Talking Business – Mentorship |

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Talking Business – Mentorship

In DQ39 (October 2010) our writer, Collette Swindells, looks at the ins-and-outs of mentorship and how this can benefit your business. Here we share a few excerpts from the original story – as well as all the great images we couldn’t fit in!

Mentoring and mentorship can be really rewarding for those looking to develop their practice creatively and business-wise, but finding the right mentor to match your needs requires careful thought and consideration.

Chelsea Hing of Chelsea Hing Design Consultants likens graduate mentoring to being a “young sponge”, absorbing as much advice and experience as possible, from whoever is most generous.

“I think it has to be a bit serendipitous,” says Chelsea of finding a suitable mentor.

And while you do have to set your expectations fairly high, your hero at work may “not necessarily be the best mentor”.

“It was actually the smaller, quirkier people that were far more generous with their ideas and their time and their support, that I learnt the most from,” she says.

There’s Chelsea below, and South Melbourne Terrace – one of her residential projects.

Vince Frost of Frost Design is a previous mentor for the Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA).

“I think any program that is helping designers to become recognised, [giving] people advice, or a kick-start… is great,” he says.

“I felt I needed that when I was a new designer finding my feet, and still today I am keen to get advice from people I respect in the industry.”

Below are two posters produced by Frost Design for Sydney Dance Company – awesome work!

SOYA recipient Karen Cunningham did a 10-day mentorship with design great Marc Newson and describes her experience with Newson as a “rock-star” encounter.

“Working with Marc and his team was an amazing, eye-opening experience – completely at the other end of the spectrum from where I am as a designer/maker in glass,” Karen says.

“The scale of his enterprise is unbelievably enormous. It showed me that it is possible to start small and expand.”

Below are some of Karen’s beautiful glass pieces – which also gained recognition in the recent Launch Pad 2010 program.

Thread Den partner and NEIS participant, Melissa Davey, says it was the networking opportunities with like-minded people that really helped her creative concept succeed.

Her sewing lounge/clothing store was born out of a friendship she struck up with another NEIS participant, and several other practitioners in her group.

“There were a lot of people there just trying to do the same thing, so we made a group between us, a support network that helped us, and supported each other through the business of the course.”

Below are images from the Thread Den shop – the one in North Melbourne even has a small vintage section at the back.