We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tiffany Blaylock. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tiffany below.
Tiffany, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I listen to my gut reaction about how I feel towards things. It can be anywhere from … what path do I want to take on a walk, do I want to explore a street I’ve never been down to see where it leads me, which flowers should I buy to style in a photoshoot, and even what might I be interested in for a career.
Trusting this reaction is something I’ve done since I was very young, but a few years ago I became introduced to Human Design through my business coach. Human Design is a part science and part spiritual system that helps me be more successful in life by understanding how to best use my design. Through it I learned I can use this reaction as my strategy to know if something is aligned for me. I love how it feels and it’s proven to be a solid strategy. It’s a physical spark of energy in my chest around my heart. It’s very exciting and can’t be denied. When I follow my strategy I’m responding about doing things that come across my path and give me a full body “yes.”
What I do today as an editorial interior stylist, came across my path when I was an interior designer. From day one working for Nicole Hollis, I both designed projects and had a hand in styling photoshoots. Ultimately, I directed the photoshoot for our largest project at the time and I felt so much energy and fulfillment to art direct, style and do florals. I had a lot of drive and passion for interior design and I certainly love spending time in a beautifully designed space (which I still get to do,) but over time I found that I prefer and exponentially love focusing on the narrative details of the story of a space. These details involve the scope of styling which are the artful objects, all the cool and interesting table books, artwork, and florals I can design to do things that won’t last but as long as it holds up for the shot that’s all that matters. I’m in love with spending my time artfully placing accessories around the home as I envision someone moving through the space enjoying all their beautiful items as though they’re exploring a cabinet of curiosities.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
As an editorial stylist my role is to art direct, do floral design and ensure that the space is styled to editorial quality. Specifically, I style the interiors of professionally designed residential homes, boutique hotels, and product for brand marketing for the goal of being featured in a magazine or book in addition to a great portfolio. The work is extremely physical which keeps me strong and I love not sitting at a desk. I joke that I’m paid to work out, which is true, it’s just not the entire story. The day of a photoshoot is typically very long and often more than 10 hours. I’m on my feet all day, bending down, squatting, lifting, climbing stairs and I love it. Prior to the photoshoot, I spend my time selecting accessories, packing them up, sourcing project specific items, coordinating art to be loaned if needed, and shopping for flowers and produce. Another reason I left interior design is I wanted to spend my days more physically creating beauty and that’s exactly what I get to do. Something I really love about my role is the opportunity to give a fresh perspective to my clients who have had their eyes on a project for several years and in a matter of a few days I swoop through and dress the interior with the small, highly impactful, narrative details that my client doesn’t always have the capacity for because they’re taking care of the big picture part of the project that they love best, which is designing a full home or hotel. It really does take multiple creative mindsets to complete a project and as the designer or architect you should never feel like you’ve let yourself or your client down by handing over or partnering on the styling.
The most exciting part of my work is to see the end result in a publication. A couple months ago I flew into Salt Lake City and on my way out of the airport I grabbed a copy of Luxe magazine. While I was flipping through it I found a two page spread of my work. It’s an incredible feeling to have this happen! I have immense gratitude for the photographers I get to work with who make my styling look its very best and leads to us getting published. And of course this is with a big thanks to the PR people my client’s hire who know how to pitch the projects.
What’s most rewarding about my work and blows my mind everyday, is that I’m appreciated for my creativity and I’m paid to create beauty. I finish each project thinking to myself, “I just got paid to create and felt like I was playing all day.” This is not to say I don’t have stressful dreams leading up to a project or that there aren’t challenges, but these challenges mean problem solving which is something I learned as an interior designer and it excites me. As a stylist you have to be ready to problem solve, have patience, know that you will and can solve it, and you need to be calm about it. Be brave, try things, collaborate with your team and client. And hold a smile! Getting worked up doesn’t serve you or anyone around you and it hinders your capacity to let creativity in and problem solve. And it’s not worth the wrinkles. When you get stressed remind yourself that you were put in this world to have success, experience love, friendship, and appreciation. You were not put here to spend a life in failure. So be open and let the creativity in!
What’s next? Well, first let me explain that my business name has the word studio in it and that is in an effort not to pigeon-hole myself on the creative endeavors I test through the business. I felt that the name studio lends itself to more than one discipline. I see the business as a creative studio. So, as for what’s next, we’ll just say that you may see a collection of wallpaper, textiles and a pop-up table book all based on my floral designs in addition to clay decor and artwork. The artwork isn’t just for the wall either. I’m drawn to painting on shoes and foresee a collection, again based my floral designs. We’ll see. I really need the unievers to present me with the people that can collaborate and help me with the textiles, printing and publishing. If that’s you, please reach out!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
A quality I’ve treasured and prioritized since I was a child is to be the person others want to be around. This is because I’ve had the opportunity to know people that make me feel this way and it’s very important to me. A person like this is able to make others feel good when they are around. You feel at ease. I know that when I feel at ease I feel more confident and everyone enjoys themselves. The more I can help people enjoy themselves the more fun we have and the more successful we are.
Going to bed with a meditation to quiet my mind has been the most powerful tool and skill I’ve given myself. Nowadays I just set my body to relax, but when I used this skill while I was in design school at California College of Arts, I would think of the challenge I needed to solve and then set myself to sleep focusing on breathing and relaxing my face, neck and shoulders. Next thing I know I’m waking up and I don’t recall finishing the meditation, but I dreamt of solutions while creatively problem solving during rest. This is a skill that you can develop and I highly recommend it. It’s not hard, but it requires you to relax and then your subconscious genius can flow.
The best knowledge is knowing that all things will pass. You will get through and you will exponentially grow both from challenges and successes, but the growth from challenges are the most valuable to me. They make me strong, creative, and give me more personality. Just remember, every action has a reaction. Every challenge has a gift.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
Working outside your natural skill or focusing on what you desire to be skilled in will put you in a position where you are not working to your genius. What I mean by working to your genius is that there are the things you can do with predominant ease and others that you have interest in and work on learning how to become effective/efficient at them. If you’re telling yourself you need to be well rounded, but you’re not deeply interested in all the things you believe you need to embody to be well rounded, then this is adverse to your success and will waste time, money, and bring in avoidable stress.
Take for example, as a new small business I did not have the finances to contract an accountant, a project manager or a payroll person. So, I did what I had to do and put on those hats in addition do doing the parts I love which is introducing myself to new clients, and doing the physical styling and floral design. Those elements that required me to have skill where I do not, caused time in the form of literally taking me far longer to do them than a person who enjoys doing them. It also cost me time in the burden and weight of thinking about them which then caused stress. They cost me money because as hard as I tried to be on point with it all I’m just not an accountant and somehow the numbers don’t add up. I would make errors and I’d have to go back and figure out, which in turn takes me off billable hours and cost me more money.
I whole-heartedly believe it is not effective to tell yourself you are well rounded if you force yourself to try and become strong in something you just do not have the interest or capacity for. I get that there are times we have to like the example I gave, but in reality, as I proved I would say there are not times we have to force ourselves because it’s too costly. We are all different and there is a need for all of us. And when you value someone else’s skill you are valuing your skills. When you force yourself to take on those skills you don’t have, you are actually taking the job someone loves to do. And if you are doing that, you need to realize they are taking the job you love to do. If we all stay true and aligned we will be so much happier and successful in all aspects of our lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://matadorstudio.design/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matador_studio/
Image Credits
Image 1 – N/A, 2 – All Malone, 3 – TRG Architecture + Interior Design and R. Brad Knipstein Photography, 4 – Spectrum Interior Design, 5 – N/A, 6 TRG Architecture + Interior Design and R. Brad Knipstein Photography
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