I’m officially a fan of Auckland’s new creative symposium We Can Create. Symposium is a pretty fancy word for conference. But conference isn’t the right word for my last 2 days at Aotea Centre.

Hosted by Te Radar, who has hosted many Semi-Permanent events over the years. Te Radar always gives great anecdotes that aren’t particularly relevant, but always educational, entertaining and New Zealand inspired.

Here are some photos I took as well as stuff I learned from each of the speakers.

I was in great spirits after the first 2 speakers. I go gaga over typography and illustration so kiwi typographer Kris Sowersby and New York illustrator Sara Blake just blew me away.

Kris Sowersby

Typography, New Zealand

Who even knew that we had a typography designer here in NZ? I didn’t.

Sara Blake

Illustration, New York

I was amazed that Sara was a freelancer on top of her day job. Freelancing hours being 8pm to 4am. Her thoughts on fucking up and having the freedom to make ugly stuff was inspirational. Especially since her work is so beautiful.

Patrick Reynolds

Photography, New Zealand

I document a lot of stuff with my camera so one thing that Patrick said really resonated with me. Use one image to sum up the idea of the project. I guess it’s like that saying “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Being a strict curator of your own work takes a lot of practice and discipline. I took close to 200 photos at the event and was able to whittle it down to about 50 that I’m posting on this blog, but I bet someone like Patrick could pick just one. I’m not there yet!

Rafaël Rozendaal

Visual Artist, Brazil

There is so much art out there and it is refreshing to meet an artist that is doing something new and unique. Using the internet as his medium, Rafaël’s work is interactive, highly collectable and is exclusive and public at the same time. I found his work really delightful and humorous, but he was quick to point out each time the audience laughed, that the work was not funny.

Morag Myerscough

Environmental design, UK

Morag’s work is so inspirational and really pushed the idea that a designer’s voice shouldn’t speak louder than the clients. A designer has a style, which is a level of sophistication. Morag’s style suggests that in environmental design, fun is more appealing than intellect. Appeal to the public’s inner child first.

Tomas Roope from The Rumpus Room

Hybrid communication, UK

Tomas’s work is inspired by people. The more people the better. You could say that his work is people.