Kate Prior

1:14 Okay. So when the first lockdown put everything on hold here in the uk last march kate pryor and her partner hugo had just moved into a new house so the pair were unable to get to know their neighbours until that is hugo bought a pizza oven to keep him and kate occupied during those long days of lockdown it became the perfect excuse to get in touch with people. And introduce themselves well since then the couple have made a lot of pizzas and have raised over 1 000 pounds for their local food bank and have turned their venture short road pizza into a regular pop-up in layton east london so what has kate learned about creativity through this entrepreneurial side project well let's ask her kate please could you turn on your audio and video so we can say hello you I think might be muted there okay can I hear you can you hear me oh can't hear you we'll try without headphones maybe that's the way to go oh no apologies everyone this is the the classic yeah doing doing events over zoom we'll get kate to refresh our browser and maybe come back in a second and can you hear me now yes fantastic we got there in the end so welcome okay to nicer tuesdays online thank you for having me not at all no thank you yeah thanks for joining us so obviously as per our new look nicer tuesdays you're not going to be giving a talk this evening instead I get to ask you lots of questions and also so does our audience so just another reminder to everyone at home if a question does come to mind pop it in the chat and yeah I'll do my best to ask it before our time is up but first off kate really just maybe to introduce yourself a little bit to the audience and could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your illustration practice how did you come to be an illustrator well I initially studied viscom when I was sort of late teens at university and already knew I wanted to work in the creative field and then. I just really liked the illustration briefs that we got it was a very broad course and yeah. I just kept sort of churning work out on the course that led to some like live briefs in leeds where.

4:04 I was studying I was doing like gig posters and like yeah just general posters for for sort of student night life. And then. I was posting them on tumblr which was big back then. And it just seemed to like snowball from there really. And I'm still doing it now amazing by the way yeah we're seeing this [Laughter]

4:28 we're seeing this this video of yeah this is the the pizza pop-up which we'll get on to in just a moment but that those images will just kind of roll in the background I guess I'm keen to ask as well how's your creative practice your processes even been affected by the pandemic because I know I've spoken to a lot of illustrators and it's some for some of them it's changed quite a lot but for others it's almost been business as usual really yeah for me it's been really quiet which is quite annoying because like my job involves just sitting alone in a dark room with my computer and some pens and I don't know I feel pandemic sort of apocalypse proof but yeah everything dried up a lot of the commercial work dried up.

5:17 So yeah it's it left lots of space to create a pizza business yeah exactly I mean I guess is that is that partly because you you do do a lot of work for food and drink businesses I guess I've noticed over the years you know restaurants and and beer brands and things like that is that is that maybe part of it that you know that obviously that kind of work did dry up when those businesses closed yeah I lost I do the branding for a beer festival in manchester which we just started working on just as things started to close down.

5:52 And then that all got cancelled and then it's also been cancelled for this year as well.

5:56 But yeah it's hard to sort of draw a direct line other than that one where it was something that was actually cancelled I'm just trying not to take it too personally maybe that I've just gone out of fashion. But yeah.

6:08 I think just people just haven't been as confident with commissioning people or spending their money on on design and things but hopefully that's going to change soon yeah I'm sure no and I think as well it's it's a story that yeah I mean all too sadly but yeah we've heard we've heard a lot that things have slowed down but you know hopefully now that things are opening back up at least in the uk yeah that will turn around but as I mentioned I mean yeah as you also mentioned we're kind of here today to talk about side projects really.

6:42 And I'm kind of keen to hear first have you always been someone who's had a side hustle on the go you know that famous phrase the side hustle or is this kind of really the first time you've you've explored a second mini venture well my freelance career was actually a side hustle of my I used to work for urban outfitters in-house as a illustrator but I I started to get more and more freelance work.

7:08 So I was staying behind after work and working on the weekend so yeah my side hustle was just more illustration I've never really done any any other kind of side hustle nothing. That's legal right [Laughter]

7:26 I'm joking yeah [Laughter]

7:29 I guess I mean at the beginning I gave a very quick summary of the story maybe of yeah the kind of how you've moved house but maybe could you just fill in the gaps for us a little bit what was that initial thinking behind launching you know a neighborhood pizza pop-up it's it's not something you do every day I'm imagining yeah yeah it's like you said it was just a yeah perfect combination of my partner wanted to make pizza and also I mean our road is called short road so it is very very short so when we were doing like the thursday standing outside our doorway clapping and smiling like I don't know you still see people and you want to go and talk but it was just incredibly awkward and so yeah ugga came up with this idea.

8:10 And it just it just felt perfect really to sort of yeah make food for people get to know people and also raise money for the community yeah it's an amazing idea sorry you go yeah it yeah it kind of it took off really I think mostly through instagram and like word of mouth in the local area but then a guy that lived a few sort of roads over also I mean he's his instagram handle is the perfect pizza so he was doing something similar but not not really making it for his neighbors and he sent us a message and asked if he could come and help out and he came and helped her every session since and he's now we are now a trio doing shortly pizza that's amazing I love that there's yeah it's it's kind of become a bit of a family it sounds like it's become a bit of a family in the local area yeah yeah it's been so lovely and I guess the the branding as well has a very you know it has very kate prior look to it just maybe talk us through the the kind of yeah I guess that that side of it as well the visual side of it because that's obviously quite an important part of its success yeah my my boyfriend ugo is a creative director so he was able to like create a deck for me and take it really really professionally and sort of we'd work in separate rooms but it was very much like go crazy with it do what you want so that was yeah the hard part of it.

9:39 But yeah it was just such a broad brief really. And so it was really hard to sort of narrow it down.

9:48 But also a lot of the companies around here that have started throughout the lockdown use these cool characters that are really popular at the minute so we decided to go go with that sort of thing as well very nice yeah I mean it seems like yeah food is something that you've you've kind of come back to throughout your career I saw recently you were drawing some amazing very appetizing looking steaks for a company is there I mean do you find kind of drawing and illustrating for food companies and food generally is that one of your favorite things or is it just has it happened that that is something you get asked to do a lot I think it's a bit of both I think it's a case of like I don't know I think food packaging and food branding and then the vision of food itself is so iconic and so inspiring that it's even jobs that aren't to do with food that I do they're definitely inspired by iconic food brands so yeah I do love getting to work for food companies absolutely also any free meals that you can get out of it obviously yeah exactly well I think I've only had free beer so far but I know I've got some free shake shack actually when I did the shake shack job there oh amazing that's a great one yeah I guess as well like I mean the process of you know launching and running short road pizza has that taught you anything. That's been particularly useful for your illustration work I mean has it taught you anything about creativity more broadly I'm kind of curious to know if that if there is a bit of a yeah I guess rubbing together of those two things and and paying paying the other one yeah they're very very different like using very like different parts of your brain I think making pizza and doing the pizza company is far more physically tiring there's a like I don't know like I don't boss anyone around in my illustration job. But in when we do short repeats I just switch into like bossy mode because I just want to get things done and I don't want to like miss any like deadlines or I guess because you've got customers arriving for their pizza and I don't know I'm just terrified of letting people down.

12:07 But yeah it's very very different but I'm I'm not sure what it's done for my create creative side but we'll find out I think yeah I mean just looking at these pictures up on screen is very appetizing these look amazing yeah yeah the pizza is very good but I guess yeah I mean what you've touched on. There is you know it's it's something.

12:34 That's using a very different part of your brain and almost I guess there is a bit of a lesson there in the sense that you kind of need something that is taking your mind off your work in a way and and using a different part of your brain when you're creative because you can't always be using the same bits of your brain it's kind of it's a it's a road to burnout I think isn't it yeah definitely I had a really busy year in 2019 and then sort of went straight into having a very not very busy year. And I am wondering how it has affected me in terms of like how how I approach creative briefs now yeah I mean that would be it'd be interesting to see I think it's probably maybe too early almost to tell for for lots of us but you know we're kind of going to find out I think soon how how much we've been affected by what we've been through and yeah I guess to some intriguing and maybe a little bit scary prospect isn't it yeah I guess you talked about the yeah the story of the pizza pop-up it's obviously very closely tied to the story of the pandemic and the lockdowns as well as well as your kind of personal story about moving house but now that we're you know hopefully edging out of the pandemic at least in the uk do you have any plans to keep it going I mean is it is is it gonna remain a thing that you do once a week or something like that yeah we're well I mean my work isn't really getting busy but ugo's work is and jax works full-time for beavertown brewery and he's also raising a young family so we're trying to figure out what we want to do next and I think that might look like more like private catering sort of be available for weddings and parties and things. And we've also had some requests to pop up at various food markets that are starting to open up around london.

14:31 So we're actually going to have a meeting tomorrow I think to to decide what we're going to do but yeah I don't think we're going to pack it in that's amazing it's great that yeah something that started as kind of a like I guess a hobby or you know something to keep you occupied during the during the lockdown has become yeah it's become something you're going to kind of keep going and potentially take to markets that's very exciting yeah wonderful and looking to I mean I guess we will have lots of you know illustrators I'm sure freelancers on watching at home what advice would you would you have someone in that situation thinking about setting up a side project like you did I mean what's the most important thing I guess you'd say to them to just bear in mind if they do start on this kind of journey I'd say just give it a go I for me I'm like scared of things going wrong or things not being good and this was a real lesson in just do it because I think I was probably resistant when ugo first said do it I was like that's crazy we can't do that like I mean he's very italian and very like sort of friendly and wants to know his neighbors and yeah just getting that tug to do it yeah I'd say I'd say just give it a go it doesn't have to be brilliant it could go horribly wrong you could just pretend it never happened but yeah yeah I'd say just give it a go also try and find find people that are doing something similar to what you're doing and try and connect there and get some advice or just network a bit yeah that's great advice I think as well with that idea of you know not not having to be perfect I think if it's your second your second venture it can you can afford to take a few more risks with it and have a bit more fun yeah definitely yeah exactly very interesting questions come through from matthew in the audience is short road pizza still a side hustle for you and your partner or is there a possibility of it becoming your main hustle which I quite like never heard that before main hustle yeah I mean that is something that we've thought about as well because it a lot of people sort of saying open a shop open a shop and like we all sort of look each other I don't know if we could manage that.

17:04 So it would take all three of us needing to decide to do that I don't think it's completely off the cards but yeah not nothing in in the pipeline yet we will watch this space I feel like in that sense those kind of pop-up markets are a really good way of testing testing a brand they're testing a kind of yeah a venture like that yeah non-committal exactly you don't have to take out a space and yeah do the fit out of a restaurant or anything like that yeah yeah exactly fantastic I mean looking ahead I guess yeah is there anything we're always quite nosy about this kind of thing. But is there anything you're working on currently that we should kind of keep an eye open for I'm really keen to hear yeah if there's something that we should just be watching out for in the in the future either from yourself or from yeah from the pizza company I know that it's a very boring time for me at the minute it's quite deflating I'm gonna I don't know personally I'm gonna try and work on some like tight faces and try and do some more animation and things.

18:16 But yeah I'm just waiting for for some more jobs really I mean I think yeah.

18:23 I think I really I think it's really great that you're honest about that because I think a lot of people are in the same boat and yeah it's probably better to to be honest about that yeah as we kind of come out of this pandemic yeah it's it's hard when you're yeah you're not really getting an honest response or you're not asking people those things because yeah it's hard it well it's quite easy to just think that it's something really drastic and you're it's only happening to you.

18:52 But yeah it's been very quiet for me yeah no and that's like I say I mean yeah we do talk to a lot of a lot of creatives across the spectrum with you know all sorts of disciplines and yeah it's a familiar story but really really hope that things turn around kate and yeah it's great to see that you've got the the short road pizza company doing so much amazing stuff in the in the meantime and yeah love this video that we're ending on but thank you so much yeah it's been amazing talking to you thanks for having me not at all you