Be Kind

Dress: c/o Chadwick's; Heels: Michael Kors

*This dress is my new favorite - ultra comfy and fit perfectly true to size (if you're between sizes, size down, it's stretchy!). I've worn it to work, to a birthday and I'm keeping it on the spring garden wedding docket. Only $59.99.

The other day, I got a short email from a client about some paper goods she'd received in the mail from me. She'd needed a few corrections. In the same day, I got an email from a bride who'd just received her materials and needed a minor correction on a couple of her 150 place cards. The latter bride's email was warm and kind, despite her destination wedding rapidly approaching and her flight to Europe taking off in the next two days. She thanked me for everything, complimented the work, and let me know what needed fixing. The former client was cold, to the point, and did not mention anything about the full set of materials she'd received.

Working in a space where you're providing a commissioned piece of art (as I'd like to think calligraphy is), can be strange. You're working for a client, developing materials to fit their standards, and yet the work is still something close to the heart. Calligraphy takes extensive time and precision and is made up of a style a calligrapher has learned and honed over years. Clients, in a similar vein, are working on something close to their heart - a big event or wedding - and they want the work to be evocative of their style as well. It creates an odd relationship - of both artist and client attempting to meld a vision together. And it always works best when both client and calligrapher trust each other.

Whenever I work with someone that's providing me with a good or service - from a retail associate, to a barista, to a professional contact at my day job - I treat them with kindness. They're providing me with something I need, they're attempting to do their job the best they possibly can, and in a long day full of people interactions, most people are not very kind. When working with a creative professional, I take even more care. From a photographer to a tattoo artist, creatives throw their lives into their work. It is, after all, a reflection of the deepest parts of themselves. To be unkind, cold, or unforgiving when you are dealing with someone's art can be painful to the person providing you with that service or good.

There will, unfortunately, always be unsatisfied clients, but I think that there is always space, through dissatisfaction or upset or turmoil, to be kind. It helps to think, before firing off a disgruntled message, that there's always someone behind a screen (with real feelings!) reading what you wrote.