Collaboration in any industry is vital because in that process, you’re not only exchanging ideas but also coming together to create meaningful work.
Some people in the creative industry collaborate with each other very well – from the very top of the fashion industry with Louis Vutton and Supreme who made millions in profit with their joint collection to local artists.
One local artist who understand the importance of collaboration in creativity is someone I spoke to a month ago, Louis De Villiers.
De Villiers highlighted that you can’t always make meaningful work all by yourself, “the people are here the talent is here, we just need to get the ideas in the same room.”
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I also had a word with young graphic designer, Caera Wallace, who’s based in Waterfall, on the difficulty of working with fellow designers on a project.
“I’d say the most difficult part is handling people’s different perspectives. Everyone is creative and already have their own ideas on what the end result should look like. So when people are trying to express their ideas, they tend to close off any other potential ideas,” explained Caera.
“This usually makes the brainstorming process difficult because everyone needs to agree on one thing and trust every individual in the group to contribute equally in the collaborative effort.”
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Although people are willing to collaborate, some of them don’t seem to understand the magnitude of the work or don’t seem to understand the basic concept of collaboration, which is people working together to meet the same end-goal.
Some of the worst people to collaborate with are random people you meet on a night out. The type of people that say: “Hey bro I really like your work, let’s collab”, or the popular term “let’s build fam.”
Those type of people never follow through with their work or they just want to work with you for the clout. Michael Holder is a Cowies Hill-based photographer and he speaks passionately about collaboration in his industry.
Michael said: “Some people don’t understand the basic concept of a collaboration, I’ve been approached by people who want to exploit my work and call it a “collab” when they are the only ones that are making money.”
Collaboration is a process of people working together to achieve a shared outcome. People, especially industry leaders, need to understand this when working with young up-and-coming creatives.
Email:Student@dbn.caxton.co.za
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