Kionii is a black-owned jewellery brand focusing on pendants for the diaspora. Entering the company as white artist, I recognised my privilege and the responsibility I had. I believe it was the existing cultural diversity shown in my portfolio that proved I was suitable for the position, which understandingly included creating illustrations of black and brown skin. Now after 1 year, I feel confident that I can represent cultures different to my own with the right guidance; which I feel, is an incredibly important skill to have, and one I believe I will bring to many different situations later on in my illustration career, as active inclusivity will always be essential.
As well as highlighting the importance of inclusivity, the last year taught me SO MUCH about what it’s like to work in-house, much of which was very interesting but also a real challenge. After a few months at Kionii, I was given the additional responsibility as a marketing assistant, working beneath the marketing manager to create different social media posts for platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. I learnt a lot through this, much of which I will bring to future freelance situations whether that be marketing personal work or targeting my commissions appropriately for the target audience; however, I also learnt that what I love most about being and illustrator, is simply illustrating. This is because doing all these tasks at once, was occasionally a little overwhelming, and not exactly what I signed up for. The role of course had many things I didn’t initially expect, however not all were stressful. Overall I’m incredibly grateful for the entire experience and I’m fully aware of not only the impact the company had on me, but also the impact I had on the company. Each time I see some of my work, either on their social media, their website or printed merchandise, I’m still in awe that my illustrations are being used in the real world and being seen by so many. Just one of the really exciting new opportunities that Kionii gave me, was to create packaging, something I’ve been keen to do for a while now! To view all my work for whilst at Kionii, click here.
