By Darren Gilbert
An entrepreneur, fine artist and businesswoman all rolled into one, she is also the director of
Life is Awesome. A simple description of who Life is Awesome is, is that it’s a design and print studio. However, to leave it at that is to do them an injustice. Based in Woodstock, Cape Town, Life is Awesome – through Van der Merwe – is a studio intent on transforming the design agency culture for the better.
It is an ambitious undertaking. However, if you ever speak to Van der Merwe, you’ll quickly understand that it’s possible. This is because she is a serial overachiever. At 10-years-old, she opened her own boutique beachfront coffee shop, for which she won an award. She also decided to study business while in the final year of her design degree. The fact that she managed both with aplomb speaks volumes of her ability to make a success of whatever she sets out to do.
However, that doesn’t mean that everything she touches turns to gold. In fact, it first had to go horribly wrong. In 2009, having recently graduated, Van der Merwe joined a renowned agency in Cape Town. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what she was expecting. “I’m sorry to say but it was really terrible,” admits Van der Merwe. “I barely slept because we were working all hours. In fact, I remember keeping a sleeping bag next to my desk. It was crazy.” It was also unsustainable and shortly after joining, she left.
Experiences like Van der Merwe’s are common – the creative industry is one that can quite easily chew you up and spit you out within a matter of months (or even weeks). However, that shouldn’t discourage your from entering it. It is still an exciting industry in which to work. It just needs a little tweaking. One of those tweaks is to change the way that people are treated. In an environment where competition and pressure is normal, it’s important to build up and support one another. Van der Merwe agrees wholeheartedly.
Life is Awesome has a very different design culture compared to what is out there, believes Van der Merwe. “There are not a lot of egos here. We, instead, affirm each other.” In other words, everybody is equal. It’s a refreshing outlook when you apply it to a cut-throat industry and so far, it seems to be working well her and the studio.
“One of the things that I do is I never talk about ‘staff’. I call them dragons.” You may chuckle at her reference to
Game of Thrones, but there is a sound reason behind her using the moniker. Van der Merwe explains: “Everyone needs to rule and reign over their domain [like a dragon would]. So, I believe that if Stephen [Atterbury] is in charge of design, he must be able to make those calls. I don’t want him to come to my desk every five minutes.” In short, it’s about enabling and empowering, and in so doing, allowing people to take responsibility.
It’s an inspiring approach, but only when used properly. And when it doesn’t? Van der Merwe makes sure that that never happens. “We have 10 values that drive everything that we do at Life is Awesome. And it makes the difference.” It means having ‘dragons’ that can make judgment calls. As long as their call adheres to the values already in place, Van der Merwe has no problem in approving them straight away.
“I think having people who can make [judgment] calls is so important,” adds Van der Merwe. “If everyone is just going to be reliant on me, it becomes the whole business model of the master and the slaves. I don’t want that at Life is Awesome because it’s horrible.”
It is time for a fresh approach to the way that agencies operate. It begins with your values and an understanding what you want to achieve; continues through the assembly of a team that has a passion for design excellence and ends with people who have the authority to act. It’s a philosophy that Van der Merwe and Life is Awesome embrace completely. It’s also one that sets them apart.
For more information about Life is Awesome, visit www.lifeisawesome.co.za.