Meet the Maker: Gerren + Morgana Lamson of Satchel & Sage
Happy Re:Make Austin week! Next up on Meet the Maker, we have Gerren and Morgana Lamson of Satchel & Sage. This Austin-based husband and wife creative team will be joining us THIS WEEKEND(!) at Re:Make (be sure to register for FREE here).
We’ve been hooked on Satchel & Sage since 2010, when Gerren and Morgana first started turning out colorfully designed printed goods and textiles. We guarantee you won’t want to leave Re:Make without snagging a few of their pieces (we’ve got our eye on this MAKE print, obviously). Read on as Gerren and Morgana fill us in on their creative process, advice for other makers (hint: let go of FOMO), and more!
First things first, tell us a little bit about yourselves.
We are both graphic designers and illustrators. Gerren is from Lafayette, LA, and Morgana is from San Antonio, TX. We moved to Austin five years ago and fell in love with the place. The community here is very encouraging and supportive to makers.
Why did you decide to start Satchel & Sage?
We wanted to collaborate on a project that would let us combine our styles and skills. We started out making prints for our friends and family, and created artwork that we wanted to decorate our own house with. The positive feedback that we received from those early experiments encouraged us to start offering our prints. Little by little, we grew that business into what is now Satchel & Sage.
In five words or less, tell us why you love to make.
Expressive, Innate, Cathartic, Utilitarian, Community
Where do you get your inspiration?
We’re inspired by our experiences in nature, beautiful color palettes, exploring different cultures through travel, vintage artwork, drawings from childhood and old books.
What does the creative process look like for you?
We occasionally get caught in what we like to call a ‘creative tornado’, which is a short season in which we produce a ton of new ideas. Afterwards, we look back at the aftermath and pick our favorite concepts to explore further. Together, we brainstorm on each idea — exploring the good or bad, in order to refine and narrow down to a final product. It’s a messy process with minimal organization, but we always end up coming out with something we love at the end.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with other makers?
Let go of FOMO (the fear of missing out). By rushing to keep up with current trends, events, and other makers you can lose your artistic voice in the process. There are times when it’s important to hustle, but you also have to allow yourself time to recharge. We find that by occasionally taking a break from social media and the Internet in general, it creates room for us to come up with fresh ideas.
What other creative hobbies do you have?
We enjoy pottery, calligraphy, hand-lettering, playing music, gardening and cooking.
Tell us how technology has changed and supported what you do.
Technology has made it easier for customers to find our brand and products. While we love meeting our fans in real life, web technologies have made it easy to create an online community and offer our products conveniently to anyone, anywhere.
How do you think the analog world is changing as the digital world continues to boom?
We think that there’s a movement back to making things by hand as a reaction to an overly digitized society. People want to experience creating tactile art and goods that connect them to their physical life.
What’s up next for you?
We plan to expand our line of home decor with new conceptual series of artwork, and unique ways of playing with and mixing materials. We’ve also been experimenting with textiles in an effort to create new apparel and accessory products.
Have you fallen in love with Morgana and Gerren yet? Then don’t forget that they’ll be joining us at Re:Make Austin on May 3rd and 4th. Stop by Palmer Events Center from 11am-6pm to check out their home goods!