Meet Ira Tecson

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ira Tecson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ira below.

Hi Ira , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I get my work ethic from my Filipino parents, for sure. My brother and I were Latchkey kids with a mom that worked a 9-5 and a dad that worked 2nd shift, both with the occasional overtime. They also showed me how to work at things outside of their careers, like fostering relationships and taking time to be with family. They instilled in us that we had to prove ourselves, first in school, and then in the jobs we would have later on. They did so without necessarily saying we had to put in double the work to get the same amount of recognition, since we are immigrants. I’m glad they did this because it helped prepare my mental framework for the jobs I would have in the future. My work ethic has been recognized in all of the positions I’ve held, which made me want to work that much harder and was reflected in my trajectory in a lot of my jobs.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Creating art has come second nature for as long as I can remember. There’s a restlessness with which I’ve made work, always seeking new ways to be stimulated and always appreciating the process. Throughout the years I’ve had many jobs, such as a mascot maker, car interior pattern prototyper, dental processor and even an immersive art exhibit fabricator. Something I found consistent regardless of how artistic or not artistic the occupation is, I always seek out a way to create outside of the circumstances.

This has led me to pursue going full time with my side project, turned main project, Tuft Itties. Tufting is one of the ways rugs can be made. I always joke that I love using a tufting gun because it’s literally an art machine gun! While tufting is currently the main discipline, I’ve incorporated my other interests such as 3D modeling, screen printing and soft sculpture into my handmade wares. I really enjoy being able to utilize a bunch of processes I’ve learned (and am still learning) along the way and I especially enjoy that a portion of the proceeds go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Last year (our first year) we were able to donate almost $1k to The BCRF!

If you’d like to see my work in person, I’ll be at the Columbus Arts Festival this year as an Emerging Artist. You can also follow me on Instagram for updates and silliness ( https://www.instagram.com/tuft__itties ).

If you’d like to take a tufting workshop, me and another local tufter (Cassie from Crass Concepts) hold classes at Blockfort studios monthly. Check out https://www.tuftitties.store/product/introduction-to-tufting-class to sign up and use coupon code TUFTTIMES for $50 off of a class.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think the three biggest driving forces in my journey are curiosity, flexibility, and being humble.

A lot of times I approach a problem with the mindset similar to that of solving a puzzle and start figuring out what the possibilities can be no matter how silly, simple, or ridiculous.

Flexibility comes in when I start trying out solutions. During my time in the fabrication position at the immersive art exhibit, we were creating things that hadn’t been made before so there was a lot of trial, error, and pivoting. Even at another job where my position was a pattern maker, there would be requests for miniscule changes and I remember developing a single part for months, through countless iterations.

Being humble is a trait that I got from my parents. There’s always room for improvements and I think it’s good to have the attitude that there’s more to learn about everything. There’s even a Japanese principle called “kaizen” which more or less means “continuous improvement”. More importantly I think being able to say “I don’t know” is a great, especially when it’s followed with “but I’d like to learn”.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The number on obstacle I am currently facing is transitioning from a regular 9-5 job with benefits and a steady paycheck into a full time artist who creates things for myself. In terms of attempting to overcome this challenge, I’m utilizing my work ethic. I remind myself of how hard I worked for other people and that I should put for the same effort for myself. It’s definitely been quite a journey the last year but I wouldn’t be able to do it without my fiance. Not only does he show up for me and helps me with vending, he’s been integral with granting myself the grace to ask for help (which I’m notorious for not doing) and not being too hard on myself if I need to rest. It helps that I’m obsessed with what I do but he helps pull me out of overworking myself and experiencing burnout.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tuftitties.store
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuft__itties