A studio visit with young creative, Sass Cocker who designs and produces the much loved line of stationery goods under the banner of Ask Alice. Her notebooks, cards and tags are all a wonderful mix of her creative imagination, her stubborn attention to detail and her love for useful products. We visited her at her small South Yarra space which she shares with her dog and her boyfriend.
What is Ask Alice?
Ask Alice is a range of paper stationery designed by me! I have it made here in Melbourne and it's sold in lovely shops all around Australia, and just recently in Spain and the US!
How would you sum up your style and design?
Quite simple, I guess and playful.
What are your priorities when it comes to your business and creative life?
From the business side of things I have 4 main priorities. I refer to these as my rules and often read over them to make sure I am staying true...
1. Be sure that Ask Alice doesn't add to our planets environmental problems
2. Manufacture locally under fair working conditions
3. Design with intuition and attention to detail
4. Make Ask Alice products affordable and as rad as possible
From the creative side of things my main priority is to try and have a nice balance of inspiration and productivity. I sometimes work too much without taking a minute to look around at all the creative greatness scattered around Melbourne. Other times I spend too much time digging around on the internet looking at pretty pictures, marking pages in magazines, reading lyrics and baking cupcakes. A good balance is the goal!
01. SKETCHBOOK: Why do you think that notebooks and sketchbooks will survive in the face of hi-tech competition?
Because there is nothing like sitting down and getting lost in your sketchbook. I think a sketch book or a notebook is a much more personal and romantic representation of someone's imagination than their computer. I like that I can carry my trusty little book everywhere with me and scribble in it the second a though pops into my head. Tearing out a page,scrunching it and throwing it away is so much more satisfying than dragging a file to the trash!
02. FOUND OBJECT: Wow, did you give this chap a name? Has he brought you luck?
I love this one! I found him on a river bank on the outskirts of Tokyo as the sun was rising... he is so rad. I never named him, I never thought to give him a name! I reckon he has brought me good luck though. I stopped drinking alcohol while I was living in Japan and this little guy is a drunk salary man who I found in Tokyo, face down in the dirt! He is like my AA chip and he's seen me through almost 3 years without the hard stuff!
03. CHILDHOOD OBJECT: What do you think of when you hold Mister Hippo? What does he inspire?
I think of me, Nick and Aimee (my brother and sister) as kids all in the bath together. I remember us jumping in and out of the bath breaking all the bath time rules and flooding the bathroom, screaming and laughing while Mr Hippo sat quietly on the bottom of the bath tub. I guess he inspires me to stay true to the kid that I once was.
04. PIN UP BOARD / WALL: What are you favourite things from your wall installation? Where have you found these things?
The wall in front of my desk changes on a weekly basis. Things fall down, new things get stuck on but there is one thing that always remains and that's my little 1950's japanese xylophone. That little fella is always featured somewhere on my wall. I picked him up at Camberwell Markets.
05: RECOMMENDED WATCHING: Your taste in films is a mixture of cute and violent. What does this say about your outlook?
Hmm. Good question. I guess I have a rather bleak outlook on what the future holds for mankind. It scares me but at the same time fascinates me. Akira for example is a movie I love to watch but then have nightmares for months (no joke). I watch movies so I can go somewhere far away from my everyday life. Cute movies like Totoro are a nice place to go.
06. RECOMMENDED LISTENING: What's on your summer playlist?
There is a tape because I picked up an excellent tape player from Camberwell Markets and there's nothing like riding your bike with your tape player hanging off the handlebars. This Summer my pink ghetto blaster will be blasting "Police and Thieves". We also have an all time favourite album of mine - Bizarre Ride to the Pharcyde. We have a couple of mixed tapes compiled by friends of mine, especially for me. "Dub Something Special" and the "Poo Platter Mix". There's 2 Lullatone albums because I am a Lullatone fan all the way and then we have "Dawning of a New Era - The Roots of Skinhead Reggae" which was the first present my lovely boyfriend ever gave me. It reminds me of the summer before last when we first started hanging out.
07. FOOD: Favourite Melbourne icecream?
I love Golden Gaytimes! They are my number 1 ice cream. I miss them when I am away from Australia. I also love Bubble-O-Bills and White Magnums. If I go to a gelati shop then I get a single scoop of hazelnut ice cream on a waffle cone.
08. TOOLS OF THE TRADE: What makes a good pair of scissors?
I like it when scissors come to a really sharp point. My favourite pair are my grandma's pinking sheers. They are really old but still super sharp and they have a history. I like finding old scissors at the Markets and wondering where they've been. New scissors can be good too -I bought an excellent pair of little black scissors from the craft section at Big W the other night. They were only $8 and they are for scrap booking so they are little and precise. Picking the right pair of scissors for the job makes all the difference!
09. MESS: How do you deal with chaos and organisation in your studio?
Not very well. I share my space with my boyfriend Charley, our dog, our bed, all our clothes, 2 desks, bookshelves and lots of boxes of stuff. I deal with the chaos by doing an hour of house hunting on the internet each morning. We need to move!!
10. PET: Does your dog go everywhere with you? How helpful is he in the studio?
Little Dee would like to come everywhere with us but he is a bit of a sook and doesn't like hot days or cold days either. In winter, on the really cold days he can wear his little jumper so he is ok, but in summer he likes to lie on the cold kitchen floor instead of braving the hot pavement. He is very helpful in the studio. In winter he likes to lie on my feet and keep the warm. In summer likes to hunt flies. He seems to believe it's his duty to rid my studio of bugs. He has come close to breaking glass doors trying to catch flies, but no serious damage as yet. We love our little doggy!
What are your recommendations to young creatives aiming to set up their own studio?
My fun recommendation is to adopt a dog from your local animal shelter- best company ever!
My boring recommendation is to do a 10 minute tidy up at the end of each day. It really helps.
Oh and a little reminder - take breaks! It's so easy to forget to take breaks when you are working away in your studio.
The same recommendations apply to oldies aiming to set up their own studio too. Go for it granny!
What are your next big projects?
I am very excited because I have recently had a couple of different companies who I admire, approach me and ask me to do some exclusive designs for them. This will keep me busy! I also want to make some cushions.