We are now Hamaka Creativity Lab!
The purpose of this blogpost is to announce that I'm rebranding my business from Alieska Robles Creative Studio to Hamaka! Yay! Building my portfolio as a freelance photographer has been an interesting decade-long journey, and I've come to a point where I'd like to stop building up my name and focus on building an independent brand with my life partner, Carl Matthes.
The rebranding was motivated by the need to engage in more meaningful projects and collaborate with other creative minds. Working alone has many benefits, but nothing beats good old brainstorming sessions with colleagues. I'm hoping Hamaka would allow us to explore new creative avenues, strengthen our capabilities, and provide more room for experimentation and personal growth. In all honesty, we both needed a new beginning, even if it is just six new letters and a logo!
My current web domains alieskarobles.com and forestcitycookbook.com will stay active until it expires in 2021, but will now re-direct to our new “creativity lab” website hamakamakes.com. Our email will be hamakamakes@gmail.com for now.
Collabs
We'll be taking a step back from social media to focus on the newsletter, emails, phone calls and in-person meetings (as much as Covid allows). Carl Matthes will now manage most administrative activities (quotes, invoices, meetings, partnerships and bookings). Together, we are reorganizing and updating our current directory to reach out to people within our community first!
If you have a dream print project in mind, have a product or service you want us to know about, or want to introduce us to some talented people, please reach out! We're currently looking for freelance writers, editors and illustrators!!!
Projects
Our current business offerings will slightly change, too! We'll follow the "less is more" motto and aim to take less isolated photography or design projects, to dedicate all our energy to cohesive, all-inclusive print projects. Our dream publications will be cookbooks, art books, tourism and food guides, product catalogues, company brochures, calendars, and makers' journals–projects that would stand the test of time and preserve makers' legacies.
We'll also be setting aside some time in our schedule for new passion projects for 2021, some related to visual arts and some entirely unrelated. Hurray for "blank pages!"
Final thoughts
The Covid downtime allowed us to reflect on our six years of living in Canada and rethink our priorities. Chasing a paycheque puts food on the table, but building your legacy feeds your soul! We tried to adapt to the North American way of doing business and ended up totally drained and creatively lost. We grew up watching people "work to live" instead of "living to work," so it's time to go back to our South American roots!
It doesn't mean that we won't work as hard; it means that we'll learn when to hold back and how to live in synchrony with our goals and inner rhythms! Covid also gave us the magical opportunity to rest and recharge our batteries! Now it's time to bring all that energy and creativity to print! Like Matt Batterson once said, "You're always one decision away from a totally different life." We're curious to see where this one goes!
Our blog will be re-activated here: Chronicles with posts about publishing, photography, craftsmanship and client work! And the newsletters will be focused on sharing our Hamaka news and things that inspire us! There are still a few items left in our prop shop too!
If you don't want to receive more emails from us, you can unsubscribe at the end of this email. If you choose to stay, THANK YOU for sticking around and for your reading time!
We hope you're all staying safe and enjoying the little blessings in your life! Cheers to new beginnings!