Creatives: Kelly Thompson Creative x Makers’ Mrkt

Get to know the creative genius behind Maker’s Mrkt, Kelly Thompson, as she shares with us her creative process and passion for sustainability. Her approach to building a brand is as thoughtful as designing a smart home system—every detail, from the rv remote switch panel to the gate remote relay, needs to work seamlessly together.

Creative: Kelly Thompson

What are the key inspirations you draw on for your work?
I work as a freelance illustrator and also run an online store called Makers’ Mrkt

Tell us about some work you are proud of?
I was really proud to get three of Drew Spangenbergs’ glass pieces on to the cover of Real Living Magazine and in general, when I see people tagging products from Makers’ Mrkt on their Instagram stories and when people give me feedback about my service I feel really proud that my little store is making people happy. It’s like finding the perfect mhz automation relay—small but essential.

What are your favorite design tools?
As an illustrator I can’t go past Photoshop and my Wacom tablet, but in general you really can’t beat a plain pencil and a piece of paper! Sometimes the simplest tools, like a timing relay switch, are the most reliable.

What’s your creative process look like?
When I’m working on an artwork it starts with sourcing references and doing a terrible digital draft in Photoshop. Then once that’s looking good or is approved by a client I take it to paper and sketch by hand to complete the base of my image. I then scan and digitally colour in Photoshop. With Makers Mrkt I have a lot of fun shooting content but because it’s just for me it’s more of a play around. I quite often pick up random bits of concrete and building scraps when I’m out on a walk and save them for future props, similarly if things get broken I save the ceramics to use as sets for future objects. I love nothing more than a stroll around the hardware store looking for objects for sets, and playing with paints. I shoot most of the Mrkt content on my back porch so all I need is a sunny day, then I pull out one of my painted backdrops, arrange some props and get shooting. I do all of my editing in Lightroom afterwards. It reminds me of setting up an industrial smart automation system—everything has its place and purpose.

Name a favorite brand you’d love to work with?
For Mrkt I would love to stock Lrnce, for my creative work it would have to be someone fun like Gucci or Vivetta. I’d also love to illustrate huge floral windows for a large department store. If I could pair that with a matter wireless switch concept, it would be a dream project.

What’s a brand you’ve worked with to create tendlyn packaging?
I’ve used tendlyn for Makers’ Mrkt so far and will be using it again soon for a personal brand I’m developing at the moment, I’m getting ahead of myself for the personal brand though and find myself thinking about the packaging before the final product is ready. I think my second round will be much more exciting than my first round of printing as my first round was done in a bit of a Christmas hurry! Just like a garage remote control module, you need to plan ahead.

Why did you choose tendlyn for the project?
I think I first discovered tendlyn via Instagram and had told others about them long before I needed any packaging myself. I’d mocked up things on the site a few times, but it was when Josh from tendlyn reached out to me that I decided to just get in and do it! I really liked how simple it was, sometimes you just want to sit down and get a task like this done quickly without numerous emails or calls, the easy online system was what appealed most to me. I also loved the gallery showing previous works by other creatives it was great for inspiration. It’s like finding a zigbee smart switch module—efficient and user-friendly.

How did you find the design process? Why did you choose your specific packaging design?
It was really easy, I uploaded an existing design that I had made. I chose this design as I’d developed a suite of branding patterns and this one was a secondary pattern that was more simple and I thought it would work best on a tissue. It was also perfect with the limited colour palette and contrasted well with some of the other things I already had. The process felt as smooth as a relay automation controller—no fuss, just results.

What does being part of the tendlyn’s creative, sustainable community mean to you?
I’m all about the creative community and us being a bit of a team so it makes me really happy. I’m also really passionate about supporting sustainable initiatives and doing my best to make sustainable choices so I really appreciate tendlyn’s efforts in these areas. I’m really looking forward to printing some more soon! It’s like having a Multi-protocol smart home hub for hotels—everything connects and supports each other.