We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Cascade Paggi recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley Cascade, 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 used to feel overwhelmed on my creative journey because there were so many skills I wanted to learn and goals that I wanted to achieve. I would skip from project to project, task to task not knowing what to prioritize in order to build my creative business and find success. But then I stopped for a moment to think about what my main objective for my creativity and ultimately, my life truly are. Why am I reaching? Why do I do what I do?
If I really think about it, a huge goal in my life is to explore my creativity until the day I die. I never want to come to a point in my life that I don’t have any more creative endeavors to follow. I want to always have a project, a collaboration and a reason to get up in the morning. When I realized this about myself, this actually changed my entire mindset because I realized that if this is my ultimate goal, then having a long “to-do” list of things I want to learn and accomplish is right in line with my purpose. And it made me realize that I actually want that “to-do” list to take its time being accomplished. Some people are always trying to get to the end of their lists, but I always want to have more to add to it so my life is fulfilling until the end.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am an artist, illustrator, surface pattern designer living in the Pacific Northwest. I was a graphic designer for large corporations, universities and small businesses all over the country for 15 years before I became a stay at home mom and the pandemic closed everything down for two years. During that time, I turned to my art in a way that I never had while working for big corporations. I turned to it for my mental health and for a source of income that I could generate from home with my family life as my priority. I began to explore what art looked like coming from my own hands for my own expression instead of always creating for a client and their visions. I spent months discovering my own artistic voice, style and way of creating. I started to dive deeply into the worlds of other inspiring female artists and realized that it was possible to build a stable business around my art. This is something that I had been told my whole life wasn’t possible.
Since 2020, my art business has grown and diversified. I began by licensing my art with a company called Cotton and Steel Fabric. They manufacture and screen print very high quality cotton and canvas fabric by the yard and then distribute it to boutique brick and mortar sewing shops as well as online retailers globally. I’ve created 7 collections that are all inspired by my outdoor lifestyle here in Oregon. I draw on the gritty, dry botanicals and the ashy colors of the high desert landscape for my patterns and I tell stories of some of my favorite lakes, rivers, trails and mountains through the collections.
I also license my artwork on children’s clothing, home decor, outdoor gear, cloth diapers and stationary.
I’m a huge believer that artists must maintain multiple revenue streams and diversify their income so that when one stream is slow, the income stays consistent. For this reason, I started painting fine art pieces that I sell on my own from my website and in wholesale shops. I paint the original black and white paintings, launch them as a limited edition collection and then I make fine art prints from them that are available in both color and black and white. I have a fantastic local printer who can create my art prints on demand and ship them for me so I am not responsible for holding a ton of inventory or shipping them myself.
I have big dreams of licensing my art with many more companies. I would love to work with a wallpaper company and create product collections for large retail stores in the future.
One thing I am also passionate about is mentoring other artists so they can realize their full potential as well. We are all better together and we don’t need to compete because we all have unique perspective to share with the world. I help other artists navigate the industry in a way that works for them and also gain confidence in their ability to connect with their audiences via brand photography and story telling.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My experience as a professional graphic designer gave me the deep understanding that the storytelling and marketing is just as important as the artwork itself. Many artists want to shy away from that aspect but if we don’t create a reason for our audiences to love our work and connect to it, they just won’t, it’s that simple. I learned this by working with big brands who have very clear audiences and lifestyle stories they embody.
No matter how boring or common we think our stories are, they are unique and interesting to someone. We just have to learn to share our inspirations and our perspective in a way that captivates and connects and builds trust through consistently showing up and being vulnerable. I think there’s a way to be purposefully vulnerable in a way that you personally feel comfortable, everyone’s comfort level is different. People can see right through insincerity and they crave authenticity. We don’t have to be perfect but we do have to give people a reason to keep coming back. I like to combine polished professional content with more raw and imperfect content in order to create a more whole/complete story.
One thing that has helped me immensely over the past 5 years is being in community with other artists, whether online or in my local community. Sharing openly and giving to people in a non-competitive way is very important to me. Building true friendships is the best way to build a business. The more people you know and help, the more people will help you back and root for your success. Whenever I come up against someone who is overly competitive and nervous of sharing resources it feels unnecessarily limiting and exclusive. Leave the competition and negativity to other industries, the art industry should be about inclusivity and lifting others up. That’s the beauty of it all.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am always looking for companies to collaborate with. Genuine companies who value human made artwork and creativity. I want to work with people who love storytelling. People or companies who want to make the world a more inclusive, colorful, artistic place. I want create high quality products that enhance our lives and make people feel more expressive and unique.
Some projects I’d love to work on that are on my “bucket list” so to say are wallpaper, murals, rugs, clothing, outdoor gear, stationary, home goods, textiles, puzzles, books. I’m up for any challenge and open to things I haven’t even thought of yet!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ashcascade.com
- Instagram: @ash_cascade_design
- Facebook: @ash_cascade_design
- Other: faire.com/direct/ashcascadedesign https://www.cottonandsteelfabrics.com/ash-cascade-c-1_875.html
Image Credits
Julia Duke Photo Maddie Phillips Photography
