An Interview with Graeme and Katya Founders of Homewerk
Ahead of their workshop for us on Wednesday 2nd April on ChatGPT for creatives we have done an interview with Homewerk founders Katya and Graeme to find out a bit about them and their new business Homewerk!
Can you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about your new business Homewerk?
Hello! We are Graeme Watson and Katya Buryakova, and we are the co-founders of Homewerk! Through Homewerk we design workshops, courses and projects to give creative professionals inspiration, space, time and accountability to learn new skills and tools in fun and interesting ways.
What inspired you to start Homewerk and how do you plan to bring it to life?
Well from our own experiences working in jobs that require creativity and constantly adapting to the latest digital tools and platforms, we realised that it can be really difficult in the thick of day-to-day work to make time for ongoing creative experimentation and learning.
We also both really believe that the whole process of creating and learning just makes life more interesting and fulfilling in general, regardless of what you do for a living. So our ambition for Homewerk is to create opportunities for people to revitalize or refresh their sense of creative curiosity and confidence.
We are currently programming a range of workshops and events which we hope will inspire and interest people looking to bring a bit of creative spark to their lives.
You are a husband and wife team, how have you found working together so far?
Yes we are! We have our own projects and creative interests, but we realised we have a lot in common in terms of our day jobs. Katya provides Digital Support and training to craft makers, and Graeme’s background is working in communications and marketing in comedy promotion and Higher Education. We realised that we encounter similar challenges in supporting people and in our own creative and professional development.
Any tips for other couples interested in starting a business together?
Wow, that’s a tough question!
It’s probably not always a good idea for everyone, but we think if it feels like a natural thing for you to do, just do it. We have our individual projects and interests too, but this is just one where we realised we have a good collaborative skillset and dynamic! It makes sense.
How do you plan to support each other during your business journey?
Communicating and including each other in decision-making seems a good place to start! Luckily we usually end up on the same page about most decisions.
What are you most excited for with Homewerk?
Ooooh – we’re excited about some of the surprises we’ve got up our sleeves! We hope some of what we offer will be pretty unique. Follow us on Instagram at @homewerk.project and watch this space!
And what are you most scared of?
If you start small and grow you don’t really have to be scared of too much. We hope people will enjoy what we will be programming, and we’re excited to see how people respond to it.
Is there a book or podcast or quote or a specific piece of advice that has helped you on your journey as creative entrepreneurs you can share with us?
Graeme: For me, I think I have learned from anything I’ve done is that it always pays to have the courage to do things yourself. You can’t predict where you will go, but if you do your work, you’ll go somewhere! The Samuel Beckett line “Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better” resonates strongly with me.
Katya: For me, I think if you want to do something you should just do it. It’s easy to feel like you are boxed in within your routines and habits, but there are only obstacles and no restrictions; there is an endless amount of possibilities for everyone, even if you feel stuck.
Finally, what are your hopes and dreams for Homewerk for the future?
We want Homewerk to be a really good mix of offline and online events – we’re really interested in what we might be able to achieve in the online space in terms of building a community, but we think face-to-face connection is also really important too. We hope we can merge both of those successfully and see where that takes us
You can sign up here for their workshop Adventures in ChatGPT which is at 7pm on Wednesday 2nd April in our Hill St studios!
