First published July 28, 2021
Discover how our Founding Member, Halah, left bar work behind to forge a career in graphic design, and how lockdown prompted a new chapter; the birth of bulls**t-free, female-centric, creative studio, Salt and Sister.
Halah, what’s your creative occupation?
I’m half of Salt and Sister Studio – a creative-space-slash-studio-slash-experiment founded with my sister – where I work mostly on the design-y, illustration-y bits.
Where have you been?
It’s been a journey! So, I’ve got a degree in Illustration, but had absolutely no idea how to translate that into commercial work-work because I graduated at a time when having a ‘personal brand’ was a bit gross and everything was a bit more analogue. I had a bar job and told myself that I’d do creative work on the side, which of course only happened in drips.
After a great incident when a regular felt it was okay to come up to me and whisper ‘We’ve all been talking so I have to ask – are you pregnant? Don’t worry I won’t tell!’ (I’d just had a mediocre burrito for lunch and was suitably mortified btw), I decided to leave ‘Spoons behind, retrained in graphic design, and interned until I found an in-house job at a small company.
Lockdown happened, I ended up with a lot of free time on my hands and a sister that was freshly made redundant. We did a few trial projects together before realising we worked disgustingly well together, and we decided to make Salt and Sister an Actual Thing.
I like not having bulls**t office politics, managerial egos, and toxic workplaces to deal with. HALAH ON GOING FREELANCE
Where are you now?
I’ve gone fully freelance now, working on design at Salt and Sister, and my personal illustration stuff too. I like not having bulls**t office politics, managerial egos, and toxic workplaces to deal with. I loooove working mainly with women also starting small businesses, and having the freedom to say ‘Not today, Satan!’ to problematic arseholes we don’t want to work with.
Me and Heidi are exploring passion projects on the side too – all of those ‘wouldn’t it be great if’, slightly tipsy conversations – and having a blast! Working in-house has its perks, but this new creative experimenting has been an absolute breath of fresh air.
I neglected all my true-to-myself, female-centric creative work for a long time. HALAH ON HER FUTURE CAREER
Where are you going?
Right now, it’s all about seeing Salt and Sister grow. I’m so excited to see where we go, but I’m also excited to just do more STUFF – I neglected all my true-to-myself, female-centric creative work for a long time, and getting back to making and sharing work I love is my main current dream. On the technical side of things, I’m very slowly learning animation so I can make things move.
Finally, what’s occupying your thoughts today?
My arsehole cat ruining all the soft furnishings and how I’m ever going to get my deposit back. I love him but I hate him. Who the eff would ever sleep with Matt Hancock. Why are men so gross. Madonna’s American Pie cowboy phase is criminally underrated.
It was the tiny tiara for us… legendary. Thanks for sharing your journey, Halah! Make sure you check out the Salt and Sister Studio website, and give them a follow – salt.sister.studio.