Clique Kits March Designer in the Spotlight - Gia Lau

Hello and welcome back to the Clique Kits blog!  Today I am excited to share our March Designer in the Spotlight!  Most you already now the wonderful lady I am about to announce but some of you may not!  She does a lot of behind the scenes work and without her there would be not Clique Kits!  She is the Creative Director, your biggest cheerleader and has the biggest heart!  Please say Hello to Gia Lau!

​Gia is always full of creative ideas and when she had the big idea of do some scrap shares between 4 friends and following up with a blog share we all loved it!  Then she shares the idea of a kit community..Genius!  And fast forward to now four years later...here we are Clique Kits...going stronger than ever.  Now it has not been the easiest and smoothest road and we continue to learn but Gia is the backbone of CK.  Her wild and crazy ideas have always been a success and what I love about Gia is that she does everything as a team!  She has ideas and brings them forward to us and we all collaborate and get things done!  Its is an honor to work with her daily and her friendship means the world to me.  Recently she has been more involved in the design work for CK and she has been working hard on the first CK exclusive collection This is Us which is not available in the shop HERE.  Of coarse she brought her designs to us and we all collaborated to bring you This is Us!  We are so proud of this collection and I am so proud of Gia for designing her first collection!

​Gia took some time to answer some fun questions to share a little bit about her!  To learn more about Gia and see more of her work you can check out her blog HERE!
1. Where do you find your inspiration
I tend to be inspired a lot when out and about shopping and traveling. I look at merchandising in stores and a lot at window displays where I get ideas for colors, patterns, and trends. Even the decor in certain offices or stores sometimes inspires me-it shows the personality of the brand and sets a certain mood which I bring back to my creative process. There is something special about appreciating good design in 3 dimensional space and not just flattened all the time. The influences of culture and ethnic traditions fascinate me too.
2. How long have you been creating?
 
I was raised in a family that promoted a DIY mentality and we always gave handmade gifts and created things like Christmas ornaments together which taught me a lot about using household items in projects. My mother sewed and knitted our clothes and when we had parties we made all of the decorations ourselves. I started painting in earnest in college and took some studio and art history courses which eventually led me to mixed media as a form of expression.
 
3. Do you have any scraplebrity crushes?
 
The short answer is no. I admire many people for many different talents. Two of my favorite artists are Alexandra Michiardi and Mou Saha. I love Alexandra's simple approach to everything from DIY crafts to scrapbooks to surface design and illustration. Mou Saha has been extensively published as a scrapbooker "back in the day" and recently is known for her work for Design Memory Crafts as a mixed media artist. I admire everything they do and long for the versatility they have to crossover into so many creative genres.
 
4. What company do you miss the most?
 
I miss all of the companies really. I wish they were all still around. I also wish that so many had not been taken over by one company because it seems like they have lost some of their individuality by doing so. I was a Basic Grey groupie for sure - especially in their early days. I also really liked October Afternoon and Sassafras Lass.
 
5. What are your predictions for the next big trend?
 
I actually think that scrapbooking is in a bit of a plateau when it comes to trend turnover. Some trends we have already adopted over the past couple of years are simply continuing. Trends that are not completely new but will be around awhile are all kinds of greenery, botanicals, and even flying things like bees and butterflies and other bugs. We are still loving to see what I call "the artist's hand" in our design- things like paint strokes, handwriting fonts, and textures that tell the viewer "This is uniquely my creation" are really trending- and this will bring more mixed media into the mainstream. I know this is the big picture and not a very specific prediction like, "pineapples" but this is the state of our trends as I see it right now.
 
6. Favorites:
Book - My Life and other unfinished business by Dolly Parton. Dolly's faith, charity, integrity, and positive attitude are so inspiring.
Movie - The Black Panther (best of this year so far)
Drink - very rich, strong coffee in the morning and a glass of chilled Riesling at night
Food - anything my better half cooks- it's his hobby to cook and I get to enjoy the benefits! Going out to eat my favorites are Indian food and Thai food.
Sweet Treat - used to be Australian licorice and Cadbury milk chocolate but since January 2nd I have given up eating sugar of any kind and I am now a recovering sugar addict. My doctor told me to lose weight and lower my cholesterol so there's that.
TV Show - Too many to name- I love television shows and binge watch whenever possible. I am going to be lost when Game of Thrones ends.
Music/Song - My music taste is like my scrapbooking-- very eclectic! You name it I probably have something in my playlist. Recent favorites are George Ezra and that adorable Ed Sheeran.
 
7. What are you most proud of in you Scrappy career?
 
I actually don't know that I have a scrappy career but rather I am one of many artists who have been dealt the cards of keeping a day job and trying to fulfill their creative dreams as a hobby. I am proud of everything we do at Clique Kits and being able to give a shout out to all of the women out there with a need to create that is as strong as the need to breathe who manage to juggle all of their other responsibilities somehow fitting this passion in to their daily life in a way that makes them whole. I am also very proud of the fact that I have contributed opportunities and mentoring to some very talented and strong younger women who have gone on to do great things while or after working with us.
 
Here are some of my favorite projects and design work from Gia!

​Gia thank you so much for all you do and sharing your creative mind and vision with us all!  XOXO