{"id":123729,"date":"2021-04-16T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecreativeindependent.com\/people\/designer-celine-semaan-on-not-wasting-your-skills"},"modified":"2021-04-16T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T07:00:00","slug":"designer-celine-semaan-on-not-wasting-your-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/16\/designer-celine-semaan-on-not-wasting-your-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Designer C\u00e9line Semaan on not wasting your skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your work as co-founder of Slow Factory Foundation<\/a> is at the intersection of human rights and environmental justice. How did you start Slow Factory?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

It started with a URL. It started with [partner and co-founder Colin (Collis Browne) Vernon and I] buying slowfactory.foundation<\/a> because we were working in such a fast-paced industry and we were joking and bought it, as \u201cone day we\u2019ll do something with that.\u201d The idea of slowing down, it felt so simple, but also at the same time, so strangely innovative, like how are we going to slow down if everything is going so fast?<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Years later, I picked up Slow Factory again and said, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m going to start something with that.\u201d I was really fed up with how everything was siloed. You would be working in science and then you wouldn\u2019t be talking to designers, and you would be designing and you wouldn\u2019t be talking to environmentalists. If you\u2019re an environmentalist, you\u2019re definitely not talking to the media, so everything is so fragmented. I wanted to create a space where we could connect the dots between industries and sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Slow Factory started as a lab, as an experimentation, and we started connecting the dots between NASA and fashion. From that point on, we connected the dots between Gaza and fashion, then refugee camps and beauty, identity, dignity, and the fashion industry; environmentalism and fashion; and so on and so forth.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

As we were doing things, we started realizing that we were using fashion as a medium for social and environmental change, so I coined the term \u201cFashion Activism\u201d because it was the action of taking fashion and doing something that\u2019s changing the course of ideas or changing the course of perception. Before 2016, things were very blurry. The public didn\u2019t really understand so much what this is about. After 2016, everybody suddenly became an activist and used fashion as a medium for social or environmental change. I think the work picked up a lot from that point.<\/p>\n\n

What do you do fast and what do you do slow?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I think I\u2019m a pretty fast worker. I multitask like crazy. I am a bit like an octopus, where there are many hands everywhere, so I work fast, I think fast, and I do multiple things at the same time.<\/span> I will be thinking about something and almost writing something in my mind. Then when I get to [actually writing] it, it\u2019s just like spitting it out. I\u2019m multilayered, multitasking, focusing on everything and basically having my eyes 360 and also 360 around the world, thinking about the systems of things. What do I do slowly? I\u2019m also a living contradiction, and so I love, love being lazy and doing nothing at all\u2014which I do very well\u2014and lying down and lounging. Oh my gosh. I invite everyone to lounge.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Have you ever burnt out?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Alhamdulillah, I have not burnt out recently, but I had two back surgeries in 2016, when things started to pick up drastically for me. It was after two children and a lot of working fast-paced in tech, and that required a lot of your time and energy. Long, long days, which I had the energy for, of course, but the two back surgeries back to back in 2016 knocked me down in a very hard way, where I had to relearn how to work, how to use my legs for six months after the surgery. That literally reset everything for me. That\u2019s where people were like, \u201cWell, you have a company called Slow Factory. Why are you going so fast? And I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m not going so fast. I\u2019m actually going so slow. You have no idea how fast it is in my brain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Anyway, it wasn\u2019t a burnout, but it was a reset, a big reset. After that point, alhamdulillah, I did not burn out, because I think that I\u2019m very much built for high energy everything. I have the energy for it, but like I said, I\u2019m a living contradiction and I love resting and laying down and being lazy. I\u2019m very lazy. My team is laughing, meanwhile, in the background. Am I not lazy? It\u2019s a contradiction. I do things very extremely, and in contradiction with one another.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

What do you think about the relationship between survival and creativity?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I would say that, first of all, the only thing I know how to do is exist on survival mode, which I am trying to get out of, and trying to exist on a more grounded, peaceful mode. So basically, I exist on survival mode and it\u2019s tiring. It\u2019s also ignited a lot of ideas inside me, and also has continuously pushed me.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

I\u2019ve been pushed since a very young age to go outside of my boundaries and limits. So that\u2019s something that I am, at the same time, very grateful for and suffering from, because I don\u2019t know where to just sit back. Now in relationship to creativity, that\u2019s where I\u2019m grateful for that survival mode. But I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s such a cool question. It\u2019s definitely a coping mechanism to be able to create while on survival mode, because it\u2019s not given to everyone, that this is the best way to channel the trauma. I would definitely say it\u2019s a coping mechanism.<\/p>\n\n

Considering social and environmental injustices, the landfill, and the climate, what would you say to an artist, designer, or anyone who makes things and puts them into the world and asks themselves, \u201cWhy should I do this? There are so many things already out there.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

There\u2019s too many things already out there, but you must do things because they are coming to you.<\/span> I think the challenge is, why go to the store to buy paper and things\u2014although I love doing that\u2014if we can start with something that already is discarded? Maybe the challenge that we are facing now as we are existing in a time of decline is, \u201cHow do we adapt to this situation? What is the role of a designer or an artist in times of great decline?\u201d And perhaps for us to look at our challenge in a way where, what we\u2019re supposed to be doing is helping the world cope with what\u2019s going on.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

If that\u2019s the case, then how do we best become of service? I think that\u2019s the best way for me to find peace in what it is that I\u2019m doing, because I could also be judging myself or listening too much to the people judging me and saying that I\u2019m too much, or I take up too much space. It\u2019s definitely something I heard a lot in my life, I\u2019m too loud, taking up too much space, and so on. I just feel like, when you are born gifted with anything that was given to you as a skill or a way of looking at the world, or any skill that you discovered eventually, if you decide to waste that, that\u2019s also wasteful. So I would say, how can you reconcile with creating things that are of service to the world so that you don\u2019t waste the gifts that were given to you?<\/span><\/p>\n\n

I\u2019m thinking about death in terms of ways of being, systems in place, our own mortality, ecosystems, the pandemic. I\u2019m also thinking of conversations that include \u201cWhat will X look like in our lifetime?\u201d How do you think about those topics in your world?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The way [my family and I] observe death is from a Judeo-Christian perspective, so, it\u2019s not necessarily how death is, you know, it\u2019s through the layer of our beliefs, and I think that that\u2019s important to observe. I don\u2019t have the answer, but when I observe it through these layers of beliefs, I get scared and I get insecure, and then I hold on to another belief that it\u2019s going to be better out there or whatever. But the more and more I journey into spirituality and environmentalism in parallel\u2014because there\u2019s a lot of relationships between the two for me personally\u2014I wonder, what is this notion of death, and [I wonder] if it\u2019s not a concept introduced to the world by a more cerebral belief and observation.<\/span> When we observe death in nature, it\u2019s regenerative, it does not necessarily end. It starts something else, starts something new. It\u2019s not ending anything. It actually continues life on this planet. The death of, let\u2019s say a plant, creates food for the earth, and then the earth continues to regenerate itself. Similarly with our bodies, and the bodies of the animals, blah, blah, blah.<\/p>\n\n

So basically, on the notion of death, there\u2019s also this linear system that exists, that\u2019s just something that we take for granted, but in fact, this belief is an artificial belief. It\u2019s an artificial thought about death and linear systems. In fact, I think that reality and the way that nature works and even the way that science has been able to expand its knowledge, has adopted a more circular thinking or a more spiral approach, at least to certain notions. I don\u2019t have all the answers and I certainly don\u2019t know.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The internet has a big role in your work, from gathering educators and students in online classrooms, to using social media as an educational platform.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

First of all, I have to say, before social media there was the internet. I just want to go back to the web, because I very much identify as a web native, which basically means I came of age with the internet, listening to the modem singing songs so that we get connected. That was very much a part of my life, especially in Beirut when it was really, really hard to find a connection. Finding a connection, getting online and then being connected to people, strangers all over the world\u2014that was such an important part of who I am and how I was brought up. What ignited me and inspired me and really helped me rise above depression, in a lot of ways, was to be able to connect with others, open knowledge, and the knowledge that you find online.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Also, being able to build your career or to reinvent yourself, or to be able to learn something online outside of the institution, that\u2019s very much what makes me happy. It inspires me. I\u2019ve always wanted to contribute and give back to what has given me confidence and even a whole career, where I worked for about 10, 12 years as an information architect, as an experience designer for the web. I was basically able to create this career because of open knowledge and the open web. I entered that community back in the early 2000\u2019s, which is basically what I feel is the heyday of the internet as well, because it was very much that the geeks owned the spaces before the influencers and all that stuff. When I entered those spaces, I was welcomed, I was encouraged to learn more and to give back. There was this idea of whatever you\u2019re taking you give back, so I started a blog giving back what I\u2019d learned, then I was discovered as a designer.<\/span> That way, I came to New York and worked, and then started teaching my field in various places, online, offline, and in new institutions that were starting. That\u2019s what I feel is the internet for me.<\/p>\n\n

After that, there were the internet bubbles, the apps, and the social networks and the things that were more trapped within a specific Silicon Valley-backed venture, which is what we\u2019re all now existing within. It\u2019s very rare that we will go back to the open web as we did before. It\u2019s also kind of an exhausting place to be in. So with the same spirit [as the open web], that\u2019s how I approach social media. I want to connect with people and encourage them to learn and encourage them to have the confidence that they can own their skills and skill sets and understand that they have the power. The knowledge is at their fingertips, this knowledge should be free, and that\u2019s what we do at the Slow Factory.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

I made buttons at one point, for one early, early, early SXSW crew, when they first started the interactive section. The buttons said, \u201cI am open,\u201d and it was for everyone working in the open web. We all had those buttons, and those were the days where people on the internet were building the internet, growing the internet, and teaching each other how to code, teaching each other how to design. It was very much peer to peer, which is the energy I also contribute and give back with the programs that we run at Slow Factory. Open Education is one of them, and that\u2019s how we approach social media. Social media, what we do on Instagram\u2014it\u2019s literally a 10th of what we do in everything else.<\/p>\n\n

What are the conditions for you to do your best work? For instance, what is a good day or good afternoon for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Taking the time to be slow and fast, but balanced between slow and fast. Definitely taking the time to meditate and connect with the spirits, and also exercising. Simple things like taking a shower and putting on clean clothes could be a big achievement. I\u2019ve been setting myself with all that I can to be productive and feeling good and connected with my spirits, and not being driven by fear or insecurity, which is very difficult because what we do sometimes can feed into that.<\/p>\n\n

How do you move through those feelings when they come up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Again, I don\u2019t know all the answers, but sometimes I let them creep in so bad and they stay in and they stop me from doing what I want to do, and I feel like I\u2019m closing off, just feeling very scared. Then, sometimes it\u2019s a friend or a conversation [that helps]. Sometimes it\u2019s the courage to just literally snap out of it and go for a walk outside or meditation, just gaining perspective. It\u2019s so hard. When it occurs, sometimes I can wish, wish, wish it away. Other times it\u2019s creeping slowly and it\u2019s setting itself in there, and then it just becomes harder. It\u2019s like a guest in your hotel, and then maybe you\u2019re a bit too welcoming to certain aspects. We shouldn\u2019t be too welcoming because you don\u2019t want their energy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

What has been most surprising about your path?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I guess most of the time people are surprised because they underestimate me, but me, I\u2019m not surprised because I wish I could do even more. I\u2019m not surprised yet.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n\n

C\u00e9line Semaan Recommends:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Podcast: How to save a planet<\/i><\/a>
<\/p>\n\n

Documentary: Dope is Death<\/i><\/a>
<\/p>\n\n

Music: Collis Browne<\/a>
<\/p>\n\n

Book: Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything<\/i><\/a>
<\/p>\n\n

Meditation: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CMN94rflFGT\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This post was originally published on The Creative Independent<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your work as co-founder of Slow Factory Foundation is at the intersection of human rights and environmental justice. How did you start Slow Factory?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":674,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1219,3431,14,270],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123729"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/674"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123730,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123729\/revisions\/123730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}