We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Tieu recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michelle, thank you so much for agreeing to open up about a sensitive and personal topic like being fired or laid-off. Unfortunately, there has been a rise in layoffs recently and so your insight and experience with overcoming being let go is relevant to so many in the community.
All I have ever done at a corporate job is design. Being creative is my life and I love it. However, being a motion graphics designer meant most of my time is spent in the digital space. After a few years of this, I started to miss drawing—specially typography. I started off as a lettering artist and then taught myself calligraphy. Calligraphy gave me the perfect balance between designing while still having a more tactile form of art. During the height of Covid, I was the first on my design team to be let go and I was furious. I had seniority over other designers on the team and didn’t know why I was chosen. And being the only Asian on the team, did make me question a lot about why I was picked. From that rage, grew this mindset of, “fuck you, if you aren’t going to let me have my job I’ll create my own job.” And from there, Calligraphy by Michelle T was created. Being let go from that job was really the best thing that happened to me. I didn’t realize how demanding it felt—consistently working 10-13 hour days—until I no longer had to show up. It gave me time to not only enjoy life but also build my business, something that I had dreamed of doing for years.
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 start my calligraphy business with being focused on weddings: stationery, signage, calligraphy needs. Then I got asked to do calligraphy on site for brand events and it really opened up my mind on where I can take my calligraphy skills. My goal is to combine those two and start bringing live calligraphy services to weddings. It just makes sense since I’m already in the wedding space and have the relationships with wedding vendors. Party favors are becoming less popular but having a live calligrapher definitely the direction to provide guests an experience and a party favor. My favorite wedding party favor is engraving shot glasses. I’m finding that couples are more intentional with what they include in their special day and giving guests a memorable experience is a priority.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities that I would say were impactful for my journey are very much being a determined person, learning to work in group settings, and of course, having design skills. I have always been the type to really strive for what I want. After graduating from design school, I worked in the creative space and learned how to work with other designers, editors, copywriters, etc. I think having that experience really helped me learn to communicate with people, have the ability to present my work to clients, and this translates great with wedding planning. And obviously, my design background and love for typography made it a bit easier to enter the stationery space and be confident in my work. My advice for folks early in their journey is to just start. You don’t need to be perfect at you art to start sharing or selling it. I look back at my first calligraphy piece from 10 years ago and it makes me cringe—sometimes I even think my work from 5 years ago is terrible. Just start, you’ll learn and get better along the way.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
I still remember one of my favorite past couple who said that they wanted to give me complete creative control over their stationery because they trusted me. I think about that often and think it is one of the best compliments. The best wedding clients are the ones who have a general idea on what they want but can’t exactly pin point it. After working with so many couples, I’ve learn the right questions to ask to get more detailed answers on what they might love for their invitations. Also, I would love to work with more couples who are looking to have vibrant, bold colors in their wedding.
Contact Info:
- Website: calligraphybymichellet.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/calligraphybymichellet
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calligraphybymichellet?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-tieu-7b190875?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Other: Pinterest: https://pin.it/7xiuvndcT Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@calligraphybymichellet?_t=8n6PPwLagRy&_r=1
Image Credits
Peterson Design and Photo Pattengale Photo Erica Streelman
