Rachel Ivey

On this episode of Conversations, Rachel Ivey joins us to share her personal and professional journey, and the influences that shaped her creative career. She was last the Creative Director of S'well Bottle, disruptor of the single use plastic market, where she led brand design for over 200 designs and initiated exciting collaborations across categories. She has also been a senior creative leader at Williams & Sonoma, Wal-Mart, Crane & Co., etc. Having spent her career with global lifestyle brands, Rachel is currently consulting for the founders of NY culinary treasures, Via Carota, and Buvette.

The concept of the "golden thread"

Rachel shares with us how her influences– parents, female leaders, mentors– and her experiences as a female POC creative have given her soulfulness, humility and greater perspective on her work, her approach, and her impact on younger creatives including her daughter. We appreciate how she shares her candid views on female leadership, diversity, and mentorship, especially in these challenging times.

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Some of the topics we discussed were:

The concept of the "golden thread"

Rachel describes her approach and work as the "golden thread", taking a single idea and bringing it to life through all channels of commerce and media. She describes how she “golden threaded” an Ikat design (that many cultures have their own version of) from pattern and abstracted it across all channels. The design transcended culture and touched on the idea of migration, a response to the political climate of America First, Build the Wall. She amplified a fluid idea to create and not alienate instead.

Her Early Creative Influences

There has never been a time where Rachel was not around the Arts in all forms. While she did not grow up with much money, she was never aware of this as she was exposed to the Arts at an early age - Nature, Museums, Magazines. While she is a visual learner, she knew from an early age she might not be the best person at drawing but was strongest at orchestrating a Creative idea. Creativity and the Arts is a form of "oxygen" of hers, she cannot imagine it not surrounding her.

What has her experience as a POC, Female Creative been like?

Relating to her POC experiences, Rachel speaks of how growing up, she was the only or first ones in Art classes.  She remembers these early encounters and how it informed how she conducts herself as an adult.  Representation is also something she has been reflecting on of late, understanding how she shows up and is able to read the room and leverage her strengths.  She shares experiences where she has been marginalized, and talks about how she seized on rare opportunities, giving her time to reflect who her support system is and how to persevere.

Her Superpower?

You will have to watch it to learn Rachel's Superpower!  Enjoy!

TRANSCRIPT:

JANOU PAKTER

Today, we have the pleasure to introduce Rachel Ivey to our “Conversations” series. Rachel is a dear friend of ours who we have known since she was the creative director at Walmart many years ago. We have followed her impressive career from her creative direction at Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, to Crane & Company and Swell Bottle, where she delivered a spectacular collection of over 200 designs for all the Swell brands. She disrupted the single-use plastic market and set the tone for the entire brand led by design.

DAMIAN CHIAM

Her latest accomplishments are the brand strategy and design for two of New York's most acclaimed chefs, Jody Williams and Rita Sodi of Via Carota, Buvette, and I Sodi, New York's culinary treasures. Rachel describes herself as the Golden Thread that sets the tone for brands to be led by design. We're so excited to have her today.

Thanks so much, Rachel for joining us today on our series. We're so excited to have you, you know, and thank you for taking the time to just share with us your experience and knowledge, we love you!

So we'll dive right into it – we've known you, and you've often described something very specific called ‘The Golden Thread’. As part of your skillset and your toolbox, so to speak, can you tell us for those who don't know, what do you mean by ‘The Golden Thread’? Talk to us about that and how you've used that through your experiences.

RACHEL IVEY

I sort of came up with ‘The Golden Thread’ when I started working at Williams-Sonoma and it really crystallized for me when an idea or concept or a sort of dreamscape could see itself from a physical product all the way through to sort of the side of a bus. And this is before social media, before the Internet had exploded. So you know, it was this incredible time when I was working as a designer that you could sort of imagine something from whatever your idea was, and then it would become the cover of a catalog or it would become the inception of an idea about how a table was set in the store. And then you would see it in an advertisement, in a magazine, or see it on the side of a bus. Just to see how that would pull through really crystallized for me.

The other day I was thinking about a collection I did for Swell for Spring Summer 2020. I did a collection in response to this sort of "America First" and "Build the Wall" and at Swell... Swell is a global company and I thought, what is my response to this that I could create but not alienate anyone? And so I developed this collection based on textile design that was based on an ikat. What I showed the company and ultimately showed retailers is that there is a narrative around pattern design and the ikat, in particular, is interesting because many different cultures have their version of an ikat. And what I was talking about was sort of migration and trade and how an idea doesn't necessarily become essential to one culture.

So it was a beautiful story. But the way that I ‘Golden Threaded’ that was there was the pattern that was on the bottle, but then we were able to distort and abstract the pattern through Out of Home, Social Media, E-blasts... So that idea sort of communicated through, and then ultimately when we were shooting the product within a campaign, we had cross-cultural casting in our models. So it's an idea that's fluid – You can amplify the story if you want, or you can not if you don't want to. But it still starts with an idea and it carries through.

DAMIAN CHIAM

Love that

JANOU PAKTER

Yeah, it's very timely especially nowadays where we're all doing everything global, and your perception of that is just great.

We'd love to know where your love for nature, textiles, architecture, design, art... How did that come to you? How was it developed with your parents? Your environment?

RACHEL IVEY

I think there's never been a time where I haven't been– from childhood to now, and I actually have passed this on to my daughter now– There was never a time when I wasn't around art, or books, or sculpture, or drawing, or photography, nature, languages. I didn't grow up with a lot of money, but I would have not known that, because we were always at the museums, we were always at the botanical gardens, and I would just say art was prolific throughout the house all the time. I think that it created me, I became a visual learner that way.

And what's interesting about that is that my younger brother, he is tactically much more artistic than I am. I think I knew from an early age that I wasn't going to be the the person who could draw, but I was really good at directing and having this big picture idea.

I think some of the things that really influenced me as it started to come together was Interview Magazine. Interview Magazine was a big one for me. And my mom. My mom, who used to work in the Post Office, would bring home issues of Interview when one of the students maybe moved on and then didn't do a forwarding address. So she'd come home with these magazines and I would just cover my walls. Think about the 80’s and what Warhol was doing with Interview Magazine at the time. There was never a time when it wasn't present or expected of me to be thinking about it. It's really my oxygen now. I can't even imagine not having it around me, yeah.

JANOU PAKTER

And your daughter, did she get this from you and the family?

RACHEL IVEY

I think that she… I was giggling with my husband the other day about how I wish that when I was twelve, I wish that I had the bevy of assortment of clay, and pencils, and paper, and books, and everything. We didn't have that growing up.

But we also didn't have a television– we had a record player. I can still tell you from my ear which Beethoven concerto I'm listening to. So I guess it's sort of nerdy, but she's an incredible artist. So now we're having that tension of like where she's going to go to school and how we're going to facilitate that.

I love seeing all your books behind you, Janou. That reminds me of growing up.

JANOU PAKTER

So good, yeah. I love books. Books are like my friends.

RACHEL IVEY

Yes, they are like your friends, and do you ever find that you just sort of walk over to the books and you find something that you haven't seen in a while. And yeah, take it out and look at it again.

JANOU PAKTER

Yes, that's why they're always there, right. You always revisit them.

RACHEL IVEY

And they remind you of a different time in your life sometimes.

JANOU PAKTER

Yes, they take you back.

DAMIAN CHIAM

Well look, we're talking about books and not phones, right? And staring at screens so that's already a departure isn't it?  

RACHEL IVEY

Exactly! No, it's so good. It's funny. My mom— she sent my daughter an art book. She's always sending these books that she finds at the five and dime and she sent an art book and we were looking through it and I said, Inez, you need to make sure that you write a thank-you note to Grandma. And she's looking through it (and now this is her 12-year-old self) and she said, "Why are all the pictures black and white, Mama? It's an art book." And I said, "Well, that is a lesser expensive art book. I think the nicer art books are in color, but we're going to appreciate this gift."

DAMIAN CHIAM

Stimulate the imagination.

RACHEL IVEY

Exactly! Let's appreciate, let's learn from this gift.

DAMIAN CHIAM

Rachel, you spoke about the influences. I'm curious, what is stimulating you right now? What is stimulating your creativity at this current time?

RACHEL IVEY

Right now, I think it's interesting I'm sort of coming off this month of the woman – there's been so much discussion around that. And being a woman of color, I've had a couple of opportunities to speak to organizations about what that has looked like for me, and it's been very interesting to have conversations with some younger women of color as they are coming up and questions they have.

Creatively, professionally, I'm working with a really awesome restaurant group right now and helping them imagine how they can move into a lifestyle brand. I guess I can say their names. It's Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, and they have, Via Carota, and Buvette, and I Sodi, and Bar Pisellino, and so this has been a long conversation we've been having since like 2016, and they're really seeing how now they can utilize my toolbox, and help them imagine this dream of this experience. It's beyond hospitality– it really, truly is a lifestyle, so that's what I'm doing creatively. What are you guys doing creatively?

JANOU PAKTER

We are not as creative as you are!

DAMIAN CHIAM

We are interviewing you!

JANOU PAKTER

We are creative in creating great partnerships between people and companies.

But you know, I admire you– because as a woman, and a woman of color, you have experienced a lot. And maybe more than most of us. You have built an extremely successful career having these – well it’s not an obstacle but– being a woman of color. You said to me that you are very keenly aware of how the other sees you, which makes you quite empathetic. But then I was thinking about that and I was thinking, you know how the other sees you. More importantly, and the core is, though, how do you see yourself? How does the other see you? And then to take that into how people see each other? All of that is like an enlightened awareness and consciousness of how people relate to each other and that goes into design and designing for people – How to really connect and understand how people think and feel in different parts of the world. And that's what a true designer is.

So, you have had these experiences as a designer, and a woman, and a woman of color. Can you talk about that a bit and use examples of where you really had obstacles and overcame them?

RACHEL IVEY

It's interesting. I've been relating so much of the commentary that has come out of Black Lives Matter. And it's sort of forcing a narrative on people who are not White to sort of hear people.

For me, you know, I grew up mainly in San Diego, and you were either sort of White, Black, or Mexican. We, I, fell somewhere in between all of that. And you know, my parents raised both my little brother and I to be… I don't want to say White-minded, but definitely with an ability to assimilate within the culture.

So, Chad and I (my little brother) were always like the only ones, or the first ones. So if we went to an art class in an art museum, like a weekend class, we were always the only people of color. Or even in middle school, definitely when I was coming up in ballet, I was always the only one and I was extremely conscious of comments like, "You look so interesting" or "You speak so well," which was one of my very favorites. And those encounters, as you grow up, definitely inform how you conduct yourself as an adult, right?

So as I came up as a designer, you know, I was very… As a person of color, you're just always aware. You're just always aware. You know, I was listening to NPR the other day. And they were talking about representation, and it was interesting because it's not something that I ever think about, but one of the comments that they made was that: When a person of color walks into a room, they automatically — sort of unconsciously — look for other people of color, so that if let's say they're presenting, they need to sort of lock eyes with that person. For a person who is not a person of color, that's the last thing they're thinking about, right? I actually brought this up when I was speaking earlier this month to a group, and that comment stuck with a young lady and she pressed me more on that. And to your point, what did I do then, right? How did I navigate through that?

I think that my parents taught me to not have that top of mind for me. You know, because you're always sort of aware of it. We're talking about perception a little bit. I think you were talking about how people perceive.

I think the thing that I've always been aware of, Janou, is my strength. And I don't think that my strength comes from being a person of color, although it may. It may because I've had an auxiliary way of surviving, but I'm very aware of my own presence as a strong, smart woman and I'm aware of how that can be off-putting to those who might be weaker-minded around me, and so, as I have matured through the creative world, I've come to understand how to read the room. And how to use my strength strategically. Is that a woman thing? Is that a sort of elder statesman? Is that a woman of color thing? I'm not sure. But I think the thing that I practice daily is to remove emotion. And I think that as a person of color, you can easily go there. If you're feeling persecuted, or if you're feeling like something's not right and be like, "Oh, it's because I'm Black." And it might be that. But you have to— I feel—just from my own experience... To remove emotion and try to move forward.

JANOU PAKTER

That's the hardest thing to do, and very few people are able to do that.

RACHEL IVEY

Yeah. I will say this, I've had, at Williams-Sonoma especially, and I would say just as a person... I have had some of the most amazing experiences positively and negatively, which have shaped me and have also informed how I manage younger designers.

I had a situation where we would travel constantly. And we were in a particular country and my boss stood in front of me in a group setting and physically walked backwards to essentially remove me, my physical presence, from the room. And I thought to myself while it was happening, "What is happening?" But he was literally moving backwards to the point... Almost to the wall. And I realized later that that was his way of saying, "You don't have agency in this space. We don't see you and we don't hear you." I had to process that later. And that's horrible. That is horrible, but I've also had, within the same organization, even after that, opportunities to create multi-dimensional, multi-sensory presentations that were seen by the likes of Chuck Williams and Laura Alber. So, it's almost like... What I guess I'm trying to say is you gotta roll with it. You've gotta really... kind of, take an assessment. You need to find who your support system is. And persevere.

JANOU PAKTER

You know it's quite a journey to go through that and to have to go through that. I think it has strengthened you enormously and the objectivity and not to feel fury when something like that happens and have that influence you later on. That is, that is incredibly hard to able to step out of that.

RACHEL IVEY

Can I ask the both of you... As you are cultivating and nurturing people, do you hear the same experiences that I described to you do? Does that seem unusual?

Janou, I've known you longer than I've known Damian, and what I know about you is that you're such an ardent listener and you are an incredible mentor. So I'm curious if you have also heard or experienced that type of thing as well from candidates.

JANOU PAKTER

Absolutely, but it's not easy and not everybody can do it. I think you have to get to a point where somebody trusts you or feels comfortable enough to kind of share stories– you don't expect to have an interview with a recruiter and then talk about this kind of stuff. It's quite heavy and some people don't ever talk about it... Not even to their husband, or wife, or therapist. But I like to create an environment where I get to see the real you. And then they do open up and they feel there is genuine interest.

And I have worked with people that were handicapped even and talked about how hard it was to get in the door. I've worked with a person who was homeless, but he was an incredible artist, and he was talking about what happened in his life and how he got to become homeless and then he found an ear. You know I'm talking... This is like many years ago. This isn't a recent situation.

I think that is the most important thing to find out who you are, who is in front of you, and how can you help. Damian, what your thoughts are about this?

DAMIAN CHIAM

I'm finding that the people we speak with, especially the younger generation, I think they're more bold now in asking about culture. Who am I working for? Like, they're really interrogating now what they're walking into. You know, I think maybe a lot of it has been set. You know, you have set some of these precedents for this younger generation to be bold and speak up, versus assimilate, you know wallflowers. Speak only when spoken to etc, right? It's a bit different, and I'm finding that dynamic shifting where they're like, "It's important to me" culture: How am I seen? Do they really believe in diversity? Is this just lip service? Are you trying to just hire the token person to fix some sort of checkbox?

RACHEL IVEY

Damian, you are so, so spot-on, because these younger kids that I talked to, it's like I get off the phone or get off the Zoom and I kind of have to take a minute. These young people, you know, I remember saying to one young lady, "I am sort of in awe of your—" she was asking me a question about like, "What have you done in the past when basically nobody listens to you?" and "I've been trying to bring these things up but I'm not getting anywhere. What is your advice for me?" And I think her boss was on the Zoom. And so and I come from the place of, you know, or I definitely grew up in, "I will address you when needed." And it's like, "Yes, Chef!" And the way I manage now is I have to try to find that balance between giving a voice and not. Because I do think there is some merit to being quiet and observing for a minute so that you have the tools to lead later. You know, without offending anyone and making them feel like they've been oppressed because of their color or their gender, you know, yeah, it's a very interesting time.

JANOU PAKTER

I was speaking yesterday to a friend of mine who is an American and he went to Tokyo to teach design. He speaks fluent Japanese and he works and teachers in one of the top design schools in Tokyo and he told me that he was appalled by the level of disinterest of the students about anything. And that in the beginning a year ago or so, it drove him mad and he got angry and he was having conversations and they were just sitting there like, "So what? Who cares?" Like, this sort of attitude. And I was shocked to hear that because I didn't... I thought it would just be the opposite. And he described a young generation of being not even apathetic, but not much interest, and he could not get them to really get excited, passionate about anything. And then you wonder why... Why are these design students there? You know, did their parents push them in a profession that they don't really want? Or is it something that's happening in this generation everywhere? But what do you think?

RACHEL IVEY

Well, Janou I taught a few classes. I won't name the school, but it was a high school for the arts and it was in Chelsea. And I taught a class, and I got all prepared, and I spent all this time working where I was so excited. And while I was teaching the class, most people were on their phones. You know, at my daughter's school, you have to leave your phone in like a little bank with a key– No phones! Everybody is on their phone and I remember asking one young lady to come to the front… To please join the class, and she mentioned to me that she didn't need to listen because she was going to be a Kardashian. And I said, "Oh my goodness," and she was really serious about it.

I mean, I think if there's one thing that I've had to work on my whole life is my expressions on my face. It's like I have no poker face, you know? And I have no experience teaching, so I was probably reacting more like a mother and I just said, well, do you know how Kim Kardashian became a Kardashian? How that became, what it is…? And I didn't say it, but you know, I said, "Unless your mother is willing for you to go through those steps to do that, I suggest you come to the front of the class," but it was just, you know, the moral of the story is: I do think that what you're describing is not unusual, even here domestically. And I think that, when I was coming up, I don't want to say there wasn't the Internet, but there wasn't. The Internet wasn't what it is today and if I needed to research something, I was at the library. I was at a museum. I wasn't Googling something. I wasn't Pinterest boarding. I was making physical boards, and I was showing a sense of reference. You know, when I used to work for Michael Aram, he would always talk about... and I used to love it… a sense of reference that you would need to show even if you're 20 years old. Show that you are aware of the past—aware of how the past has informed the future, and yes, have your point of view. And then he used to call it, "The Heirlooms of Tomorrow," which I also loved, but it was like, you have to show in the classical sense a reference in an understanding of those who came before you in order to give your stamp on tomorrow. And I honestly… When any designer shows me anything, I always say, "What's the reference? Where did this come from?"

JANOU PAKTER

And you teach, I assume you teach your daughter that too?

RACHEL IVEY

Of course, I mean we're going through 12-years-old right now, so like, she's got this. But you know, there are moments where she knows when she has made something that's interesting and she'll come bouncing down the hallway and show it to me. And you know, I don't give her like the artist critique, but I'll ask strategic questions– about what were you thinking about? Because those are the things my mother would ask me. We had the wall of books just like you have the wall of books and I now have the wall of books. And she was making a graffiti tag for art class and I said, "Inez, come with me" and she was like, "Oh my gosh." I have this great book called Subway Art that shows all of the subways in the 70s in New York City and how it was like bananas, and she was like, "Oh my gosh, this is so cool!" I said, "Reference!" because it all comes from somewhere. Yeah so for sure, yeah.

DAMIAN CHIAM

Rachel, I always ask this question actually, because I kind of asked on behalf of my nieces. You know, because you know, I'm originally from Singapore. And in an Asian society, it's a stereotype oftentimes if you were to be a doctor or lawyer, right? It's very specific and creativity is not... Mmmmm not sure you want to do the arts. Is this a real career? Can you make any money?

I'm curious, you know, as a person of color, a woman who has thrived through this, do you have any advice for this younger generation of creators especially people of color, young creatives who maybe don't even have that sort of background? You had at least your parents' influence or support in that space, and they want to pursue it. But they're in an environment that doesn't really look highly on the arts. I'm just curious if you had any thoughts.

RACHEL IVEY

I mean, it's so interesting, when my daughter because we were transitioning to deciding what we're going to do for high school. And you know, when I grew up in California and I was in middle school, I can't even imagine someone coming to me and saying, "OK, we're planning for high school. What's it going to be, science? the arts?" I mean, I was riding my bike.

Inez said that she would, if there was the option, that she'd want to go to LaGuardia.

And I'm like, OK. I'd also like to go to LaGuardia.

You know, I will be very honest with you, Damian, that when she sort of pivoted from an interest in ocean biology to the arts, I did have a sort of like, "Oh," because I know how much I've had to do, and how I still feel like my last photoshoot is my best work, and the terror that happens inside me when we get to the last looks on set, and I'm already asking for all of the raws because I'm so nervous... Just that—that terror that we put ourselves through as creatives... Do I want that for her? And I remember saying to my husband, "Damn it," and he said, "What do you expect Rachel? Look at our home. Look at these books. Look at you. How can she not?"

So my job now is to nurture this, as a parent. And I think that any parent, whether you're living in Brooklyn or you're living in Singapore, I think it's important to identify your child's talents and nurture them. And, I mean, my husband and I are trying to decide for high school. He really wants to move up to the river towns and so I'm immediately like, "OK, those schools are pretty. Not very diverse, and let's look at the Arts programs." And there are some decent ones, but it's not like going to LaGuardia. So, I now will step in the same shoes that my mother had for me— or for herself— which was: on Saturdays, we're going to classes, and we will supplement with art in the household, and like I literally am becoming my mom, I am already planning the clay, the typography lessons. She's super into graphic design…

So, to answer your question and to make it personal, I'm using my daughter as the example, I have to nurture it. I don't think it's a thing for her because she really has a natural ability, much like my little brother, different than me. She's more tactical.

I remember when I was in high school and I went to see Jules and Jim— Truffaut film. And I remember getting to the end of that and thinking, "Oh my goodness, that was beautiful," and I remember asking my friend, like, "Who decides how beautiful that is? Is that the director?" And my friend said, "No, that is the production designer or art director." And I was like, "That's my job. I want to be the one who's in charge of the big beautiful picture." And ultimately, I am doing that.

JANOU PAKTER

Yeah, but you do more. You write the story. You are the producer, the director, and the writer, and the idea person now. You could have done Jules and Jim!

RACHEL IVEY

I would like to think so, but part of being a creative director, Janou and Damian, is you have to set the tone and really put down that first card. But what I have learned in my life now is that I can't and I won't do it all by myself.

When I was at Swell, I met this amazing copywriter who's now become a dear friend of mine. I had copywriters work with me at Williams-Sonoma, but it wasn't really until Swell where I would sit with someone and really talk about this kind of dream. What's in my head? And she was looking at me and kind of squinting her eyes at me. And she said, "I'll be right back." And she comes back maybe 3 hours later, taking all of my imagination and distilling it exactly the way I imagined it. But in morsels that were sort of digestible for the audience that she knew it had to go to. And I thought to myself, "You know what? In the past, I've done that, but she made it better. Yeah, it's still mine, but she made it better," and that was so amazing.

Those are the things that I try to teach people, especially these younger generations that I think have, I think, sort of a thwarted view of the grit and the work that it takes. If you want to lead... If you want to lead a team and you want to be that Northstar inspiration, that is a huge responsibility and it's awesome and sometimes we get stuck. But I was actually just telling my daughter this. It's sometimes OK to ask for help. It's OK to not have to be the only one with the idea. Yeah, you know, and that's a hard lesson. That is a hard lesson. I hope that I answered your question. But the bottom line is to support the youth!

DAMIAN CHIAM

Nurturing, right, anything you love.

RACHEL IVEY

Yes, yes totally.

JANOU PAKTER

Well in closing, I wanted to ask you a question which actually recently a friend of mine was asked by somebody and I thought it was a really interesting question. He said, "Tell me in one word what is your superpower?"

DAMIAN CHIAM

And why.

RACHEL IVEY

One word.

JANOU PAKTER

It is hard to come up with one word that's true.

RACHEL IVEY

I would say vulnerability. I would say vulnerability and the reason why is... I would say this applies to my craft, and being a wife, and being a mom, which is that you have to allow yourself to see, and feel, and touch, and have the openness for that in order to have the empathy to tell the stories. Right, so if you don't have it... So, it's not about weakness. It's about, you know, do you know what I mean? I don't know if it's a superpower, but I definitely know that I feel things very deeply, and I think when I join a brand to help them move to the next level, I have to feel it. And it's not about mission-driven feeling. I have to feel it, and when I feel it then it all comes together for me.

JANOU PAKTER

I think that is beautifully said. And the vulnerability is so many things. It's also the intuition and being open to anything and not wanting to control. It's beautiful. Well, thank you so much for sharing.

ALL

Thank you so much!

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