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Culture / by Leslie Woods

Get Good At Your Craft

An Interview with Converse's Global Creative Director Bryan Cioffi

“I

was lucky right, because when I started my journey I got to spend a lot of time in the factories. I got a chance to spend a lot of time with people that were incredibly good at what they did. And instead of walking by that, which you can, I welcomed the opportunity to learn that way and I really wanted it,” Bryan Cioffi, Global Creative Director at Converse regails us with his personal experience at the brand. “I think that interchange, between myself and the factory workers, has sort of fed on itself because I wanted to learn and because they were willing to show me. We had some great discussions and a lot of the people that worked in the factories and worked overseas making our product taught me the craft and I just fell in love with it then.”

When we met up with Cioffi in Toronto we couldn’t help but pick his brain about being a creative. There is no better opportunity to learn than from someone who has experience under their belt and whose talent can be tangibly felt.

How have you seen Converse grow and mature since you’ve been brought on?

When I started it was very young and very entrepreneurial there were only a few people in each department. One of the really big ways I’ve seen the company grow and grow up is with technology and how we do our process in house. Really our process has gone from crazy all over the place entrepreneurship to a really structured, modern and big company approach to product creation. We actually have a design ethos, we have a design calendar and we have a global calendar, those things we did item by item before. I think there’s some strength to that but it’s so much more strategically sound than it was then.

You’re paid for your opinion.

-Bryan Cioffi

Can you speak to some of the key learnings and mistakes that you’ve experienced?

I think that we’re constantly finding our way. I have this poster in my office that says, “Failure is not always failure.” I think that it’s important that as you fail and as you find your way through it, to learn quickly from it and to adjust. There’s so many things that we can take away from a company like Nike, they’ve done it all, they’ve already had the failures and they know the failure mechanism. They can show us how to avoid that.

There are so many that come up all the time, that we’re constantly working back and forth to have an open dialogue to work through those.

What would you recommend to somebody who is starting up in this business?

Really know your consumer.

It’s more important to know your consumer than your customer. I mean your customers; your business partners, where it’s going to sell, that kind of thing is obviously important, but know what the consumer wants and what you can deliver.

Really be honest with yourself, and if you can’t be honest with yourself which I think is really difficult for some people, get a trusted partner. Have someone that will tell you, honestly, not to hurt you but to tell you, “I think this one is good, I think this one is not good enough.” And then be brutal, really cut the ones that aren’t amazing. The ones that are just good, just leave them. Really focus all your energy on the best ideas. Those are the three things, and if you can honestly do that with yourself and your brand or product, you can get better.

Think back to your early days, from a creative point of view what has been your failure piece that has taught you the most?

The thing I’ve learned most, and the thing I had to learn the quickest coming into the creative director role was being able to form an opinion and then be really clear with it. I went back and forth from “is this a good opinion, is this going to help someone,” to “oh i don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, I don’t want to break their creative process,” and what you have to do is find some space in yourself to be confident, trust your opinion, your instinct and intuition. Then just kinda go with it.

I think it helps when you start to see things come to life and you like them and product becomes a tangible expression of where your vision was, or you see teammates or team members sorta react well to it, all the way to you see a kid picking up your product and actually digging it.

No one’s going to like everything, no one is going to be right all the time, I think what is more important is having a point of view. You have to train yourself to do it, it’s scary. I would say that to all creatives, you’re paid for your opinion. Anyone can learn to do the tools of the trade, how to tech something out, how to get good at sketching, how to come up with the construction details, it’s your unique point of view, and everybody is unique. Everybody has something that they can offer and bring to the table, you just have to have confidence in yourself, and just push it. You need a supportive environment in which to do it but that’s the trick.

What are your tangible tips for creatives?

I think the best thing a creative can do, is whatever their craft is, whether you’re a chef, musician, or you’re a designer, is get good at your craft and really, really practice your craft. Learn everything you can about it, seek out people who’ve been doing it a long time and just kinda humble yourself and learn your craft. Your point of view is your point of view, where you take inspiration is where you’re going to take your inspiration. If you can be prideful about the way you do what you do, and practice really, really hard. That’s the best advice I can give. There’s nothing more important than that.

"I

was lucky right, because when I started my journey I got to spend a lot of time in the factories. I got a chance to spend a lot of time with people that were incredibly good at what they did. And instead of walking by that, which you can, I welcomed the opportunity to learn that way and I really wanted it,” Bryan Cioffi, Global Creative Director at Converse regails us with his personal experience at the brand. “I think that interchange, between myself and the factory workers, has sort of fed on itself because I wanted to learn and because they were willing to show me. We had some great discussions and a lot of the people that worked in the factories and worked overseas making our product taught me the craft and I just fell in love with it then.”

When we met up with Cioffi in Toronto we couldn’t help but pick his brain about being a creative. There is no better opportunity to learn than from someone who has experience under their belt and whose talent can be tangibly felt.

How have you seen Converse grow and mature since you’ve been brought on?

When I started it was very young and very entrepreneurial there were only a few people in each department. One of the really big ways I’ve seen the company grow and grow up is with technology and how we do our process in house. Really our process has gone from crazy all over the place entrepreneurship to a really structured, modern and big company approach to product creation. We actually have a design ethos, we have a design calendar and we have a global calendar, those things we did item by item before. I think there’s some strength to that but it’s so much more strategically sound than it was then.

You’re paid for your opinion.

-Bryan Cioffi

Can you speak to some of the key learnings and mistakes that you’ve experienced?

I think that we’re constantly finding our way. I have this poster in my office that says, “Failure is not always failure.” I think that it’s important that as you fail and as you find your way through it, to learn quickly from it and to adjust. There’s so many things that we can take away from a company like Nike, they’ve done it all, they’ve already had the failures and they know the failure mechanism. They can show us how to avoid that.

There are so many that come up all the time, that we’re constantly working back and forth to have an open dialogue to work through those.

What would you recommend to somebody who is starting up in this business?

Really know your consumer.

It’s more important to know your consumer than your customer. I mean your customers; your business partners, where it’s going to sell, that kind of thing is obviously important, but know what the consumer wants and what you can deliver.

Really be honest with yourself, and if you can’t be honest with yourself which I think is really difficult for some people, get a trusted partner. Have someone that will tell you, honestly, not to hurt you but to tell you, “I think this one is good, I think this one is not good enough.” And then be brutal, really cut the ones that aren’t amazing. The ones that are just good, just leave them. Really focus all your energy on the best ideas. Those are the three things, and if you can honestly do that with yourself and your brand or product, you can get better.

Think back to your early days, from a creative point of view what has been your failure piece that has taught you the most?

The thing I’ve learned most, and the thing I had to learn the quickest coming into the creative director role was being able to form an opinion and then be really clear with it. I went back and forth from “is this a good opinion, is this going to help someone,” to “oh i don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, I don’t want to break their creative process,” and what you have to do is find some space in yourself to be confident, trust your opinion, your instinct and intuition. Then just kinda go with it.

I think it helps when you start to see things come to life and you like them and product becomes a tangible expression of where your vision was, or you see teammates or team members sorta react well to it, all the way to you see a kid picking up your product and actually digging it.

No one’s going to like everything, no one is going to be right all the time, I think what is more important is having a point of view. You have to train yourself to do it, it’s scary. I would say that to all creatives, you’re paid for your opinion. Anyone can learn to do the tools of the trade, how to tech something out, how to get good at sketching, how to come up with the construction details, it’s your unique point of view, and everybody is unique. Everybody has something that they can offer and bring to the table, you just have to have confidence in yourself, and just push it. You need a supportive environment in which to do it but that’s the trick.

What are your tangible tips for creatives?

I think the best thing a creative can do, is whatever their craft is, whether you’re a chef, musician, or you’re a designer, is get good at your craft and really, really practice your craft. Learn everything you can about it, seek out people who’ve been doing it a long time and just kinda humble yourself and learn your craft. Your point of view is your point of view, where you take inspiration is where you’re going to take your inspiration. If you can be prideful about the way you do what you do, and practice really, really hard. That’s the best advice I can give. There’s nothing more important than that.

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