2022 Creative Review - Olga Nicolas

The last time I shared a creative review on my blog, I said I would do one every six months… That was a year and a half ago!

And yet, taking time to reflect on the past year can be incredibly valuable. It allows us to step back and appreciate what has been accomplished, to recognize the progress we have made, and to see how our work has evolved. It also helps clarify what we would like to achieve in the months ahead.

Looking back on the past year also gives me the opportunity to acknowledge my achievements:

In 2022, I published two tutorials: Stylish Pens and Reversible Earrings. That may not sound particularly impressive, but for me it represents a significant accomplishment, especially considering that my previous tutorial dated back to November 2020. Each tutorial requires about a month of work: developing the structure, creating samples, filming, recording voice explanations, editing the video, hosting it online, and producing the PDF that accompanies the tutorial. It is a substantial undertaking that has pushed me to develop skills in many different areas. It is incredibly rewarding, but also very time-consuming.

I reorganized my studio and created a dedicated space to welcome people who would like to learn through private lessons and individual workshops.

I also developed two individual training programs: a two-day workshop introducing metalworking techniques for creative jewelry making, and a half-day session dedicated to exploring how laser cutting can be used to create truly unique jewelry pieces.

I confirmed through my work my desire to create multi-material jewelry, primarily combining polymer clay with wood and metal.

The purpose of this creative review is also to set goals for the year ahead:

Publish another tutorial. I am thinking about revisiting the Pebble Necklace tutorial, but I would like to further develop both its shape and its surface techniques. For that, I need to give my ideas a little more time to mature.
Expand the range of workshops offered in my studio. Here too, I already have several ideas, but they still need time to take shape and become more refined.
Share more regularly on social media. When I counted the number of posts I had published this year, I was surprised to discover that I had actually posted less than in 2020, even though I felt I had shared much more. There is definitely room for improvement.
Offer an external workshop focused primarily on surface techniques. The fact that I now offer workshops in my own studio does not mean I have given up on group workshops. I sincerely hope to continue having the opportunity to lead those weekends filled with creativity, learning, and shared experiences.
Continue creating one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces by following my instincts and my desires, while learning to let go of the many suggestions and recommendations I receive about the “best” way to grow my business or the “surest” way to sell jewelry.

I may come back to this last point in a future blog post: How do you deal with advice from others about the best way to make a living as a jewelry designer? Last year, I realized that these comments and suggestions were irritating me far more than they used to, and I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on why they affected me so strongly.