pieces of the world that I could collect and make my own. This has taken many forms throughout my life, though the WHAT had always mattered less than the WHY. These were the things that made me who I am. Having physical reminders to fill my life with just made me all the more secure in the knowledge of who I am. That there was a place that I could always return to and know I could be unquestionably myself. There was somewhere I always belonged.
Along with my drive to collect was an equally persistent need to create. I would fill the holes in the things that I couldn’t find collectables for by making my own. Drawing was never a strength, and painting only worked if someone gave me step-by-step directions; however, growing up through the development and advancement of the computer gave me a third option. From early days making cringingly 90s clip art and Paint creations, to Tumblr ship edits from GIMP, graphic design was where I found my joy; it’s where I could take the thoughts that were in my head, and turn them into something for everyone to see.
Although Canva offered me an even wider array of creative options, the dream of selling these items came up slowly; I simply enjoyed making designs. Maybe I wondered if there were people out there that would enjoy them too, that were also looking for someone to share that love with, but I wasn’t quite ready to take that plunge.
See, the thing about putting yourself into your work is that the fear when you offer it to others, when you put it out into the world, becomes very personal. Each design that I make, no matter how simple, comes from a place of love. There is a small part of me, what I love and what I want to see in the world, in each thing that I make. I couldn’t create unless the final outcome has some meaning to me. It wouldn’t be mine any other way; it wouldn’t be what I want the world to see.
So, with every sale that comes in also comes the confirmation that I am not alone in my love, that there is someone else that shares that love too – each sale brings me genuine, pure excitement because each sale, to me, is the recognition that there is someone else out there looking to build their own special place that they belong. It’s a small invitation to let me play a role in that.
Bookmarks, stickers, cards and pins – these may seem like frivolous expenses, maybe even childish collections that we continue to try to hold onto. Yet, we all continue to hold on to them anyway. I believe it’s because they are simple, yet beautiful, ways to claim our identities. They are small patches that we can place into everyday parts of our lives that say who we are, for ourselves and for others. Whether it’s proudly broadcasting your love for your favourite media, making relatable puns from our hobbies or just a wonderful trait of who we are as people, these products are our way to declare “This is me and I’m proud of it”.
As much as I enjoyed making these designs for the sake of creating, those designs didn’t really mean anything until I started sharing them. I was expressing myself, but I was also letting my fears hold me back. I feared that I was too different to fit in, and that, that difference would mean that I couldn’t make things that others were looking for too. I was selling myself, and everyone else, short.
The thing is, that there are so many ways to feel like the outsider. I’ve been there; I think we all have. I think, maybe, the thing that brings us together the most is the fact that we all feel different at some point, in some way.
I’m too loud. I love things too hard. I’m messy and chaotic or I’m shy and reserved with no in between. I’m not typical enough to belong in the “mainstream” (I never know what’s trending) but I’m also not edgy enough to hang with the rebels (I cry if I break a rule). I have had all these thoughts, and more. I have tried to check off all the boxes, make myself fit into spaces only to find that my arm is stuck and I’m getting a crick in my neck. It’s exhausting trying to “be” the way we think the world needs us to “be” – which is why The Great Write North doesn’t try to be anything at all.
I made The Great Write North for me, creating products that spoke to the things I love and the kind of world that I want to belong in, but I made it for you too. I made it for everyone looking to find a piece of themselves. These products are all part of me, representations of things I love or beliefs I hold. I share them so that the people who are looking for the confirmation that they aren’t alone will be able to find them. I share them so that someone out there gets to squeal, screenshot it and yell to their friends “I CAN’T BELIEVE I FOUND THIS!”. So that they know they aren’t alone – someone else loves that thing, loves that part of them, too.
You are now entering The Great Write North; welcome home.
