27 Candice Kaye, standing at the forefront of textile design.

 From Toronto to Textiles: The Artistic Journey of Candace Kaye.

 Join us in this inspiring episode as Candace K shares her creative evolution from a dancer in Toronto to a celebrated textile and mural artist. Discover how her entrepreneurial mindset and passion for art transformed her into a leader in bespoke interior textiles, blending traditional handcrafting with modern design. Main Topics

• Candace's early life and dance career, including her time with the Raptors Dance Pack
• The shift from dance to interior design and textile art
• The role of hand-painting and traditional craftsmanship in her process
• How social media and client collaborations fueled her business growth
• Navigating the challenges of bespoke projects and client expectations
• The importance of authenticity and unique storytelling through textile design
• Future vision: making a lasting impact on art, design, and inspiring future artists

Timestamps 

00:00 - Reconnecting after 3 years: Candace’s journey from dance to textiles 00:23 - Growing up dancing in Toronto: family influence and early passion 

01:07 - Transition from dancers to textile and interior design 

01:43 - Falling in love with interior design after dance dreams faded 

02:29 - Inspiration from textile artist Alice Temperley and the hand-painted craft 

03:20 - The evolution of her creative process from blogging to textile design 

04:26 - Exploring textile art: sketches, sketches, and self-teaching 

05:25 - Discovering textile design at FIT and embracing hand-painting 

06:51 - The difference between architecture and interior design explained 

07:55 - How her love for mood boards and visual storytelling shaped her work 

08:47 - The ‘aha’ moment for textile design: creating her own fabric 

09:41 - Growing up entrepreneurial and seeing business potential in art 

10:06 - Building her brand and business in New York and beyond 

11:09 - The importance of portfolio and client-first approach 

12:15 - Inspiration from self-discovery and art books in her youth 

12:46 - The connection between fashion and textiles through her work 

13:07 - Her love for floral patterns as a core motif 

14:42 - Staying authentic and distinct in her designs 

15:28 - Hand drawing and painting exclusively, with digital for layout 

16:09 - Overcoming beginner obstacles and honing her craft 

17:04 - Commercial projects and large-scale murals as new frontiers 

18:02 - The bespoke process: client collaboration from concept to install 

19:23 - Navigating client revisions and project negotiations 

20:43 - The power of visual storytelling in restaurant interiors and social media 

22:28 - Her approach to design for hospitality and how client relationships evolve 

24:34 - Walking away from challenging projects and maintaining integrity 

26:17 - The importance of collaboration with interior designers and brands 

28:10 - The role of Instagram and social media marketing in her success 

30:26 - Developing mood boards and hand-painted artwork for bespoke projects 

32:07 - Handling client requests that challenge her style 

33:40 - The art of saying no and setting boundaries 

35:20 - The most exciting parts: dreaming, sampling, and installing 

36:42 - The misconception: textile art isn’t "real art" 

37:51 - The timeless and rich history of textile design 

38:49 - Leaving Toronto for bigger opportunities: finding her place in NYC and LA 

40:06 - Balancing beauty and function in textile design 

41:14 - Advice for aspiring artists: embrace patience and authenticity 

42:55 - The organic influence of nature on her creative process 

44:01 - Challenges of making a living and overcoming internal barriers 

45:40 - The vulnerability and energy in art that connects with viewers 

46:37 - The significance of live painting and large-scale murals 

48:19 - The technicalities of mural painting: materials and process 

50:49 - Her approach to on-site wall art and adaptation 

51:38 - Envisioning her legacy: inspiring future generations and unique storytelling 

55:21 - Final thoughts: sharing in-between moments and continuous journey

Connect with Candace K

• Instagram
• website
• LinkedIn

 Resources & Links

• Alice Temperley

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Candace K stands at the forefront of textile design. Today, her hand-painted and hand-drawn patterns are sought after by some of the biggest names in the industry, but her journey began in an unlikely place. In this episode, we talk about how Candace went from believing she had no natural talent for drawing or painting to building a thriving career around those very skills. We explore the discipline, persistence, and creative curiosity that allow her to transform a perceived weakness into a defining strength. From developing her artistic voice to navigating the business side of design, Candace shares the lessons she's learned along the way and what it takes to create work that stands out in a highly competitive industry. Miss Candace K.

unknown 0:42

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Thank you for joining us today. I really appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

You are originally from Toronto. Toronto. Okay. And when did young Candace start her artistic journey?

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Um well I grew up dancing. So yeah. What kind of dance? Oh, everything. We it was competitive from you know modern to jazz to ballet, and I really loved it. I, you know, did the whole competitive thing. And then I went- Where did that come from?

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Did you have a family of dancers or did you just start dancing yourself?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

No, my my mom um lives next door to her brother, and so we have four kids in our family. My next door neighbor, like my cousins have four kids, most girls. And so we all danced together. So it was like whatever parent was available to take us to dance, and we all fell in love with it. Um, and yeah, we did it. I did it for a long time, and then I went to like university, I guess here you call it college, and I danced for the Raptors Dance Pack. So I did like MBA dancing for three years. What? Yeah. Oh, I loved it. Dance was like what I wanted to do for a living. I had no desire to go to school. I wanted to move to New York, move to LA at like 19 and just to become like one of JLo's backup dancers. Um, but then I fell in love with interior design, like somewhere in the middle of all of that. Like I was that kid that would rearrange like all the furniture in my bedroom, and then go to my mom's closet and you know, wear all of her clothes and like, you know, walk around like the house and her, you know, flowy dresses. So I always had it in me. And dance is is a really beautiful art form growing up because it teaches you how to be really creative and how to like improv on stage if you need to, or um, you know, feel comfortable in your own skin.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

And feel comfortable in your own skin and use.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Yeah, and and then you're around because dance was so intense, you're around really creative people all the time. So my weekends were just spent with the girls and the and the people in the dance studio. Um, but when I was dancing for Raptors, there was a girl on the team who loved photography, and she and remember the days when you was, I think it was called Pick Monkey, and you could you can edit your pictures.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

I don't remember that. I mean, I I I could figure it out. Is it an app or what was it?

SPEAKER_02 3:25

It was like a website and you could upload your photos and you could do all your filters and like oh, so it was it was like basically uh um a Figma or something today.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

It's not Adobe, it's not Adobe, it's not Photoshop, but it's a version of it.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Yeah. And I was like, wow, that's so cool. I never thought about photography. And I picked up a camera and I loved it. Then I started blogging, and then I would use PicMonkey. So in my like courses, I would be in the back of the class editing pictures instead of like listening to the lecture.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

So are there some some vlogs we can find on YouTube of uh young candies?

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Oh, there's a blog. There's it used to be called iCandy. That's what I started, and I would write every day and I would do my pictures, and I learned about Tumblr, and that like that was the beginning of the craze. This is like whatever year that was, when Tumblr, you know, was was big, and I learned about New York and New York Fashion Week. And so from there, I just kind of discovered I was creative. I never painted or sketched growing up. I did interior design and when we would do, like when we would do our like sketches of the houses and stuff and the interior, I knew that I could sketch and shade, but that was the extent of my art growing up.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah. And then sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

No, and then it was just it was this this weird like evolution into what I've done now, but really organic and just allowing myself to play and try different things. And from there, I found about textile design, and I was like, wait, this is exactly what I want to do. I want to make fabric and wallpaper and plates and like drapery and rugs. And I got into FIT in New York somehow. And then I got into class and they were like, hey, take all your paints. And I was like, Oh, I never realized textile design was like hand painting. And then I taught myself from the kids in the class because they were all so talented that I would watch.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

What did you think it was at that point? You thought it was like a computer program, or would you yeah, it was an advanced one-year program.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

At that time, I had a university degree in sociology. I did it a stint in interior design. I lasted three semesters, and I was like, this isn't for me.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

And what about it didn't speak to you?

SPEAKER_02 6:05

I it was really like AutoCAD and all that stuff. It was too structured, yeah, and I didn't really care where your you know wall was placed. That didn't like excite me to build to build the interior. But it's funny when I look back at those projects, I was so particular of like the wall treatments without realizing that I would one day even be in textile design. And I love doing mood boards, so I I loved collecting images. So I was like looking at tumblers since I was like 19. So I was really good at creating a mood and creating the scene for the home and whatever we were building, but I did not care about the structure of it all.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

So it's when you say interior design, it's structure is more architecture. Interior design, isn't that more filling the house with beautiful things?

SPEAKER_02 7:00

No, interior design is all, yeah, it's so much math. Like like architecture is obviously much more extensive and you have different qualifications, but interior design, like you like you're building models, you're building, you're learning how to do that. Oh, yeah. Interior designers, depending on what kind of credentials and qualifications you have, you're like legally allowed to build a house from scratch.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

You need the I had no I thought an interior design was somebody that was basically the stylist of the house. Like, we're gonna buy this art, we're gonna paint them this uh the walls this color, and like we're gonna get this couch from this place, and you know, the pillows are gonna offset the that's what I thought interior design.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

That is still very much what they do, but they do a lot of the times there'll be a stylist that comes in after, um, or there'll be an art collector that they work with. But no, interior designers are like they build. It's incredible what they do, and oftentimes they work with architects to sign off on plans that they can't legally do with their qualifications, right? But most of the time they can, it's like, oh yeah, they're building, they're doing like and what about that first excited you? The interior design. I didn't, I thought it was what you said, and I got to school and I was like, this is is so hard.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Wait, you want me to do math?

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Like I was like, I don't do math, but it's so crazy. It's now though, during that time, I get floor plans and I have to do elevations of my wallpaper, and I need to do so much math. So it all kind of interconnected, anyways. That's the long, very long story of how I got here. But I feel like I was always in something in some kind of art form.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

It just all like what was the moment where you the aha moment that, oh, I could do textile design.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Um, I had this, which is still getting made, actually. This idea when I was 19 to create this chair. And I made three models, all disgusting. I'm like, no one will ever buy this. And I I was like, well, I'm not just gonna go to the store and get fabric, I'm gonna make my own fabric. And that was kind of the very, very, very beginning of even the idea of doing something like textile. Because when you're interior design, you're taught to go to the showroom, and this is that's your selection, and and and this is the fabric store, and you that's your selection of yardage. No one tells you that people actually have to hand paint this. I mean, I feel like now it's obviously so different with the internet and the exposure of it all, but I was never taught in school that there is an artist that is hand painting this floral for you. Um so when I realized that I want to make my own fabric, I was actually reading a book, and it's a book by Alice Temperley. She's a fashion designer based in London, and she's she went to school for textile design. And I was like, what is that? And from no researching, I found out that Um New York had a program, and so it kind of evolved from there. But the aha moment was I can do everything and have my own business, and I can hopefully I'm good at this. Like at that time, I didn't really know what my style would even look like. But um, yeah, that's just how it started.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

That's interesting. At that young of an age, you were thinking you already had like a business mindset. You weren't just thinking, like, I just want to make art and create at this point. I mean, obviously, you have to think, how am I gonna make money? Yeah. Even artists don't think, well, how do I make a business out of this?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Right. Well, my family, I grew up in entrepreneurs. So my my grandfather owned restaurants, my mom worked in the restaurants, um, back my uncle owned restaurants. I was, I was in, I was in the world of entrepreneurs. I only knew owning your own business, which is which is now interesting thinking back. I didn't, you know, for me it wasn't crazy to be like, oh, I'm just gonna go to New York and I'm just gonna learn how to make textile and create my own line and I'm gonna make a website on my off days and just make a collection and hopefully sell it. And I was just so like, yeah, of course I'm gonna do this. There was no, I need to work for somebody. I don't know. Well, I did, because I needed to make money, but sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

But it's interesting because you as aside from I'm sorry, Alice Tem Templeton. Alice, what?

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Um, Alice Temperley.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Alice Temperley, aside from her, which you know, there's always uh like books we can read and everything like that. There was nobody immediately in your life that was showing you that this was possible.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

No, I I didn't grow up, yes, creatively, entrepreneurially, I had that, but I no one is creative in my family. My dad could sketch. I remember him being, he always cared around a video camera. He was always sketching, um, but that's the extent of anything creative that I was ever exposed to. So everything was very much self-discovery and like going to indigo, which I hear it's Barnes and Noble, and I would sit in just like stacks of coffee table books, like you know, the time when they first came out, and it was like photography, and and I just would sit for hours. Um, and that's when I found the book of Alar Temberley. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

And what do you think drew you to fabric? Was it just the interior design uh aspect, or because you you didn't say, like, oh, I want to make paintings, or I want to you specifically said like text.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Yeah, I when like her book, the first one, there's two, because I'm obsessed with her, obviously. She had this world that she created, and there was something so enchanting about this, like you can just feel from the way that she lived to who she was. I mean, I obviously don't know her, but from what I, you know, like read about her, um, from her dresses, it was so much an extension of her, and there was just something so beautiful and authentic about that. And I never ever wanted to look like anybody else, or so there was just, yeah, it just kind of felt like, well, I can do this, but I don't care about fashion. I I I mean, I love fashion, but I never cared to like make clothes. Yeah, I really love interiors, and I was like, well, this is the perfect combination. It was like bridging this gap of fashion and interior and putting it together. And that was always like the goal from when I was like 24.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

When you look back to your earliest work compared to now, um is is is there like a connection?

SPEAKER_02 13:57

It's actually interesting because I often look back at old sketches now because then is so you're so pure and you're just creative and you're just kind of hand sketching and trying to figure out your style. Um I love floral, like I love palm. Uh that's always just been something that I've been drawn to. But I feel like now it's so hard, not hard, but it's really important to stick to your to what you feel inside and not what you're constantly exposed to. I have no desire to be a textile company that looks like anything else. Like, why then why buy something from me? The whole point is that you buy it and you feel something because it's different, because it doesn't look like every other textile design studio out there. Um so I think that I think the floral just stuck because it was so authentic and so raw and so me that I just kind of continued on with it.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

And I think a lot of people would assume that um that you use, I mean, I'm sure at some point you use a computer, but everything you do is is hand drawn and then hand painted, correct?

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Everything. Um even now. I I only use a computer for layout and for color adjustments.

unknown 15:18

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

It's so important for me to keep that. I'm trying to think if I do have I've done anything on the computer, maybe like a geometric, you know, like something where the client would want something a little more graphic, but every single thing that we create is hand-painted, like down to like if there's a stripe, that's a hand-painted watercolor stripe. Uh I want everything to feel like it's been touched by hand. Um, that was always really important to me.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

And how does a young lady go from being intimidated and not being able to draw at all at FIT go to creating a business where everything is hand-drawn and hound painting?

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Uh I so when I was living in New York, I was working for an incredible textile company called Holland and Sherry. So I would work, you know, it and I was I was in the rug department learning how to make rugs from scratch. And now I offer that and I love it. But when I was living in New York, I was working full-time and then I would come home and I would do my website and do some collections, and I would always, I would always be drawing. I had this, like in my late 20s, there was like this urgency. I don't know, I still kind of have it, but not as bad as I used to be. Like the only thing I thought about was this business. And like I have to make it and I have to do my it was so like I don't know, I don't know, weird makes sense, but it was like every that's all I thought about. And I would go into restaurants the time and be like, oh, that wallpaper is kind of like not that great, and that's not that great, and that's not that great. And I felt like in the in the residential textile, there were so many beautiful options. But then when I go to restaurants, I was like, that's not that nice. And the more I would talk about it to people, they would be like, oh yeah, commercial grade wallpaper is there's not that much selection. This is 2015, 2016. And I was like, this is great. I'm gonna transform the world of hospitality and restaurants. Like now that I think back, like if I talk to everybody that will listen, they're probably like, who's this kid?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

And this is in New York?

SPEAKER_02 17:35

This is in New York. I would talk to everybody.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

And that's that's dangerous because New York's not a place where people want to hear what you're gonna do. The New York's a place where they're like, What have you done? LA is a place where like, hey, talk about what you want to do.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Yes. And so actually, I had that moment. I was still in school and I was your early 20s, right? Early 20s.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

And I was telling this person what, and he was like, just a lesson here, like, if you're gonna do that, you need to have a portfolio. And so then I was like, well, but I'm gonna get a portfolio and I'm gonna make this work. Um, and then I was approached by my friend Elisa Marshall, who's the owner and founder of Mama Cafe, and she would she was the only one that would listen to me. So she was like, You said you wanted like transform commercial. Can you make four prints for me custom to Mama? We'll put it on the cups and the wallpaper and the fabric.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Oh, yeah. So that was my first I lived in New York when that it was like it was probably one of my last years in New York when that place opened and they had the coffee cups all over the place.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

That was so hard.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

That is so funny.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yeah, that's you. That's me. That was me.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Oh my god, that's so crazy.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Wow. Yeah, that was very like it was, I don't know how else to say it, but it was very cutting edge. It was, I mean, this was before things were like, you know, anybody thought to make because it was the c I remember the coffee cups, right? Yeah, and then and then the same pattern was inside the the It was everywhere. That is so funny.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

She also had, and this has been so true to the Wait, but how old were you then? I was 25, 26.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Wow, what a great opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

26 around there, yeah. And I and I just finished school. I was working full-time and I was making collections. I had a website at the time, whatever that was. I was still blogging, I still blog today, I love it. And I was taking pictures and stuff, you know, still high, still do that, still love it. And she sh, yeah. So Alicia um had this vision, and because she had a vision, it worked. And that has been so true with my career. Every client after my mom, they're so different. So it was this really beautiful niche of clients that are that are wanting something different. They have a uh they have perspective, they're very innovative, they want something that no one has seen before, and they understand the power in that. And so after my mom that blew up. Do you remember how yeah, it's funny.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

I've had this conversation with my friends because I have a huge uh artistic um crew in in New York, and we talked about how important that was because they didn't just do like a regular cup and how they spent the extra money, they got a designer, and now you see those cups all over the place. And when you see those cups, and the reason we talked about it is because a friend of mine like kept it in their apartment. How cool! And they were like, Oh, and then they had like people would be like, Oh, do you want another one? And they had like, Oh man, I wonder if I could find this picture. They had like they built like a they built like a structure with them. God, I wonder, I wonder if I could find that picture.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

That is so crazy.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

It's one of my designer friends who was like, Oh, these cups, and then it was kind of a joke, and then people started bringing them to them, and then you'd have to wash them out. And then one time we came over and you had like this structure of them.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Oh my god, send me that person's number. We'll we'll send them like a mama package. That's crazy. No, it was I remember Ben, her husband, and her her partner was like, If it doesn't work, like you're sleeping in these cups, you know, because it was the time it was so expensive. Now I'm sure you can find something more affordable. Yeah, but no one was doing that, so she was paying top dollar for all of his branding. I mean, it obviously worked out, they're all over now. I think there's like 30, 15, I don't know, a lot of 15, 30, 20, one of those numbers. Really? Oh, wow. Oh, yeah, they're everywhere. Okay, yeah. And she kept the same branding, she kept the same look, and um, and then from there, I got a company called Planta, which is also in New York. And Stevensalm really believed in in that. And that that story is funny too, because he was looking at, you know, wallpaper, and his assistant Anna at the time was like, Do you want to just call Candace? And I didn't know that he knew me, you know, but at the but that was now it's that now it's like we we can't find anything that we like. Yeah, let's just call Candace and see if she can make something for us.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

That is so interesting because you know, I have um a set design background in New York, and a lot of the times, and we worked for some some big fashion companies, and a lot of the times uh we needed uh a background, and it was either mood, I would go to mood, and I was the only straight man walking around trying to find some cool fabrics as a background. And then there was a place I wish I could remember it, it was down by Canal, it was a French place who had all these French, really intricate, really expensive wallpapers.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Oh, baby.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

And sometimes, sometimes we would go there, and I remember one time uh we worked for Versace and they gave us a bunch of their rolls of fabrics that they had printed out. And you know, we used them as backgrounds. And I remember I cut a bunch and like had them sewn and was like, Here, mom, here's all these Versace like scarves and stuff. No, it's but that's funny because it's like and then also my dad used to sell Persian carpets, so I grew up in that world of just you know, but it's so interesting because what you do makes so much sense, and it's but it's still like nobody's really doing it.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

No, it I always would say that it was it makes so much sense and it's so needed, and it it the like the the initial question was how did you get the like guts to kind of hand paint all of a sudden? It was because my clients would push me. So I started my career not as this is my art and everything looks like this, and you have to buy this piece, either you like me or you don't like me, which is beautiful, and I I would love to be that maybe one day. But I started with the client first. So it was what do they want? And sometimes they would give me like, I want a landscape, I want this, I want that. And I had to like practice to get better to be able to give my clients the caliber of art that they deserved.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

So you took an interior design approach to your every project.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Yes, which is interesting because that's it all kind of connected, but in return, I have painted so much, so many hours that some jobs, like I just finished Omnia Day Club in Vegas. We did outdoor wall uh covering, we did the cabanas in this DJ area. That DJ area alone probably took me like a hundred plus hours, just like not only painting everything, but placing everything, and it pushed me just to be better, and it's so high detailed, and I don't know if I would have been able to create the artwork that I do now if it wasn't for my clients.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Interesting. You know what's so crazy is because you know, as a photographer or or a painter, they're like, Oh man, I wish this restaurant would buy my work. How cool would that be? But you're you are the the restaurant, like you are the wall, like you are the bathroom, you are the hallway. Right. And and that is your work displayed. Where where do you think did any of that come from growing up in the restaurant business? That you saw that there was a need for it?

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Um, I think I always listen, I love restaurants. I I till this day, I'm like, if I could just quit my job and be waitress again, I would. I love, I love it. Like that obviously is because of how I grew up. Um, and I, you know, we all served and hostess when we were like ready and to work. They put us to work, our family put us to work. Yeah, probably. And it's fun now because if I'm on site and you know, and everyone's ready to open, it there's a rush about that. That like I love, uh, I get hospitality, I know how it how it works. Um, one of the things that we all really leveraged in the beginning of my career was the rise of Instagram. So there is also this as you're building, you have to also socially be aware of what's going on around you. And in New York, everyone was taking a photo of that cup everywhere. And socially, there is this rise of Instagram and the rise of people taking pictures and tagging where they were. And we really understood that, and she really understood that. And then I was like, wait, I don't have any money for marketing, and I can't take photos of people's houses. Like, you're not, you know, most people don't want photos of their home, you know, on social media, but I can take photos of restaurants, and so that was also like, okay, not only does it help my career, obviously moving forward, but it helps a restaurant as well. So now everyone was taking photos in front of the prince. So there was also this like, you're going out, you're you're looking cute, you're at a restaurant, you're about to like, you know, have a good time. Why wouldn't you want to take a photo and say that you were there, or at least get excited about the interior? So all of that was also happening simultaneously of building this business that I didn't really understand that I was building, but I just kind of like followed the wave, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

That's beautiful too, because for your portfolio, whatever celebrity takes a picture on their Instagram in front of your wall, not knowing it's your wall. Yeah, that can go right on your portfolio.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Yeah. And no, and I did it. I I posted it. And when I started working with from Planta, from Stevensalm, I was introduced to David Gruppman. And David Gruppman in Miami is a huge Miami hospitality and owns some of the best restaurants in North America. And he understood that as well. So again, that now I'm partnered with another, you know, Mama Cafe that also wants photos taken of his restaurants. I mean, obviously, who wouldn't? And then he would push me again to create the next series of art that came into his restaurants.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

So, okay, I have a restaurant and I want to hire you to do the walls, do the entrance, do behind the bar, and do the bathrooms. What does that process look like?

SPEAKER_02 28:41

So that's a great client. I would love to do that. That is, it is so exciting because it's like then I get to do all the walls and I get to like, you know, from that mural, we can take elements. Anyways, so the process would be you tell me the concept. So, you know, okay, I want to, it's a it's a Parisian steakhouse, and this is kind of the fabric we chose. This is the vibe. Normally, if you have an interior design firm, I would want to be connected to them because the interior design firm and I will probably develop the the prints together because they see everything the light, the the sconce, the the countercolor, everything. So um from there, I would produce mood boards of what the print would look and feel like, which is my favorite part of the process. Again, it goes back to the years of Tumblr. And then you uh you approve that look and feel in that mood. I go into hand painting, hand drawing based off of that mood that I presented to you. Obviously, you would tell me if you wanted floral or if you wanted like line or humans or whatever it is, or people or whatever it is that you wanted on your on your wall. And then I just start creating and then you get approval on every process.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Then we go into Is there ever a time, sorry, let's just interrupt you. Is there ever a time when somebody says what they want and you say, it's not really my style?

SPEAKER_02 30:03

No, because you just said humans, like I think of you as very floral, but if somebody wanted a person, then you would you would we did a I did a restaurant last summer in Toronto, and the concept was um it was they're like they're oversized Asian ladies smoking cigars, and I was like, yeah, so cool. And like that obviously pushed me into another space that like I've never done before. Um what what has happened and what will happen is clients will say maybe they want something, and then I kind of give them a version of it, and they're like, I'm sorry, Candace. This is so not at all what I want, and then we'll start from scratch. So the bespoke process is very tedious. It can get, it can get tiring. Like you have to have the endurance of like prepare for the client to be like, I hate this, and you're like, I just spent a hundred million hours on this. So there it's it's a constant process that has humbled me throughout the whole journey.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Um I would imagine not that has this has nothing to do with your talent, but I would I would imagine that happens more often than people think.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Oh, yeah, all the time.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Because I could imagine that people have an idea. Yeah, people aren't the greatest at you know expressing their their ideas, and sometimes they don't really know what they want, but they they keep talking anyways. Um and then uh another question I had is are you dealing with the restaurant owner, the designer, the like a combination of the two?

SPEAKER_02 31:39

It depends. Um, you know, with Mama Cafe, it was me and Alicia Marshall, and we did everything together. In Planta, it was me and Stephen Psalm, but then the interior designers would come in, and then that was even more beautiful because then I I met the iCraves and the Rockwells, and like those are incredible design firms that I probably would never have been introduced to at that level if I didn't do the spoke. Um, I would just be a line item on one of their sheets, right? And yeah, it depends on it depends on you know the team involved and if it's you know, if they have an interior design firm, if they don't, sometimes they just do it themselves. Um, but my clients have great taste. Like they they know when they like it. So it is it is this this this you know having this patience of producing something. They might be like, oh, this is so ugly, I don't want this, starting from like from zero. And then when they see it, they're like, yeah, like this is exactly what I want.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Without naming any names, have you ever said no to a project?

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Um, I've walked off a project, one I've walked off. It was it was just so awful and not, yeah, it was just awful. It was just like not constant changing, not getting paid. That's very real in my world, unfortunately, with a bunch of contractors, um, no respect. And I was like, listen, this isn't for me, and I walked off. That was a early, early, early on in my career.

unknown 33:20

Right.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

But ever since then, no, more often than not.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

How do you deal with the like if there's constant changing and and going back and forth? Um Is it just an understanding that it's it's a collaboration?

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Yeah, yeah. Uh it doesn't, it doesn't like it doesn't it it doesn't get too far where you're like, this is insane. You know, obviously I do have to spare head and be like, no, I think this is great and this color choice is great. Let's just go to sampling and let's just see it on the wall because it also is so hard. Like what people don't understand in textile design, it's one thing for to be on the computer. That's great, but scale is so important, color is so important. Sometimes I'll take the wallpaper sample and ask the interior designers what what lighting they're have, like what the tone of the light bulb is. So depending on the color, like it could look purple, like a gray wallpaper could look purple in the wrong light. So it's it's it's really important just to kind of have it for them in person for them then to decide. Because the computer can be a bit hard.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

What excites you most about the process?

SPEAKER_02 34:38

I think the beginning, like dreaming up something, like obviously, this is something that no one's gonna see again. I've never I I haven't even seen it yet. You know, this print is like one of a kind, it is never gonna exist again, other than in this space. And I get to imagine that. And I think that's the the best. The beginning is my favorite part, and then obviously, like when it gets to sampling, you're like, wow, like I am so talented. When it gets to sampling, like that's fun, and then obviously install install is just so scary because it has to be perfect, so no.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

And I've seen from your Instagram that you're a big product, a big part of the installation process, like you're right there with the the workers and it it it terrifies me because one wrong measurement and you need to reprint that, you know, and that's not the client's fault, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:32

So, like we'd be so careful with like the math and the numbers and making sure it's perfect, and because it's bespoke, sometimes the client will want that flower to hit right there, and everything has to be like perfect.

SPEAKER_00 35:47

What do you think the biggest misunderstanding with textile design is that it's not real art?

SPEAKER_02 35:55

I think there's so many incredible artists out there that are like just like they paint a flower and it's like real, really and just not having like this this industry is so beautiful and dates back like I don't know, years, centuries, right? Like textile has been around forever, and it's it is a real beautiful true art firm. Like rugs, I mean, you know, they're made by hand, like not by not, line by line, you know. Um, and it's a really beautiful, rich history that I think textile design is kind of overlooked, and it was always my goal in the restaurant hospitality space at the beginning to make you stop and be like, oh my god, that wallpaper, or like look at this beautiful fabric, and understanding that that flower is hand painted by somebody, and like that's just like so beautiful, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

One of the things that I've always loved about you would is that you know, you you are an artist, but you don't act like one, like you act like a boss, which is is um it's very refreshing. And I would like to ask you because it seems like you had it seems like Toronto embraced you and you had a lot of success in Toronto, but going back to your personality, you didn't stay in Toronto, you left.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

No, I left. I love home, like there's nothing I love more than like landing in Toronto and walking through like customs, and you're like, like Canada flag. I really love this feeling of like being in culture and being about it and being surrounded about, um, surrounded with it. And I felt like I I don't want to say outgrew Toronto because I don't think I was there long enough to really understand the city. Like I, you know, obviously a dance for Raptors, so I was I was living downtown during that time, and then you know, and then I quickly moved to New York, not not too long after. But I I I do feel like if you want to be about culture and you want to move it, you have to live it. You know, that was always just a feeling, and I don't know why. It was like I want to I want to be where the photographers are running during fashion week. I shot like a street style, like I don't know what I was doing. I took a camera and I would follow the photographers and I would shoot all this like runaway streets, I don't know, what I whatever. There's something so exciting from that. And from from there, you see like different fashion, how people are living, different conversations. Um staying in one place never really felt true to me. So I just I would always come home. I love coming home, but I I do love to leave and I do love to like explore and travel, and um New York was really fun, and now LA is just as fun. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

So with your with the textile design, it has to be beautiful, but it also has to function in the space. How do you balance the two?

SPEAKER_02 39:21

That's a great question. Honestly, I think scale, like the scale that you choose to put on that wall is so important and that makes it function. I don't know if that really like makes sense, but if you do something too oversized, it's so bad. You do something too small, it's so bad, depending on the print. Um, and scale has been one of the things that I've had to master. And that's one thing that I will I will say layout and scale is like my is like my specialty because it has to function. It can't, it can't, it has to feel like it makes sense next to you. You don't want it, you know, you don't want it to feel like too big or too grand, or the colors are too bright or too soft, you know. Um that's just something that I think I innately have, and that's just a part of like I guess my gift in that way, you know. You have a gift as a photographer, you know. Um, it's just something that I just kind of knew.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

And now, with everything you just said, what what advice would you give younger Candace that was just starting out?

SPEAKER_02 40:33

Oh my god, stuff stressing, calm down, enjoy New York, like go out. Like, I was on my living room floor on Saturday nights painting flowers because I was so like from that guy, you gotta get a portfolio, you gotta get a portfolio. Don't tell everyone what you're doing until you have a portfolio. So maybe actually, maybe that ended up working in my favor at the end.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

I was just about to say, I think, I think the older candles might have been like, keep going, keep going, keep going.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

Don't go out, don't go out. But there's so there's so much that I think I would have just maybe, or maybe not not go out or go, whatever. Just maybe just take it in.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

You know, yeah, go ahead, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 41:19

No, no, no, taking it in and and and enjoying it more.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

Yeah, like, you know, we all go through moments as we're in through life where you know you have lots of bills, or you have credit card debt from living in New York, or and it it's gonna get paid off and it's gonna be okay, and it might not happen right now, but just like go to the park and just sit and just take it in, you know, like life is happening, and that's one thing that I try to do now in LA. I live on the beach and I I walk the beach all the time for that reason. Like, this is really stressful, this job's gonna kill me. But look at where I am and look what at what this business has brought me and where it's taking me, and that's beautiful, you know.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Yeah, it's interesting because getting to know you, I would think that you're a very like metropolitan city girl. But all your work is very organic in in nature. Where does that come from?

SPEAKER_02 42:21

It's interesting because I love nature. Like I there's nothing I love more than like a cottage weekend. I love the ocean. Um, and I think that's why I decided to come to the beach because it was like New York. Now when I go back, I love it, but it's a lot. I'm like, okay, yeah, like walking up so many stairs with my luggage, I don't miss that. Remember the groceries up the the seventh, like don't miss that.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

Um yeah, I think I'm a bit of both. I think it's like, you know, I love the hustle and I love like the go, go, go, but I've always loved nature.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Yeah. What do you think the hardest part about making a living out of what you do right now is so many things.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Um, I think one of the things that I told myself really young was, you know, that that phrase starving artist. I was like, I don't I don't bel I don't choose to believe that. I think artists can make a lot of money and not be starving. And you know, I I think the hardest part is just kind of getting over your out of your own way. There's so much money out there, you just have to get it. And you know, like as artists, we are, you know, we feel a lot. We're, you know, all of us, we feel so much. And I feel like it's very personal. It's very personal. And and even though I do a lot of work for clients, that's still very Very personal. I still have to produce. I still have to, you know, make sure it's great. My client deserves that. And I think the hardest thing in making a living out of this is really just like blocking out the noise, getting out of your own way, and just like going for it. Because like, you know, it's it's so possible. Like you can have anything that you want. Um, and especially now, I can't even imagine like all the noise the young kids go through. We didn't have that growing up. I didn't have that in New York. It was like, there's no FOMO. I didn't know what was going on. Like, we didn't have, we didn't, we, this is what you did, and this is where you lived, and this is like, you know.

SPEAKER_00 44:40

So the FOMO came from when somebody told you what they did last night.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

Exactly. You're like, oh man, I missed that. Why do you call me?

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Although the Wi-Fi wasn't working, I had no reception. Like, you know, like that's what it, that's what it was.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Yeah. Oh. But going back to what you said, uh, one of my previous guests, Justice West, he he made a statement uh that really stuck with me. He said that when you're creative, people don't understand that our work is connected to our souls.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

And as like as airy as that sounds, it's really true.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

It's so true. Like to in a way that I don't know if I even have words to even describe, you know, how to even what that even feels like. But um, I just hand painted, I I do sometimes live paint um hand painting, and I was in Matatec, New York for like five days on a on a on in a winery, hand painting on the scaffolding. It was so fun. And I love doing that because it's headphones on, just kind of by yourself. But there's so much of my energy that went into that. Like, that's the point, you're right. Like, that's why people buy art because there's energy that radiates from it. So, how can it not be like from our soul and from like everything that we have? Because it's just like we're sharing our gifts, and it has to be somewhat vulnerable in order for it to connect with the person looking at it. Um, I don't know. Yeah, it's being an artist is not easy, but it's so fun.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

It's not, but I would never change it for the world. And you know, I don't even it's funny because I would never I don't consider myself an artist because I I need tools to I consider myself more of a craftsman, but it's still creating, it's still creating. Um, I had one more question for you, but now you just brought up another question. What what's the live painting? It sounds like like um because I've documented a lot of uh muralists that would, you know, go out and work, but but like what's the live painting?

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Well, okay, so I did one before a couple, but um like in but but in private residences, so smaller. It's it's it's I feel like it's this new uh avenue that I'm exploring in in large-scale commercial projects. So I I'm doing one, I just finished one in in in Manituk, and it was it's sort of taking like the vines and the grapes and the flowers, but in a more organic way. And I was on this like 30 feet scaffolding gold paint. Um, and I'm doing another one in in Martha's Vineyard at the end of the month. And it's gonna be like hanging flowers. Oh, I I'm so excited. Um this is this isn't a a piece, it's something that's going to stay on yeah, it's I do the design, so I still go through the same bespoke process of creating the design for you. And this is what I think it can look like. But then instead of it being wallpaper or fabric or rugs, I'm on-site hand painting.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

That's and that's gotta be completely different, right? Because you're not what what's what are you you're painting on a wall?

SPEAKER_02 47:58

Yeah, it's completely different.

SPEAKER_00 47:59

And what's the texture of the wall?

SPEAKER_02 48:01

Well, I don't know. Like the the one, the one in um the one in Matituk was like a really beautiful, like dark gray plaster.

unknown 48:09

Right.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

Like you know, like the what is it called? Yeah, yeah, spackling. Yeah, and then the one um are you using thicker brushes?

SPEAKER_00 48:19

Are you do using different paints?

SPEAKER_02 48:20

Or oh, yeah, sorry. Also, I'm using acrylic. So in textile through school, you're taught to use watercolor, which I love, which is what I started in, and gouache paint, it's called, and it just kind of gives you like I don't really know why you use gouache paint for textile design, but that's what I was taught in school. So I just you just continue using that.

SPEAKER_00 48:42

Yeah, but but with on the wall, is it because it's so faint, it's not as like thick and no, it's it's overpowering as like an oil or an acrylic?

SPEAKER_02 48:52

It might just be it's it's an easier like brush stroke, and I feel like acrylic can be a bit like it blends really easily, whereas the gouache doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Um, but I did so it started with a job at the MoMA. I there is a a restaurant affiliated to the MOMA in New York called um 53. And so we did this mural on the ceiling, but it was I did wallpaper and then I went back on site and I hand painted flowers on top of the wallpaper. So I was okay, and but I taught myself how to use acrylic because I never you hand painted on the ceiling?

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Yeah, like DaVinci.

SPEAKER_02 49:34

Yeah, I did. I was like, um, but then from there I remember being like, wow, I don't know if I know how to use this medium. Like, so I practiced for months and obviously like as an you just eventually I just eventually got it. Now I love it. So all the jobs, so a matatec was acrylic, Martha's vineyard's gonna be acrylic paint. Um, and then I'm doing one in Florida in September as well. That's all gonna be acrylic. So beautiful, yeah. So exciting. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00 50:02

When you go to you you said when you're going to Florida?

SPEAKER_02 50:05

Um, September.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

Okay, so it's still gonna be probably pretty humid. Do you have to take that into consideration, the humidity?

SPEAKER_02 50:13

No, because it's in it's a it's like a massive space, it's inside, and like everywhere in Florida has incredible um air conditioning. But yes, with wallpaper, absolutely. You have to take into considerate consideration humidity because then it just peels off.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:32

Right.

SPEAKER_00 50:33

Um so I want to ask you my last question here. 10, 20, 30 years from now, when people look back at your work, what do you want them to see or think that maybe they're missing now?

SPEAKER_02 50:48

Oh wow, that's a great question. Maybe they're missing now. I think the biggest thing would be that she really did something different. Like beyond the work, like from a business perspective, like she it really was doing something that nobody had done in this space. And I the point of this is to then open doors for anyone behind me to do something 10 times bigger. You know, it would be fun to 20, 50 years from now to be that girl that kind of just made you look at things just a little bit differently, that gave, you know, work and jobs to artists that like probably didn't think that was textile design was an option for them. I think that's like the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_00 51:41

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 51:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

Well, I said this uh after the first time we worked together that uh I find you very inspiring. And um, you are definitely some somebody that I I I said women, but in the original message, but anybody really can can look up to and aspire to be like one day. So I really appreciate your time. I really always love seeing what you're doing. And um, you know, just just keep doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

Thanks. Well, I want to I wanna ask you that same question. What would what would be like 50 to 20 to 50 years from now? What would you want people looking at your work to think that they that they aren't seeing now?

SPEAKER_00 52:23

I would I whether they see it now or not, I would want people to understand that I navigated through so many different fields in so many different environments. But but I still stay true to whatever I saw that I deemed interesting enough to put out in the final product because it's another reason why I started this podcast, is because um I've done so many things behind the scenes and I've had so many great cre conversations with creatives and celebrities and athletes that never go anywhere. They're just with between the two of us. And they see the final product, and that's another reason why I've started this podcast, is because I want those in-between moments to to to be able to inspire this generation, the next generation, and more importantly, right now, I'm just every conversation I'm having, I feel like I'm logging for my daughter.

SPEAKER_02 53:26

Oh, I love that. I'm loud.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

So that she one day can just have all this content that she can look back on and be like, oh, what was my dad into? What was my dad thinking? What who did he find interesting enough to talk to? Who did he find interesting enough to give a platform? Why did he do that? And I think even if God forbid something happened to me today, I think there's so much work out there that she could have an understanding of who I am. As long as I use her as like my North Star, it focuses me on what I should point my camera to.

SPEAKER_02 54:02

I love that. Well, it's it's interesting because in our conversations in between are like this. So you're it's true, you're just kind of shining light on the in-between moments. It's not just like, oh, we are shooting and making a video. Like that shoot day that we had with three, four years ago, that video is still my favorite. But we spent the whole day together having so many conversations.

SPEAKER_00 54:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:27

That like, yeah, this is like just an extension of what we've kind of already talked about.

SPEAKER_00 54:31

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 54:32

It's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 54:33

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 54:34

Well, thank you for having me. So nice.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

My pleasure. Thank you for listening to Shoot Wisely. If you found something in this conversation that inspired you, moved you, or made you think a little differently, please share it with someone who might need to hear it. Your support means a lot and it truly helps the show grow. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and leave a review or comment on your favorite podcast platform. Those small actions make a big difference and help more people discover these conversations. I'm your host, Amir Bahimi. And remember, create with intention, live with curiosity, and always shoot wisely.