Taaryn Brench
Published 8th March 2021
INTRODUCTION
Taaryn Brench is an independent designer and illustrator based in Leeds. Her work is characterised by a love of colour, pattern and playfulness which is applied to advertising, editorial, publishing and surface pattern design projects.
Working from her home studio, Taaryn splits her time between commercial clients and on her own retail brand. Analogue methods and happy accidents are at the core of her process. She enjoys painting and mark making with gouache, ink and crayons.
This interview took place over video call in January 2021.
There’s definitely a floral theme running through your shop! Which stems (😉) from your love of gardening, right? Do you think it’s important that we have hobbies outside of our creative discipline?
Oh definitely! When you widen your interests and influences outside of your immediate creative discipline, you’ll have more reference material in your brain for idea generation. Also, I don’t really buy into that whole ‘live and breathe design’ mantra. I love my job and the work I get to do, but I never want it to be my whole life. Working for myself, I need work life boundaries otherwise it’s a fast track to getting burnt out.
“I don’t really buy into that whole ‘live and breathe design’ mantra.”
© Taaryn Brench
Why did you decide to retrain as a graphic designer and go down the apprenticeship route?
I was in my mid-20s and pretty directionless at the time. I’d just bounce from job to job and I had starting progressing in account handling and marketing roles that I just wasn’t interested in. I had a few friends who were designers and it always looked so much more interesting than what I was doing!
After your late teens / early 20s, educational opportunities are thin on the ground. I couldn’t go back to university because I’d already wasted most of my funding on half a law degree. I went to a college open day and was pretty keen on doing a part-time course. However, I was promoted at the same time and my boss made it clear it wasn’t compatible with part-time hours so I shelved the idea. About six months later, I had an interview for an admin job at an educational publisher, I think they’d asked me something like “what would be your dream job?” and I said I’d love to be a graphic designer. The interviewers just looked at each other and told me they did graphic design apprenticeships.
Doing an apprenticeship seemed to be the only viable route to getting in design. I didn’t have to pay anything upfront and I needed to still earn money to pay the bills.
How did you find your apprenticeship and what are your tips for making the most out of them?
It was a mixed bag to be honest. The job itself was more admin based, the pay was awful and less than minimum wage despite doing an actual legit job and the workplace was pretty suffocating. I remember walking home and crying a lot of the time because I felt like I’d made a massive mistake but I just had to grit my teeth and get through it until I got my qualification. I really enjoyed the class time, however, it really wasn’t in-depth enough. But it gave me over a year’s experience on my CV which helped me get a job elsewhere after my apprenticeship had finished.
I’d be really cautious about going for a design apprenticeship. There’s a lot of dodgy providers out there and companies that want to exploit cheap labour so I’d recommend doing your research about the qualification, what you’ll be learning and the company you’ll be working for. But if you’re young, it can be a great alternative to going to college and you can use it to get on to a university course if you wanted to.
© Taaryn Brench - Branding illustrations for Crumb
You recently opened up in a Creative Boom interview about the challenges you overcame with your mental health. Do you have any advice for anyone who’s struggling at the moment?
If you are struggling, please speak to someone, maybe a friend or a family member. I know it might sound scary but attitudes towards mental health have come a long way. I’d recommend keeping a diary and writing down how you’re feeling. For me, taking this log of my feelings made it easier to speak to a GP. Don’t put it off because of coronavirus, GPs are still doing appointments. There’s also mental health charities running phone and web chat services.
(Resources: Mind, CALM, Samaritans, Rethink)
Having worked across multiple disciplines in your career so far, what’s your opinion on generalising vs. specialising?
Specialising works really well for some people. For me though, I get bored easily, I crave variety. I like how my days can be wildly different, it keeps me on my toes! In the last year, my projects and enquiries have spanned editorial illustration, book design, animation, video content, art directing, surface pattern licensing, on top of opening my shop and creating physical products. If I were doing the same kind of projects every day, it would feel repetitive and I know I’d lose enthusiasm.
“I get bored easily, I crave variety. I like how my days can be wildly different, it keeps me on my toes!”
© Taaryn Brench - Illustrated map for They Draw and Travel.
How does it feel when you see your artwork in people’s homes? Or wearing your products out and about?
I absolutely love it! It’s lovely to know that people think your art is worth a place in their homes.
You’re doing an amazing job of opening up the conversation surrounding diversity in our industry & supporting creatives of colour. What practical steps do you think we can all take, to make an impact?
I want to see studios, events/conferences and universities being honest and open about the make up of their staff, guest lecturers and speakers, to publicly address what they are doing to make their space fairer and inclusive for all and make a plan so they can be held accountable. I want to see people use their privilege to help, nurture and move aside for people from marginalised groups. And just listen to people. If someone tells you what you’re doing is potentially problematic then listen, learn, admit you got it wrong and work to make it right.
“If someone tells you what you’re doing is potentially problematic then listen, learn, admit you got it wrong and work to make it right.”
© Taaryn Brench - Drip for Drip for Octobeer
Who are the creatives within the South Asian community that you admire most?
I really admire Jaheed Hussain. I first came across him when he wrote an article in 2018 for Intern and I was floored when I read that as he was coming into his third year of university, there’d been no teaching, visting lecture or industry talk by a creative of colour. So Jaheed started his own platform called Fuse to highlight and give a voice to creatives of colours. It’s now grown beyond him and there are chapters in different cities which is bloody amazing!
We know you’re a big fan of Twitter! But what’s the best way to use the platform in your opinion? And how would you sell it to anyone who can’t quite get their head around it?
I use Twitter as a way to grow my network. Just talk to people and get involved in discussions! Don’t try to be salesy or promote yourself aggressively, there’s nothing worse than a profile that only has “hire me” tweets, people get turned off by desperation. Focus on organic and authentic interaction with your peers and people in the industry. Share, comment and like other people’s work and you’ll find they’ll usually do the same for you too.
© Taaryn Brench - Daisy Packaging & Branding
What’s your proudest moment from the last 12 months?
It’s been tough trying to keep my business going through a pandemic, but I landed my biggest project to date and quit my part-time job all at the start of this year which made me immensely proud!
Keep up the amazing work Taaryn! 👏👏👏
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If you’d like to reach out to Taaryn, drop her an email on: hello@taaryn.com
