episode 072: Rachel Rivera & Claire Ouchi of WKNDRS

episode 072: Rachel Rivera & Claire Ouchi of WKNDRS

Author: with May Globus November 30, 2022 Duration: 1:13:52
Rachel Rivera and Claire Ouchi are as vibrant and joyful in real life as the colourful work they create together as art duo the WKDNRS. After working as applied graphic designers & colour designers at lululemon and Aritzia for a number of years, the two took a leap of faith to start the WKNDRS and also cofounded Holaday together. They both grew up in Calgary, Alberta, with two very different origin stories. Claire was born into a creative family with a contemporary artist father and a mother who managed a design group. That environment encouraged the creativity within her, and she spent a lot of time making ceramics. Rachel was born four months pre-mature in Cebu, Philippines, and came to Canada after her mother met her Canadian stepfather there, where they fell in love—a meet-cute romance story for the ages. She, too, was artistic as a child and teen, always drawing nature while hanging out with her snowboard crew. Rachel and Claire had their own meet-cute at Alberta University of the Arts, where they both took visual communications and eventually met in their fourth year, quickly becoming life-long best friends and collaborators. During that time in their lives, they hosted art shows together and started a vintage shop, among other things. A job offer from Aritzia brought Rachel to Vancouver, with Claire arriving shortly after also landing a position at the brand. Eventually, it felt like time to follow their own path with the WKNDRS. Since then, they’ve created large-scale murals in urban spaces and collaborated with brands like Spy Optic, Audible, Veuve Clicquot & more. In this conversation, we talk about their childhoods; their individual art practices; visual communications when it comes to design; learning concept-to-execution in their corporate chapter and how they apply it to their combined art practice now; why Claire and Rachel love vintage & thrifting; what WKNDRS means to them out in the world; why it’s important to the soul to take leaps of faith and believe in yourself; how they evolve their art while staying true to who they are as artists; advice they’d give to emerging artists about life; and more.

There’s a particular texture to a life built around creating something meaningful, whether that’s a business, a work of art, or a new path forward. The Craft with May Globus pulls back the curtain on those lives through unhurried, intimate dialogues. May sits down with a diverse range of creators, founders, and pioneers, but the focus here is less on glossy success stories and more on the raw material of their journeys. You’ll hear the nuances of their creative process, the pivotal moments in their personal backstory, and how their philosophy shapes their daily existence. It’s an ongoing exploration of the shared humanity behind different kinds of work. What makes this podcast uniquely immersive is its commitment to being an audio-visual experience. Each conversation is accompanied by rich, editorial-style photography that provides a deeper, more sensory connection to the guest and their world. Think of it like a beautifully composed magazine feature that you can listen to, where the images and the dialogue work in concert. Tuning into this podcast feels like gaining quiet, privileged access to the minds of people who are thoughtfully shaping culture, one idea at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Craft with May Globus
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