My friend and wildly successful design blogger Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge released a new book this week titled “In The Company of Women.” It is the book that I wish I had as creative dreamer growing up in the Bronx.
I loved everything about design as long as I could remember. However I didn’t know very much about design careers or that my daily interactions with design like photos and lettering on cereal boxes, my toys, clothes or graphics seen on tv came from creative professions. Who knew that there were people who’s very job was to create all of the beauty that we are surrounded by daily? I was a design major and have gone through my share of design books and this book and its beauty made my eyes well up, it is me. I grew up loving fashion, design and travel. However all I knew was what I saw in fashion mags and in Essence which was sparse and never really showed what I was looking for. I had no idea that so many creative careers existed.
Grace asks several women in the book and on her book tour panels when they first discovered design or that they wanted to be creatives. This triggered such a well of emotion because I can remember the very moment. I was in about 9th grade and I saw the movie “Single White Female” on tv so it had to be a year or two after it came out in the movies. It was the scene where Bridget Fonda is at her office and showing her boss revisions for a design. She was on the computer manipulating colors and shapes on a CAD sketch and I was in awe. I knew I wanted to create designs and patterns on a computer. I didn’t know what it was called or how I would do it I just knew that I had to find out how to do it. Fast forward to college I was a computer engineer major who later decided to focus on computer surface design. I made it. I’ve done a lot of things since then however I know that this book would have brought me so much joy and inspiration had it been around when I was a teen.
In The Company of Women is a beautiful book spotlighting creative women from nearly every creative background. Painters, designers, writers, photographers, performers, ceramicists, architects and the list goes on share their inspiration, dreams, creative spaces and words of e
ncouragement. The book is as diverse in who it spotlights including women of color, differently abled and women from the LGBT community as the careers represented. If you are a creative, a young or mature woman considering a creative career, business owner or otherwise you will see yourself in the myriad of women in the book.
I am taking my time with the book because I don’t want to finish discovering all of these amazing women some of whom I know personally. A few pages a day is all I will indulge in however I do know this will be a staple that I will refer to for years to come to keep my cup filled with inspiration. This book is a must have, if you cannot run out this moment and purchase it put it on your birthday, Christmas, or your how to get out of the doghouse list so that you are sure to have a copy of your own.
This book, a glass of wine and Solange helped me jumpstart my week and will be how I end my day this evening.
Featured image photo credit: Design*Sponge
