Matt's Story - Part 4

In the last installment of Matt’s story we truly witness some GOLD. His answer to the question about how he’d encourage you to Ouch It is truly original and fresh and very challenging too. We also come to the end of The Questions, where you’re treated with a tune to get you in an Ouching It mood. Enjoy.

‘What if I don’t do it? Why do I think I have the luxury of time to take this on later?’

Q 

What do you think is going to happen?

*At Ouching It we like to hear about where people imagine or think they'll be in the future related to the topic they're sharing  

A

I’ve never seen us as being the next Ogilvy or some huge marketing ad agency, cause I’m not convinced that I have the capacity to do that well and I’ve not really seen that done well before either.

I think there is a limit and it’s a healthy and good one for us to be able to do stuff with integrity and maintain all the values and the culture and that stuff and be impactful. We want OneSixOne to be holistically mindful for creatives and to benefit them and actually create some kind of a home or some kind of centre. 

As much as we’re in a cool studio space, the long term goal is we would actually repurpose a house and the house would model the holistic values of OneSixOne and what we care about. It would have a kitchen, and spaces to stay. It would also embody the values that we say are really beneficial to creativity. It would model that safe space where nomadic freelancers could be part of something and be able to cross pollinate and be able to see people who have gone before them, and learn from them and grow. It would also have an air of protection as well, so that that house would be able to offer the same counsel that we’ve received. In the house people would be able to glean from professional advice, like help with contracts and invoicing, but they’d also be able to receive help on an emotional and spiritual level, on a well-being level. It would be a place to nurture them into maturity. And the reason I say that is because I’ve seen - even in my network of creatives - there’s a lot of people who struggle.

I’m super blessed really, in terms of the faculty that I have - I’m able to think, I’m able to be active, I’ve had experiences that have shaped me and I’ve learned from them. I think in order for people to grow into and understanding their purpose we have to share that stuff and share it in a way that’s helpful and that’s actually a rare thing in our industry, which is why there's a lot of insecurity and a lot of people are taken advantage of at a young age, which breeds an unhealthy culture itself.

Also a lot of creatives struggle in different ways, like they’re dyslexic, or struggle with depression, struggle with anxiety, all that kind of stuff. So, we’d like to create an agency that cares a bit more than just about delivering to the client, but we actually care about people. We really, really care about people. Because, that’s what a culture is really as well, it’s dependent on people, so if we’re able to invest in people then hopefully it can turn the tide with the negative stuff that happens within our industry as well. 

Because the industry is full of horror stories. It’s full of photographers taking advantage of models, it’s full of people suffering from racism and abuse, it’s full of people being disproportionately paid, it’s full of messages that have been misappropriated from cultures and beliefs and people who don’t see reparations from their actual ideas and their ideas are stolen. There’s all this stuff. I feel if we’re able to simplify it and invest and be held accountable for our investment in people then we’d never get to that degree.

‘we’ve lost that kind of thing that contributes to renaissance almost and so I’d love to create something that looks like that.’

What I see is us having a big, repurposed house that is beautiful, that is highly creative, that is a place of work, that is a place of investment and growth and creativity - it’s a catalyst for more than just good ideas, but a catalyst for how we actually treat people well through a creative process, through creativing art, through creating messaging and all that kind of stuff. 

It’s very much like the kind of atelier model of creativity where there would be a house and the l'atelier would live in that house and model the culture and select a few people to work within that house for a set period of time - whether it was two years or five years, whatever. And in that house they would focus on a project whether it was building the roof of a chapel, or whether it was designing the hull of a ship, whether it was creating a tapestry, there was a dedicated thing about that and they would eat together, they would share stories, they would glean from each other’s experiences and artisans would work from within that house.

We’ve seen fashion houses coming from that, we’ve seen architectural colleges come from that, we’ve seen the Hemingways and all that, come from that kind of school of creativity. I think the agency tried to do something commercially viable but we’ve lost that human element, we’ve lost that kind of thing that contributes to renaissance almost and so I’d love to create something that looks like that. And that is where we will head.

I can still see us having a cool studio here and a studio in the States, in New York or something, but I think the thing that would embody us is important to show, and we see that as having that creative house.

Q

What encouragement would you give someone who is considering Ouching It?  

A

I think what I would encourage people to do is to question the luxuries they have been given or that they take for granted.

So I think the thing for me that really almost triggered me was -  ‘Why am I not doing this?’ I started to think - ‘What if I don’t do it? Why do I think I have the luxury of time to take this on later? And how responsible is that?’ If I feel like I have a purpose, why do I feel that I have time to just wait?

now is the time, and what you have is enough. 

I think for me - cause you almost have to tap into what is the thing that contributes to your motivation - the thing that makes you get up, the things that make you work, labour, the thing that makes you learn, that makes you grow? I think you can have character, characteristics, but there’s almost the deep well, the deep machine, the deep like, cog-thing, that keeps grinding...

I would say rather than just look for ways to be encouraged or look for things to keep you safe during the process, like instead, question the thing that makes you believe that now is the time, and what you have is enough. 

So, I think, even for me, it just meant that when we were either struggling financially or if it felt like it was too much to handle, it didn’t jeopardize my answers to those questions still, that question that like, if I stop now and give up, do I actually have the time, do I have this luxury that I am suggesting or believing that I have to not do it?

And I think that’s something I’ve noticed with people who really don’t stop. I’m not the kind of person that even says you should only sleep four hours a night and just work all the time till you fulfill your dreams and stuff. I see those people and it does look like they operate like tomorrow’s not actually promised and that they’re trying to build their thing so that if it is a promise, then they set the thing in motion or they materialised that dream or that thing they feel they’re meant to do, their purpose. Whoever it’s for, whether it’s for their family, friends, whether it’s for society, the greater good, whatever it’s for.

So I think my encouragement is almost like a challenge. I think question the luxuries that you think you have around time, around the people that you have around you, are they going to be there forever, and if not - what dream would you like to create with those people, while they’re here now with them. How would you like to positively impact those people who are around you right now? And the people that you see impacting in the future as well.

Q

What’s your Ouching It anthem? What song would be on your Ouching It playlist?  

A

This is the hardest question. Because you know I can’t even choose a favourite song for a day… 

Oh my gosh. I don’t even know.

Let me have a think. 

One of the songs that we actually love... do you know Thundercat? He’s like a bass player. He’s an incredible composer as well. And he’s this really eccentric young bass player, black guy who's played with everyone - from Kamasi Washington to like hip hop. He’s a genius and he’s done Tiny Desk and all that stuff. But he’s also good friends with the girls from Haim and he’ll play cameos in their videos. He’s a really interesting guy. 

So his albums are great. Anyway, he has this song, which is called Dragonball Durag and it’s literally about a durag he wears which has got cartoon dragon balls on it and it’s such a groove and whenever it comes on everyone starts sings it - it’s that kind of thing where we’re all singing dragonball durag and there’s no context. Lol. It’s a beautiful thing when there’s actual genuine connection between people. I think music definitely does that - just the fact that you’re all there and you’re all present.

With everything that goes on it’s hard to find the true present moment, rather than the fabricated present. At OneSixOne, we all know we need to attend a meeting and be invested, we all know we need to get a task done. But it’s almost the moments when - we have this principle actually at OneSixOne about play and what does play look like and where’s the space for play and Steph has done this whole mini thesis on play and it’s importance for work and how it’s part of our process and how we should never despise it or never put it down. 

So there are moments when we’re all in the office, all working on something really important but then just that one moment in the chorus when everyone shouts ‘Durag!’ It makes you realise what’s important, because the moment when we're all laughing together, and enjoying that three seconds of music, it’s great. 

So I would probably choose that song, Dragonball Durag by Thundercat.