The Meandering Path of Emily
As a mixed-race Asian American, I count myself lucky to feel ties toward a multitude of cultures, processes, and ways of thinking. My mixed cultural heritage has had a huge influence on how I’ve chosen to live my life—how I’ve lived in multiple cities, how I’ve chosen the life of a freelancer bouncing from one project to the next, and even my choice of being a multidisciplinary artist. Variety is the spice of life, as they say!
“I feel like I’m finally experiencing a momentum that’s keeping me fulfilled and growing at a healthy pace, and I’m learning to take my time and give myself the room I need.”
Even my career journey up until this point has been a lively and meandering one. It was confusing at times though, and my main mistake was ignoring my instincts to try different things, instead putting myself into a box.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, I started my career by studying film and TV at NYU’s Tisch here in NYC, where I interned for places like The Daily Show, Adult Swim, and Saturday Night Live on the Production Design team. I had always been in love with set design in film (it was the first thing I noticed in any movie I watched as a kid) but I think my own insecurities as a creative got in the way, so I pushed myself into a supporting role instead. Putting aside my creative drive, I took time off to travel after college and teach English in South Korea, before moving to LA to take up producing work in commercials and film.
After a couple years of spinning my wheels in California, and still feeling terribly unfulfilled, I was finally pushed to do something for myself. I moved with my now-husband to London, where he encouraged me (and I gave myself permission) to finally figure out what was calling me. So it was in London that I really began my journey into the world of fabrication, set design, and stop-motion animation. By the end of my four years in the UK, I had so many projects under my belt as a freelancer that I was proud of, and I had taken a two-year distance course in Graphic Design from a school in Sweden. I was growing fast as an artist. But obviously never fast enough!
Cut to: present day here in Brooklyn, where I’ve lived for almost three years as a freelance designer/illustrator. I feel like I’m finally experiencing a momentum that’s keeping me fulfilled and growing at a healthy pace, and I’m learning to take my time and give myself the room I need.
Something I’m really proud of is the fact that I’m somehow able to balance working in different mediums by getting consistent work in both papercraft/stop-motion and digital design/illustration. I’ve found that I’m at my happiest when I spend a few weeks running around on set and building things I can physically touch, and then straight back to my desk to explore a space that has anchor points and a Ctrl+Z.
Emily Suvanvej is a multidisciplinary designer working in animation and editorial illustration, currently based in NYC. Her current obsessions include: retro devices, sci-fi landscapes, 90s nostalgia, cats, and coffee.
Text and Images by Emily Suvanvej