March 22, 2024 • 21 mins
In this Lesson On Doing What You Love, Allison Eden talks about her journey as a celebrated creator in the world of glass mosaics. Allison shares insights into her creative process, the evolution of her career, and how passion drives her success.
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(00:02):
What do I call myself?
That's what Allison Edenwondered when she became
fascinated with a medium thatwould allow her to create a
signature body of work, glass.
It's not just apiece of artwork.
You can see the stresspoints as you go and how
you were feeling that day.
There's a lot of emotionin every single piece
(00:23):
that nobody realizes.
When you look at somethingthat's wonderful,
There's no life to it.
It is what it is, butwhen you look at handmade
mosaics or handmade anythingthat the movement of your
emotions that day and
there's so much going on.
Now based in Brooklyn, youcan find Eden's work all over
(00:45):
the world in homes, hotels,hospitals, restaurants,
community centers, and evenin the form of a giant mosaic
shoe at Bloomingdale's.
Hi, I'm Allison Eden,and this is a lesson
on loving what you do.
What's
(01:14):
your earliest memoryof being creative?
I used to draw like everywhereI would draw my desks at school.
I would draw my shoes.
I was drawing everywhere.
My mother gave me this bookand recently that she had
given me when I was six yearsold and it said, what do you
want to be when you grow up?
Do you remember that bookwhere you would put like,
(01:36):
where do you want to live?
What do you want to do?
And I filled everything out.
Like, how tall are you?
What is your favorite food?
All this stuff at six years old.
And it said I wanted to bean artist living in New York
City and have my own gallery.
And that was at six years old.
I know, and I had that book.
It was the weirdest thing.
(01:56):
And it's like everythingthat I had ever, that I had
wanted as a little girl.
Yeah.
And I, who even knew Iliked New York City at six?
What city did you grow up in?
In California.
I grew up in San Diego.
In a really like sweetlittle town called La
Jolla, but we were alwaysin New York all the time.
And as a little kid, I thinkeven as a baby, I just used to
(02:19):
love the lights and the smells.
And I remember like thechestnuts at Christmas.
I just all like the energy.
I just love that energythat New York offered.
Even as a baby, I think.
I love that.
You were drawing then, butyou work in many mediums now.
Predominantly glass, andyour work is phenomenal.
(02:41):
So tell me a little bitabout how you transitioned
into that medium.
What drew you to it?
And then how you started toexpand and grow the kinds
of things that you do there.
So I was going to FIT, FashionInstitute of Technology in New
York City, for fashion design.
And I always wanted to bea fashion designer also.
(03:03):
I can create my own patterns,and I can sew, and this was,
making your own outfit, thereis nothing better than that.
It is so much fun,and I loved it.
And one day I was downtownand I was having breakfast
in Tribeca and I walked by astore that sold glass, the most
colorful glass I've ever seen.
(03:25):
I just walked in and I'm like,what do you guys do here?
You know, they said we sellglass for windows and I
actually bought some and Iwas living in the dorm and I
brought it back to my dorm.
I was like, these are thecoolest glass I've ever seen.
I can't believe they justmake windows and glass.
Lamps from this first.
I was trying toglue it to clothing.
(03:45):
I was like, this is heavy.
And I'm like, thisisn't the medium for it.
And so I just startedgluing it to cardboard
to see what I could do.
God, I've neverseen this before.
This could be on walls.
I could use this as mycanvas as my drawings, but
I only knew how to break it.
I didn't know about likelittle hand tools or
(04:07):
laser jets or what's on.
I didn't know any of that.
So I would just break it with ahammer and glue them to boards.
And I was working at Nautica.
I was the copy girland my internship.
And so.
And I absolutely,and I loved that job.
I don't know why, butit was the greatest job.
I would sit there and Iwas really conscientious.
(04:28):
I actually bought all my ownlike paperclips and staples
and I came all prepared tobe the copy girl and people
would come by and I would lineup my little samples that I
made all on the back wall.
So they'd be like,Hey, we need a hundred
copies of this quickly.
And I was like, well,you wait, would you like
to look at my mosaics?
(04:48):
Maybe you're lookingto renovate your house,
looking to redecorate.
And you'd be like, what,what are you talking about?
And then during my lunchbreak, I would walk around
the Carmen center and I'd gofrom showroom to showroom.
And I would just walk in.
I would say, I have this idea.
Your showroom is I'd use somerenovating and maybe I can
(05:10):
assist you with it with makingtables or making mosaics in
any form, picture flames,flower pots, whatever it was,
whatever I could glue to, I wastrying to glue to, and I didn't
have, it was before phones,so I had no pictures and I
had the Kodak Polaroids and Iwould show them my Polaroids.
(05:30):
Which I probablystill have on my desk.
I mean, that's so sad.
And that's how I started.
From walking around theGarment Center one day,
I walked into a showroom.
I got a little job, andthen another little job, and
it started right
from there.
It
took off.
It took off.
I didn't know what I was doing.
(05:51):
I had no training.
I didn't know what I was.
And I had no clue and I'd beenin college for quite some time.
I wasn't on the four year plan.
I was more on theeight year plan.
And then to call and then tocall my mother and to say,
mom, I think I'm going to bea mosaic artist after, after
them paying for college forsix years, seven years, it
(06:14):
was, you could only imaginehow, how they were, Not happy
with
that.
They were always super,super supportive, but they
weren't, oh, so proud.
They were like, what?
What are you doing?
So no other creativesin your family then?
Oh, you know what, my motheris an interior designer.
(06:35):
Ah.
My father was so creative.
He was just like the lifeof the party, fun, wild.
I had great supportive parents.
And I think
they would be prepared that ifyour mom's an interior designer,
that you're going to come outwith something that is visual.
Yes.
That's why theywere so supportive.
And I do believe now being amother, that when you support
(06:56):
your children, no matter whatthey're doing, they, it's,
it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,it's, it's, They'll come
out so much better for it.
I never did well in school.
I was a C student and myparents used to tell me,
you are the smartest girl.
I know.
You are the prettiest girl.
I know.
And in my mind, I wasthe smartest girl.
I was prettiest girlbecause my parents told me.
(07:17):
They gave me suchgreat support that way.
So when, you know, I decided,I dunno if I'm gonna do be
designing clothes, clothing, I'mgoing to be making mosaics now.
They were, I think they stoodback and they were like, oh god.
But okay, we'll support you.
And they did.
So then you're winging it here.
I remember there was onestory you told about the
(07:39):
phone book and somebodyfound you in the phone book,
which I love that story.
Okay,
the phone book.
I was like, you know, I want toput ads out in the yellow pages
and I am going to be something.
And I wasn't sure what it was.
So I put, I wasn't surewhat an architect was.
I didn't know whata contractor was.
I didn't know any of thesethings, but I just went
(08:00):
through the A, B, C, and Iput out these beautiful ads.
And I, I put thatI was a contractor.
I don't know.
It looked good.
There were a few inthe yellow pages.
So I figured I'll putit a little add in.
So I get this call fromBurger King and they're like,
we're looking for somebodyto install the Brazilian wave
(08:20):
pattern on a floor in BurgerKing on 47th street in New
York city, and we can't findanybody in the tri state area.
I can do it in the time frameand I was like, well, you've
come to the right place.
We do this all the time.
I had no idea.
So I rented a car and I drove toHome Depot in New Jersey and I
(08:42):
bought a video on how to tile afloor and I showed up to my, to
give an estimate with a newly,a new invoice book from Staples.
I was like, Oh, one.
You would have thought that madea red flag, especially when I
was writing my invoice as likea 20 year old, none of these
(09:04):
red flags were raised with them.
And so I bought the joband I knew what I needed.
I got it.
I was hiring peopleon the street.
I was working like.
Crazy hours and it wasmiddle of winter and it was
snowing inside of the place.
All they had is wood.
There were no windows.
(09:25):
So I was working in mudand I would hire basically
like homeless guys.
Like, Hey, I need youto move this and I'll
pay you to do this.
And I became a GC on my ownproject with people who had
no idea what they were doing.
And I had just started datingmy husband at the time.
And to tell him, from afashion design student to
(09:46):
a tile layer, he had noidea what was going on.
He was working on Wall Streetand he would come to visit
me and he wouldn't leave.
He was, he would sit ona bucket and, Nice in his
suit from work and watch me.
I, and I remember telling him,I'm like, I'm so sorry if I
might not be the girl for you.
I really enjoyed this.
And he, he was soamused and so loved it.
(10:08):
I think that's why he ma hemarried me because he just
thought this was just so crazy.
And
he's inside.
He works, he works, he worksinside your business now.
Oh my God.
He left Wall Street.
I feel like whenever Ithink of glasswork and.
(10:30):
You mosaic artist isdifferent for me, but glass,
I think of Dale Chihuly.
I feel like it's like a, sucha male dominated industry.
Is that fair to say?
And how did younavigate through that?
There are a lot of glassmosaics that are women.
I think many, probablymany years ago, this was a
nice hobby for women thatwere a stay at home moms.
(10:53):
I turned it into a reallike business being in
a construction world.
I thought it was reallyfunny to be really the only
girl, and I did realize thatthe most important thing,
if I was going to succeed,was to be knowledgeable, to
know more than they knew.
(11:13):
And the only way I realizedthat was through, not through
successes, but through failures.
I feel like you don'tlearn things when you're,
Being successful all thetime, you need to make
mistakes and you need tolearn from those mistakes.
And that's the wayI taught myself.
I'm still making mistakes andI'm still teaching myself, but I
(11:34):
feel like I've learned so much.
So when I do go to job sites,sometimes I walk in and they'll
be like, Oh, who is this creampuff that thinks she knows
what she's talking about?
You know what I do?
I mean, the complexity ofthe work that you're doing,
the complexity is incredible.
And so how many peopleare on your team?
How many people does it taketo do that kind of install?
(11:57):
How do you find people whoare artisans and working
at the same level as youare when you're doing that
kind of highly skilled work?
So I teach everybody and I amon every project and I have
a team of about 15 people.
This isn't something that youcome in and you just leave.
You have to love what you do.
(12:19):
We're basically one big family.
I go from project toproject all day long.
I'm in the studio18 hours a day.
I work on as many projects asI can every day and teaching
different techniques andlearning different techniques.
Also, I'm stilllearning every day.
And finding new materials andyou have to love what you do
(12:39):
because if you don't love whatyou do, it's not worth doing.
So I try to teach people tolove exactly the way I love it.
Are you doing more creativeor are you doing more
sales inside your business?
Or both?
Both.
Yeah, I do.
I have to do the creative.
Sales, I don't really,I don't do this.
Gary does more of the sales,but we sell through showrooms.
(13:02):
So the showrooms do allthe sales or the designers.
So I don't reallyhave to do any sales.
I actually loveclosing my deals.
This is what we're going to do.
These are your drawings.
These are your colors.
And what I do not liketo do is talk money.
I hate talking about money.
Because if you ask me, howmuch is this worth, it's
(13:22):
priceless, but in the realworld, you have to have a, you
have to have a price, right?
Not everything can be right.
To me, everything isbillions as it is.
And we put so much hardwork and love and energy.
It's not just apiece of artwork.
You can see the stresspoints as you go and how
(13:43):
you were feeling that day.
There's a lot of emotionin every single piece.
That nobody realizes whenyou look at something that's
waterjet, there's no life to it.
It is what it is.
But when you look at handmademosaics or handmade anything
that the movement of youremotions that day, and
there's so much going on.
(14:04):
I know where I know everypiece that we lay down,
every piece has a story.
So if you think about, andI'm, I feel like I know
what you're going to answerfor this, but intuition
inside of a business, right?
And running a business, becauseagain, you're so humble,
but your business is big.
(14:24):
You're running avery big business.
It's artistry at scale, really.
So is there a time when you'remaking a decision that if the
numbers told you, Hey, youshouldn't do that, but the
intuition told you, Oh, Hey.
We're going to do thisand you went in favor
of your intermission.
Can you tell me aboutone of those times?
(14:45):
Oh God, that's all I do.
If I love it, I do it.
For instance, I created thispattern with lips everywhere.
Everybody told me,Allison, you're so crazy.
No one's ever going to buy it.
And I would sit there andI'd hand cut lips for hours,
and days, and months, andmaking samples for people.
It became so popular.
(15:06):
My intuition said, yes, thisis going to be wonderful.
On the books, at first,I'm I got nothing and I
got nothing for so long.
So it finally took holdand people were like,
wow, this is fabulous.
It's so different.
I love it.
So actually everythingI do is intuition.
I don't think monetary rewards.
(15:26):
I feel like what I want to do.
And that's the wholeway I've ever structured
our whole business.
If my husband was here,he might chime in and
tell me, say differently.
But I think that you needto follow your heart, and
if your heart tells yousomething is going to be
a hit, hopefully it will.
(15:48):
I think there's somethingabout timing too, because you
mentioned it wasn't a hit atfirst, but then it took hold.
And I think there is somethingabout creativity that is
prescient or forward thinking.
Do you feel like your creativitycomes through you, or is of you?
I think just of me.
Okay.
(16:09):
So ideas don't land.
You're, you don't getthe download as it were.
Sometimes they do.
Sometimes they just come to me.
I'll just be doodling and thenit'll be like, Oh, that's it.
And I feel like I've gottena lot of inspiration by
just getting out there,walking around, seeing
what's around me, seeing thestyles and seeing people.
(16:31):
And I look around atthe subway and I see
everybody's on their phones.
They're all looking down.
There is so much to see andso much you can get from just
looking around, seeing theway people are dressed and
the way they look and youwill get such inspiration.
Because that's what people need.
You need to be inspired.
And you're not going tobe inspired by sitting on
(16:52):
Instagram and looking atsomebody else's fabulous life.
That will actually, I think,pull you down in some ways.
Because Half the time I don'tbelieve they're even true.
I think really taking noticeof your surroundings, smell
the flowers, notice them,and take part in them.
(17:17):
Do you think thatwomen lead differently?
I feel like womenare more nurturing.
I feel like we have babies,we're mothers, and we nurture
and understand the needto be with your children.
And really, I feel like we couldnurture, whereas Sometimes men
are more about the bottom line.
(17:39):
Let's look at it even inthe context of your company
because your partnership.
So are you leading morefrom a feminine lens?
Would feminine be a wordthat you would embrace or
no in terms of leadership?
Oh gosh, I, you know what?
I don't think of it in that way.
I feel like men andwomen are totally, in
my world, it's equal.
(18:01):
I've never been oneto not do a man's job.
And I know my husband isnot had any problem doing
something that I would do.
So I'm lucky enough not tohave felt, you know, into that
gender by gender.
Not at all.
We just do what we needto do to pay the rent.
How about that?
(18:21):
There is interestingresearch that creatives, in
general, that they tend tobe more ambiguous in terms
of their gender identity.
Women, when they're creative,they, they take on that
masculine energy a little bitmore, and whereas male creatives
will take on the feminineenergy a little bit more,
which I think is interesting,that we don't tend to perform
(18:46):
as much to the gender roles.
Which are so changing, right?
I agree.
But as a woman, like Iwant to look beautiful.
I want to be treated beautiful.
I want my husbandto open the door.
I want to be treatedlike a woman.
I don't mind getting inthere and doing a dirty job.
That most women wouldn't do.
I'm proud of everything thatwe've built over the years.
(19:09):
Cause it was not easy.
I sell somethingthat nobody needs.
And we sell.
We sell.
We, we have been able toreally cultivate a beautiful
collection of people thatare like minded like us.
Most of my clients arelike repeat clients.
They keep coming back, always,and they become like family.
(19:29):
And we do everythingin New York City.
We make urban art.
It's wonderful.
This is, you've got to comevisit, because the studio is,
there's so few studios likethis left, and 30 years ago,
this is what New York City was.
There were studios onevery single block in the
city, and little by little,we were all pushed out.
(19:51):
And I moved to Brooklyn, andIt's the energy is there.
It's coming back.
If you were to completethe sentence, my wish
for every other woman is
(20:11):
Follow your dreams.
My wish is that theydo follow their dreams.
Because when you do, themost beautiful things happen.
Be visible.
Use your voice.
Every other womanneeds you to lead.
(20:39):
Voice Lessons is Co-produced,written, and spoken
by me, Kim Cuttable.
It's also co-produced andedited by Sergio Miranda.
You can find pastepisodes, show notes, and
the cool stuff our guestrecommend@voicelessonspodcast.com.
What do I call myself?
That's what Allison Edenwondered when she became
fascinated with a medium thatwould allow her to create a
signature body of work, glass.
It's not just apiece of artwork.
You can see the stresspoints as you go and how
you were feeling that day.
There's a lot of emotionin every single piece
(00:23):
that nobody realizes.
When you look at somethingthat's wonderful,
There's no life to it.
It is what it is, butwhen you look at handmade
mosaics or handmade anythingthat the movement of your
emotions that day and
there's so much going on.
Now based in Brooklyn, youcan find Eden's work all over
(00:45):
the world in homes, hotels,hospitals, restaurants,
community centers, and evenin the form of a giant mosaic
shoe at Bloomingdale's.
Hi, I'm Allison Eden,and this is a lesson
on loving what you do.
What's
(01:14):
your earliest memoryof being creative?
I used to draw like everywhereI would draw my desks at school.
I would draw my shoes.
I was drawing everywhere.
My mother gave me this bookand recently that she had
given me when I was six yearsold and it said, what do you
want to be when you grow up?
Do you remember that bookwhere you would put like,
(01:36):
where do you want to live?
What do you want to do?
And I filled everything out.
Like, how tall are you?
What is your favorite food?
All this stuff at six years old.
And it said I wanted to bean artist living in New York
City and have my own gallery.
And that was at six years old.
I know, and I had that book.
It was the weirdest thing.
(01:56):
And it's like everythingthat I had ever, that I had
wanted as a little girl.
Yeah.
And I, who even knew Iliked New York City at six?
What city did you grow up in?
In California.
I grew up in San Diego.
In a really like sweetlittle town called La
Jolla, but we were alwaysin New York all the time.
And as a little kid, I thinkeven as a baby, I just used to
(02:19):
love the lights and the smells.
And I remember like thechestnuts at Christmas.
I just all like the energy.
I just love that energythat New York offered.
Even as a baby, I think.
I love that.
You were drawing then, butyou work in many mediums now.
Predominantly glass, andyour work is phenomenal.
(02:41):
So tell me a little bitabout how you transitioned
into that medium.
What drew you to it?
And then how you started toexpand and grow the kinds
of things that you do there.
So I was going to FIT, FashionInstitute of Technology in New
York City, for fashion design.
And I always wanted to bea fashion designer also.
(03:03):
I can create my own patterns,and I can sew, and this was,
making your own outfit, thereis nothing better than that.
It is so much fun,and I loved it.
And one day I was downtownand I was having breakfast
in Tribeca and I walked by astore that sold glass, the most
colorful glass I've ever seen.
(03:25):
I just walked in and I'm like,what do you guys do here?
You know, they said we sellglass for windows and I
actually bought some and Iwas living in the dorm and I
brought it back to my dorm.
I was like, these are thecoolest glass I've ever seen.
I can't believe they justmake windows and glass.
Lamps from this first.
I was trying toglue it to clothing.
(03:45):
I was like, this is heavy.
And I'm like, thisisn't the medium for it.
And so I just startedgluing it to cardboard
to see what I could do.
God, I've neverseen this before.
This could be on walls.
I could use this as mycanvas as my drawings, but
I only knew how to break it.
I didn't know about likelittle hand tools or
(04:07):
laser jets or what's on.
I didn't know any of that.
So I would just break it with ahammer and glue them to boards.
And I was working at Nautica.
I was the copy girland my internship.
And so.
And I absolutely,and I loved that job.
I don't know why, butit was the greatest job.
I would sit there and Iwas really conscientious.
(04:28):
I actually bought all my ownlike paperclips and staples
and I came all prepared tobe the copy girl and people
would come by and I would lineup my little samples that I
made all on the back wall.
So they'd be like,Hey, we need a hundred
copies of this quickly.
And I was like, well,you wait, would you like
to look at my mosaics?
(04:48):
Maybe you're lookingto renovate your house,
looking to redecorate.
And you'd be like, what,what are you talking about?
And then during my lunchbreak, I would walk around
the Carmen center and I'd gofrom showroom to showroom.
And I would just walk in.
I would say, I have this idea.
Your showroom is I'd use somerenovating and maybe I can
(05:10):
assist you with it with makingtables or making mosaics in
any form, picture flames,flower pots, whatever it was,
whatever I could glue to, I wastrying to glue to, and I didn't
have, it was before phones,so I had no pictures and I
had the Kodak Polaroids and Iwould show them my Polaroids.
(05:30):
Which I probablystill have on my desk.
I mean, that's so sad.
And that's how I started.
From walking around theGarment Center one day,
I walked into a showroom.
I got a little job, andthen another little job, and
it started right
from there.
It
took off.
It took off.
I didn't know what I was doing.
(05:51):
I had no training.
I didn't know what I was.
And I had no clue and I'd beenin college for quite some time.
I wasn't on the four year plan.
I was more on theeight year plan.
And then to call and then tocall my mother and to say,
mom, I think I'm going to bea mosaic artist after, after
them paying for college forsix years, seven years, it
(06:14):
was, you could only imaginehow, how they were, Not happy
with
that.
They were always super,super supportive, but they
weren't, oh, so proud.
They were like, what?
What are you doing?
So no other creativesin your family then?
Oh, you know what, my motheris an interior designer.
(06:35):
Ah.
My father was so creative.
He was just like the lifeof the party, fun, wild.
I had great supportive parents.
And I think
they would be prepared that ifyour mom's an interior designer,
that you're going to come outwith something that is visual.
Yes.
That's why theywere so supportive.
And I do believe now being amother, that when you support
(06:56):
your children, no matter whatthey're doing, they, it's,
it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,it's, it's, They'll come
out so much better for it.
I never did well in school.
I was a C student and myparents used to tell me,
you are the smartest girl.
I know.
You are the prettiest girl.
I know.
And in my mind, I wasthe smartest girl.
I was prettiest girlbecause my parents told me.
(07:17):
They gave me suchgreat support that way.
So when, you know, I decided,I dunno if I'm gonna do be
designing clothes, clothing, I'mgoing to be making mosaics now.
They were, I think they stoodback and they were like, oh god.
But okay, we'll support you.
And they did.
So then you're winging it here.
I remember there was onestory you told about the
(07:39):
phone book and somebodyfound you in the phone book,
which I love that story.
Okay,
the phone book.
I was like, you know, I want toput ads out in the yellow pages
and I am going to be something.
And I wasn't sure what it was.
So I put, I wasn't surewhat an architect was.
I didn't know whata contractor was.
I didn't know any of thesethings, but I just went
(08:00):
through the A, B, C, and Iput out these beautiful ads.
And I, I put thatI was a contractor.
I don't know.
It looked good.
There were a few inthe yellow pages.
So I figured I'll putit a little add in.
So I get this call fromBurger King and they're like,
we're looking for somebodyto install the Brazilian wave
(08:20):
pattern on a floor in BurgerKing on 47th street in New
York city, and we can't findanybody in the tri state area.
I can do it in the time frameand I was like, well, you've
come to the right place.
We do this all the time.
I had no idea.
So I rented a car and I drove toHome Depot in New Jersey and I
(08:42):
bought a video on how to tile afloor and I showed up to my, to
give an estimate with a newly,a new invoice book from Staples.
I was like, Oh, one.
You would have thought that madea red flag, especially when I
was writing my invoice as likea 20 year old, none of these
(09:04):
red flags were raised with them.
And so I bought the joband I knew what I needed.
I got it.
I was hiring peopleon the street.
I was working like.
Crazy hours and it wasmiddle of winter and it was
snowing inside of the place.
All they had is wood.
There were no windows.
(09:25):
So I was working in mudand I would hire basically
like homeless guys.
Like, Hey, I need youto move this and I'll
pay you to do this.
And I became a GC on my ownproject with people who had
no idea what they were doing.
And I had just started datingmy husband at the time.
And to tell him, from afashion design student to
(09:46):
a tile layer, he had noidea what was going on.
He was working on Wall Streetand he would come to visit
me and he wouldn't leave.
He was, he would sit ona bucket and, Nice in his
suit from work and watch me.
I, and I remember telling him,I'm like, I'm so sorry if I
might not be the girl for you.
I really enjoyed this.
And he, he was soamused and so loved it.
(10:08):
I think that's why he ma hemarried me because he just
thought this was just so crazy.
And
he's inside.
He works, he works, he worksinside your business now.
Oh my God.
He left Wall Street.
I feel like whenever Ithink of glasswork and.
(10:30):
You mosaic artist isdifferent for me, but glass,
I think of Dale Chihuly.
I feel like it's like a, sucha male dominated industry.
Is that fair to say?
And how did younavigate through that?
There are a lot of glassmosaics that are women.
I think many, probablymany years ago, this was a
nice hobby for women thatwere a stay at home moms.
(10:53):
I turned it into a reallike business being in
a construction world.
I thought it was reallyfunny to be really the only
girl, and I did realize thatthe most important thing,
if I was going to succeed,was to be knowledgeable, to
know more than they knew.
(11:13):
And the only way I realizedthat was through, not through
successes, but through failures.
I feel like you don'tlearn things when you're,
Being successful all thetime, you need to make
mistakes and you need tolearn from those mistakes.
And that's the wayI taught myself.
I'm still making mistakes andI'm still teaching myself, but I
(11:34):
feel like I've learned so much.
So when I do go to job sites,sometimes I walk in and they'll
be like, Oh, who is this creampuff that thinks she knows
what she's talking about?
You know what I do?
I mean, the complexity ofthe work that you're doing,
the complexity is incredible.
And so how many peopleare on your team?
How many people does it taketo do that kind of install?
(11:57):
How do you find people whoare artisans and working
at the same level as youare when you're doing that
kind of highly skilled work?
So I teach everybody and I amon every project and I have
a team of about 15 people.
This isn't something that youcome in and you just leave.
You have to love what you do.
(12:19):
We're basically one big family.
I go from project toproject all day long.
I'm in the studio18 hours a day.
I work on as many projects asI can every day and teaching
different techniques andlearning different techniques.
Also, I'm stilllearning every day.
And finding new materials andyou have to love what you do
(12:39):
because if you don't love whatyou do, it's not worth doing.
So I try to teach people tolove exactly the way I love it.
Are you doing more creativeor are you doing more
sales inside your business?
Or both?
Both.
Yeah, I do.
I have to do the creative.
Sales, I don't really,I don't do this.
Gary does more of the sales,but we sell through showrooms.
(13:02):
So the showrooms do allthe sales or the designers.
So I don't reallyhave to do any sales.
I actually loveclosing my deals.
This is what we're going to do.
These are your drawings.
These are your colors.
And what I do not liketo do is talk money.
I hate talking about money.
Because if you ask me, howmuch is this worth, it's
(13:22):
priceless, but in the realworld, you have to have a, you
have to have a price, right?
Not everything can be right.
To me, everything isbillions as it is.
And we put so much hardwork and love and energy.
It's not just apiece of artwork.
You can see the stresspoints as you go and how
(13:43):
you were feeling that day.
There's a lot of emotionin every single piece.
That nobody realizes whenyou look at something that's
waterjet, there's no life to it.
It is what it is.
But when you look at handmademosaics or handmade anything
that the movement of youremotions that day, and
there's so much going on.
(14:04):
I know where I know everypiece that we lay down,
every piece has a story.
So if you think about, andI'm, I feel like I know
what you're going to answerfor this, but intuition
inside of a business, right?
And running a business, becauseagain, you're so humble,
but your business is big.
(14:24):
You're running avery big business.
It's artistry at scale, really.
So is there a time when you'remaking a decision that if the
numbers told you, Hey, youshouldn't do that, but the
intuition told you, Oh, Hey.
We're going to do thisand you went in favor
of your intermission.
Can you tell me aboutone of those times?
(14:45):
Oh God, that's all I do.
If I love it, I do it.
For instance, I created thispattern with lips everywhere.
Everybody told me,Allison, you're so crazy.
No one's ever going to buy it.
And I would sit there andI'd hand cut lips for hours,
and days, and months, andmaking samples for people.
It became so popular.
(15:06):
My intuition said, yes, thisis going to be wonderful.
On the books, at first,I'm I got nothing and I
got nothing for so long.
So it finally took holdand people were like,
wow, this is fabulous.
It's so different.
I love it.
So actually everythingI do is intuition.
I don't think monetary rewards.
(15:26):
I feel like what I want to do.
And that's the wholeway I've ever structured
our whole business.
If my husband was here,he might chime in and
tell me, say differently.
But I think that you needto follow your heart, and
if your heart tells yousomething is going to be
a hit, hopefully it will.
(15:48):
I think there's somethingabout timing too, because you
mentioned it wasn't a hit atfirst, but then it took hold.
And I think there is somethingabout creativity that is
prescient or forward thinking.
Do you feel like your creativitycomes through you, or is of you?
I think just of me.
Okay.
(16:09):
So ideas don't land.
You're, you don't getthe download as it were.
Sometimes they do.
Sometimes they just come to me.
I'll just be doodling and thenit'll be like, Oh, that's it.
And I feel like I've gottena lot of inspiration by
just getting out there,walking around, seeing
what's around me, seeing thestyles and seeing people.
(16:31):
And I look around atthe subway and I see
everybody's on their phones.
They're all looking down.
There is so much to see andso much you can get from just
looking around, seeing theway people are dressed and
the way they look and youwill get such inspiration.
Because that's what people need.
You need to be inspired.
And you're not going tobe inspired by sitting on
(16:52):
Instagram and looking atsomebody else's fabulous life.
That will actually, I think,pull you down in some ways.
Because Half the time I don'tbelieve they're even true.
I think really taking noticeof your surroundings, smell
the flowers, notice them,and take part in them.
(17:17):
Do you think thatwomen lead differently?
I feel like womenare more nurturing.
I feel like we have babies,we're mothers, and we nurture
and understand the needto be with your children.
And really, I feel like we couldnurture, whereas Sometimes men
are more about the bottom line.
(17:39):
Let's look at it even inthe context of your company
because your partnership.
So are you leading morefrom a feminine lens?
Would feminine be a wordthat you would embrace or
no in terms of leadership?
Oh gosh, I, you know what?
I don't think of it in that way.
I feel like men andwomen are totally, in
my world, it's equal.
(18:01):
I've never been oneto not do a man's job.
And I know my husband isnot had any problem doing
something that I would do.
So I'm lucky enough not tohave felt, you know, into that
gender by gender.
Not at all.
We just do what we needto do to pay the rent.
How about that?
(18:21):
There is interestingresearch that creatives, in
general, that they tend tobe more ambiguous in terms
of their gender identity.
Women, when they're creative,they, they take on that
masculine energy a little bitmore, and whereas male creatives
will take on the feminineenergy a little bit more,
which I think is interesting,that we don't tend to perform
(18:46):
as much to the gender roles.
Which are so changing, right?
I agree.
But as a woman, like Iwant to look beautiful.
I want to be treated beautiful.
I want my husbandto open the door.
I want to be treatedlike a woman.
I don't mind getting inthere and doing a dirty job.
That most women wouldn't do.
I'm proud of everything thatwe've built over the years.
(19:09):
Cause it was not easy.
I sell somethingthat nobody needs.
And we sell.
We sell.
We, we have been able toreally cultivate a beautiful
collection of people thatare like minded like us.
Most of my clients arelike repeat clients.
They keep coming back, always,and they become like family.
(19:29):
And we do everythingin New York City.
We make urban art.
It's wonderful.
This is, you've got to comevisit, because the studio is,
there's so few studios likethis left, and 30 years ago,
this is what New York City was.
There were studios onevery single block in the
city, and little by little,we were all pushed out.
(19:51):
And I moved to Brooklyn, andIt's the energy is there.
It's coming back.
If you were to completethe sentence, my wish
for every other woman is
(20:11):
Follow your dreams.
My wish is that theydo follow their dreams.
Because when you do, themost beautiful things happen.
Be visible.
Use your voice.
Every other womanneeds you to lead.
(20:39):
Voice Lessons is Co-produced,written, and spoken
by me, Kim Cuttable.
It's also co-produced andedited by Sergio Miranda.
You can find pastepisodes, show notes, and
the cool stuff our guestrecommend@voicelessonspodcast.com.
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