Artist Interview: Cat Seto

**Cat Seto:**

**On the Rewards of Patience**

by Liên Johnson

As a woman who has long relegated her artistic pursuits to after-thoughts to the normal grind of everyday life, I am on a mission to learn more about the various experiences and practices of other artists in order to take my own creative journey to the next level. We humans are all so incredibly unique: in our histories, paths, habits, ways of seeing, learning, and connecting. It is important for us to honor our individuality and continually learn so that we might discover what speaks to our own spirits.

In this PHNX Artist Interview Series, I aim to uncover what methods and hard-won wisdom of other artists might speak to my own creative journey in order to further advance my artistic life. In doing so I hope to provide insight into how you can do the same. Cat Seto is the first artist in this investigation.

Cat has what we want: brains, effortless charm and style, creative outlet and expression, a thriving career following her passions, and people to share this beautiful life with. Not only is she the owner and Creative Director of Ferme à Paper (her stationery store and studio in San Francisco) as well as an accomplished artist and illustrator, but she is also an entrepreneur, author, advocate, maker, and mother. Whether it’s her drive to create, her effort to give voice to the disadvantaged, or her warm, easy spirit, there’s something about Cat with which we can all identify.

It’s been a long and challenging road to get to this moment in time, but one that has - step by step - rewarded her perseverance. I recently sat down with her at her shop in San Francisco to discuss her creative journey, challenges she’s faced as a woman and minority, and what she’s learned along the way.

On how she got to be where she is today and her right place/right time lucky break

I started my business in stationery when I had writer's block. It was a horrible, horrible writer's block. I was supposed to be on a grant to write a novel, but it just wasn't coming. So I would while away the wee hours of the night crafting finger puppets--like wool finger puppets, hundreds of monkeys and elephants. It was an insane time where I just didn't know what to do with myself.

After hundreds of them were left in a drawer, I decided I needed to turn it into something, anything! I began to craft and draw and envision them on storybooks and products. Finally, it hit me that I could try illustrating them. I looked up a few articles about women who were designing and doing stationery. I went to New York, and I debuted the products. Anthropologie happened to be my first client, which was a shock at the time because I didn't imagine that they would be interested. That started the business overnight. I had to step it up and understand how to deliver on a large scale. It began in my second bedroom. I started to create boxes and tried to understand this business that was very, very new to me.

My takeaway - Be open. Even if you try your best to lay out your path and envision your professional or artistic life, you never know what obstacles will pop up and cause you to take another route. The only thing that is certain is that you will face obstacles and detour from your planned route. Also, it’s okay to have a number of creative outlets, you don’t have to stick to just one if you don’t want to, because one might inform another, and another!

On how her creative practice has evolved over time and her fears have been allayed

My creative practice used to be frenetic-- very, very obsessed in a way that was built upon a young fear for things: "Am I going to make it? Am I going to be able to make a living? Am I going to be able to make deadlines?" A lot of it was fueled by trepidation about what my expectations were in my business and my industry.

Over time I came to see that the paper industry is great. Everyone's friendly. I've got amazing colleagues, and I've sort of eased into the routine and drill. So now I really do have more space to try to find authentic experiences for myself to design and create.

My takeaway - We all have anxieties, even people who are successful in their field, and many of our anxieties are probably the same as other people’s anxieties. Allow yourself to take a step back and see that our shared humanity propels many of our worries and maybe that will help ease your fears.

She’s just like the rest of us

I love ice cream, so sometimes it's just motivating myself over deadlines to get myself to the next ice cream shop so I can try the next great flavor. Then my creative juices get going.

After I have ice cream and it's late at night, when I'm all by myself and no one's awake, I've got my laptop, my sketchbook, my design pencils, and some good books. That's really when I feel like I can design and draw and be myself.

My takeaway - We are all unique in our methods and modalities. Some people are morning birds, others are night owls. Some people work better around the busyness of others, others do not. Some people’s creative juices get lubricated by ice cream, others require margaritas… Honor that you learn, work, and create differently than other people and if what you are doing is not working, then try to figure out another way of working and creating.

On being a woman and a minority entrepreneur

I consider myself a woman and a minority, and I certainly have met many, many challenges personally and professionally as such.

I'm very lucky to be in an industry dominated by females, and I love that. I love my colleagues, but we are not immune to discriminations that happen on an everyday basis to women, women entrepreneurs, women business owners, and women creatives. That is always at the forefront, and it inspires me in my design.

At Ferme à Papier, we have collections where we donate portions of proceeds to women's advocacy groups, specifically Saving Faces and the We the Women campaign. My designs continue to speak to the inspiration of women around me.

My takeaway - Women face adversity even in fields dominated by women, because women do not experience equality in this country or throughout the world - socially, economically, legally, professionally… This is not something I always believed. I thought our mothers’ generation had won that fight and that I could enjoy the fruits of their labors. I was so wrong. It is very important for us to educate ourselves on the challenges faced by women and minorities and work to educate others about their challenges in order to find ways of supporting them and erasing these obstacles.

On giving back

We started Year of the Woman as a collection within the Ferme à Papier brand that donates portions of proceeds to women's advocacy groups. It started off with me illustrating naked women on tigers, because who doesn't love a naked woman on a tiger?

The campaign donates back to two women's advocacy groups that were started here in San Francisco and that I'm a part of: Saving Faces and the We the Women campaign. Those are two passion projects that serve to advocate for women.

At Saving Faces, we try to bring about change locally through events, programs, or artwork to women who have been under threat of violence, domination, domestic abuse--all forms of control--basically. We do this through creative forces, where you don't have to be out there advocating or outing your story right away. You can find safety through creativity. You can just sit down with a group of women and draw. You can come to a pop-up and eat dinner and break bread. It's a new way of expressing and sharing with women on all sorts of levels. You don't have to speak out and say, "I've been hurt. I need to come out now."

We the Women is a national visual campaign. We put out visual campaigns for women's advocacy through social media and other venues. I'm really excited because the women on board are just incredible. Lisa Congdon is my partner. She's a phenomenal illustrator / author extraordinaire. We also have Sonia Melara, who is amazing. She was a police commissioner for San Francisco, started La Cocina (a business incubator for low income women) and started the first women's shelter (for survivors of domestic violence) in California.

My takeaway - I’m not the only one who loves a naked woman on a tiger! But seriously, the concept of finding safety in creativity is the real gold nugget here. There is no wrong in this very personal expression of ourselves.

On channeling the hardest year of her life into something healing

I went through a really traumatic year-- probably one of the worst years of my life-- when my mother passed away while I was pregnant with my son. I had a business to run, I was mourning my mother, and I was not allowing myself to get emotional because I was afraid for the safety of my son in my belly. That year taught me a lot about believing and being strong and staying alive through belief and perseverance.

After he was born, I went through a traumatic birth injury, probably due to stress. When I came out of it, I wanted to crawl under a rock but decided I would instead start a creative moms blog. I called it Mom, Inc. Daily. It was later turned into a book. It was through that experience-- being able to go through something that was really traumatizing and sharing it with the community, leaning on other women, who in turn gave me support in response-- that it became a full circle moment. Meg Ilasco coauthored the book with me, and we dedicated the book to our mothers. That was one of the most difficult, and also one of the most rewarding, years of my life.

My takeaway - Our personal and professional lives are inextricably linked, whether we want to acknowledge that or not, and, with support, we can channel even deep pain and trauma into our art and into something healing.

On her mark in the world

Whether it's a big or small creative entity, what I want to demonstrate through my career is creative freedom, a path that allows me to constantly learn and evolve. Creativity and art have always been something that has allowed me to dream big and be free.

I hope that the things I create and share with people bring about some sort of inspiration-- perhaps about an artist who is creatively free and living out some of her visions.

My takeaway - The demonstration of supporting radical freedom through creative freedom and expression sends a message, and the more people participating in relaying this message, the better.

Her advice for young creatives

My advice for young creatives is that perseverance and patience is the biggest part of staying in the game, and being humble is exceptionally important in today's world.

I was lucky to have mentors who taught me to wait until I felt something was authentic and do what I needed to do to in order to support myself, to support my dream, but to never really push that button if it didn't feel completely right.

There were a lot of impulses when I was young. When I speak about trepidation --I felt it all. I felt so much pressure to make it, to prove myself. But I was very lucky that I had mentors who taught me to just listen to the other part of you that feels whether or not something is right or not, and that what you bring into the world should be authentic. It should be new to you and fresh and exciting, and if it isn't, then maybe it's something for you to examine or wait on a little bit longer. The things that I have waited on have rewarded me far more than when I've ever tried to rush anything.

My takeaway - Being authentic, humble, and persistent are the keys to longevity, trust, and success in the creative field.

This article was also published on Medium.

*Cat is the author/illustrator of Impressions of Paris (Harper Collins) and coauthor of Mom, Inc. (Chronicle Books).
**Cat’s interview has been edited for clarity, flow, and length.

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