Jean Okada & Matt Perry's Craft
Please introduce yourself and the work that you do.
Hello, my name is Jean and I'm an apparel and costume designer.
What does craft mean to you?
Craft is the process of being hands-on, reworking, refining, improving, and sometimes repeating and reiterating to get to a satisfying end result.
Describe the feeling you get when you are deep in / in flow with your craft and your work.
Being deep in flow is such a great feeling! I'm focused, opening and more in a state of ideation rather than being stuck in execution.
What is the most rewarding thing about being a part of Matt's journey and his craft, and having him be a part of yours?
Our creative fields really compliment each other, and we have a mutual interest in both for sure. I think we feed off each other's creative motivation; it's so great to be with someone that has a creative purpose and still has a curiosity to learn and grow as an artist.
How do you find your inspiration?
Simply being outside and around nature is a huge source of inspiration. I've also learned this past year and half that social gatherings, events, performances, are a huge source of inspiration that i've missed so much.
It's been interesting finding ways to stay connected to different creative communities and what's inspiring to me is seeing the ways artists have adapted over this time; it's like finding the creativity in these huge sets of constraints.
Please introduce yourself and the work that you do.
I'm Matt Perry, no relation to the guy from Friends. I put out music as kutcorners and I produce music, make content and DJ from time to time.
What does craft mean to you?
Craft to me means, working at something for a lifetime, always perfecting it, evolving and challenging yourself to always get better at it. You'll never perfect it and always find peace in the process.
Music, being my principal craft has helped inform and shape my personality and perspectives of the world. It has been central to most of the most important relationships in my life from sharing songs, to learning about the history and struggles of oppressed people through the expression of music. It's in a lot of ways been a form of education about life itself separate from my formal education.
What is the thing you enjoy most about your craft?I really enjoy the constant journey of learning. It's hard to pin that down as the most enjoyable thing though. To add to this I would say being inspired by and sharing with my friends our creations. I also get really happy when someone I respect plays my music too, it really makes the creative process come full circle.
What is the most rewarding thing about being a part of Jean's journey and her craft, and having her be a part of yours?Getting to share in Jean's wins as a creative is really rewarding. She works really hard and it's wonderful to see her creations and projects become ubiquitous in the world.
I think that we both share a lot of similar passions so I get a lot of inspiration, concepts and knowledge from her which I'm very grateful for. I have always been attracted to her because she has always been inspiring in many ways
Why Vancouver? How does this city inspire you?Vancouver has always been an inspiration on many levels, it's a really well balanced place for me. From the nature, the climate (yes even the rain) to the people here I've always felt welcome and able to contribute to the city's legacy. I came here in 2001 and to see the changes that have happened since then I feel like I arrived at just the right time and have been able to find a place here. I left Vancouver briefly in 2012 and realized instantly so many things that Vancouver had that makes it unique. The people here are really special and talented and I think Vancouver plays itself down a bit (which is kinda sweet), but we have a lot to celebrate. So much talent is here, and has been here for a long time in many different crafts.