Meet Payal Sharma | Graphic Artist & Product Designer. Founder of FYBUR designs

We had the good fortune of connecting with Payal Sharma and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Payal, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I have always been a very visual person. it takes a lot of effort for me to read books, but at the same time, I am great at deciphering visuals. These attributes were a tell-tale signs that I was destined to have a career in the field of visual arts and design. To add fuel to the fire, my father was an architect. This exposed me to a lot of blueprints, architectural drawings and 3d models. I have the fondest of memories spending endless weekends with him, sipping on some masala chai and surrounded by these highly stimulating visuals, and tangible dreams. It was like being in a kaleidoscope. I routed my natural passion for art by completing my Bachelors of Design (Graphic Design) in 2004.  Early on in my creative career, I had exposure & opportunities to work in different genre of design, Advertising agencies, architecture firm, fashion & interior studios, me being innately creative I wanted to not just have one entrepreneurial bent of mind but wanted to combine and channelize all these streams together. When it was time to choose my creative path long term, I could not do justice by picking one stream and doing a desk job for the rest of my life. It had to be something that encompassed all my inspirations and knowledge, business was the only way forward.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Growing up in the vibrancy of India and also as a child I closely followed my father and drew inspiration from his diverse architectural work and expertise. This early awareness of rich land of culture, colors and heritage art has always been integral in my life since childhood. I fondly recount the markets of my homeland filled with a melange of colors, sounds, textures, and smells. It is like walking in an artwork! I was fortunate to have also closely followed my father and drew inspiration from his diverse architectural work and expertise. I had an early awareness of architecture and interior design, colors and texture, crisp lines and light, are evident in how I approach my art. Because of my background in art and design, I began to dream of just how integrated art and utilization could be. From scarves, keychains, and pillow covers, to painting and digital design, I began to work towards products that could be defined as being art and being functional.

1. What was the thought process behind starting your own business?

I have always been a very visual person. it takes a lot of effort for me to read books, but at the same time, I am great at deciphering visuals. These attributes were a tell-tale signs that I was destined to have a career in the field of visual arts and design. To add fuel to the fire, my father was an architect. This exposed me to a lot of blueprints, architectural drawings and 3d models. I have the fondest of memories spending endless weekends with him, sipping on some masala chai and surrounded by these highly stimulating visuals, and tangible dreams. It was like being in a kaleidoscope. I routed my natural passion for art by completing my Bachelors of Design (Graphic Design) in 2004.  Early on in my creative career, I had exposure & opportunities to work in different genre of design, Advertising agencies, architecture firm, fashion & interior studios, me being innately creative I wanted to not just have one entrepreneurial bent of mind but wanted to combine and channelize all these streams together. When it was time to choose my creative path long term, I could not do justice by picking one stream and doing a desk job for the rest of my life. It had to be something that encompassed all my inspirations and knowledge, business was the only way forward.

2. What is one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?

a. “To Keep work and personal life separate” Since my childhood I always found the disconnect to this way of thinking. We are humans and if we disconnect work & play then we will always find yourself divided in life, especially when you love what you do for a living. I do not see my work and personal life as separate aspects of my life, I get inspired by my day today life, the things I see and places I go inspires me, even just playing with my kid sparks the joy in me and fuels my creativity. I involve him in my work, by asking him for his advice, inspiring him to create his own art. This kind of an environment can motivate other family members to make better life choices too. This also helps my communications with my buyers. Juggling parenthood and entrepreneurship sometimes can be challenging, but being honest about what is going on with family and people you work with goes a long way. Frankly, people value and appreciate it. This helps me also be true to myself.

3. Risk taking: how do you think about risk? what role has taking risks played in your life/career?

We have all either heard off or used the phrase for designers – “they have the creative license, they can pull it off”. Breaking rules and being stand-offish has never been a problem for me. Risk-taking is such an integral part of my process, without it I feel like a fish with out of water.

While taking risks, of course you will make mistakes and create something that either people don’t understand or appreciate. For me, that is literally the definition of being an entrepreneur. Take a chance, if it is a hit, great, if it is not, back to the drawing board. It is the process of coming up with something new is what keeps me going, the end result is out of my hands.

Risks have a been a huge part of my life, even outside of my profession. I married my friend from college in India, and moved 8000 miles away from my country and city and people that I grew up with. I had no idea what tomorrow, next week or next month will bring. I had to find my footing in what I had, my ideas and tools. Being a spiritualist, I strongly believe universe always has a bigger plan for you, which in the end is the best for you. We can only take actions based on calculated risks, universe does the rest.

While taking risks, you really can lose. Failed ideas teach you more than the successful ones.

4. What habits to you feel helped you succeed?

a. Consistency, and self love
Daily meditation, constant effort to work on myself spiritually, mentally and physically has helped me succeed. In my experience, internal balance creates external balance, things fall into place a little easier and better.

I love to spend time in my meditation room, aka my “power house”. I have always felt a strong and a deep connection with the universe and all its beings. My spiritual and the creative personas fuse together to create work that has an expression and intention to create harmony, something that evokes inner joy and bliss, something that transcends ordinary sense of existence. I am also fortunate to have my spiritual guide Maitreya Dadashreeji, who has been there with me as a divine friend guiding me within.
This quote from him always ground me when I need to:

“We have forgotten the Creator Himself and are lost in His creation, searching for peace all over this world, whereas peace lies in the true bonding with the Source of it all.” – Maitreya Dadashreeji

5. what is the most important factor behind your success / success of your brand?

Being true to myself!
Creativity is subjective, having the freedom to be able to express myself and my ideas via my art and designs is priceless to me. I would not trade it for anything in the world. Starting a business and having no customers for a few months was scary, but the idea of being my own boss and being creatively free kept me going.
Being true to myself, true to my lifelong experiences that that I have gathered, scars and badges that I have collected helps me be me. If I make money creating the pieces I love, it is a cherry on top.

6. work life balance. How has you balanced changed over time? how do you think about balance

For me work and life are not separate. I am constantly drawing reference and inspiration from the life around me. I am blessed to be a designer and a visual thinker, even when I am not working, my thought process does not have to stop. If I come up with a great idea and I am not on my computer, I always make it a point to add a little sketch or a doodle in my handy sketchbook. In my opinion, one of the strongest traits a designer can have is the power of observation. To be able to observe people, and environments, you must have enough non-computer/desk time with people and family to discover new insights. Therefore, and luckily, I have never felt the pull or urgency to balance life and work.

7. how did you come up with your business idea for your business

I always wondered about and admired people who got opportunities to create things and it would stir a feeling or emotion in me. These things and objects find a place and purpose in people’s daily lives. I often thought to myself, that not only it must be fun to create these but also what a honor that people are willing to pay you for it and keep them in their homes. This later on snowballed in a very strong desire to create designs that are key in transforming a house into home for people and adding some good vibes in their lives. Once I had my official art and design training, I could not wait to start serving people, in my own way.

8. What are you inspired by?

A lot of my modern work is a reflection of my early influences and an undying love for all things Mid Century Modern. As a child I closely followed my father and drew inspiration from his diverse architectural work and expertise. My style and approach to design was shaped by the post-war modern architecture and designers such as Eames and Ludwig Mies Van. Undying love for the Mid Century Modern movement, characterized by bright homes, large glass windows, open spaces, focus on function, simplicity and blending the outdoors and indoors, brings the best out in her work.

9. what is the most important lesson your business or career taught you?

I have learnt a lot since I started my business. In fact, I don’t think I am even the same person in many ways. I have transformed, I had to be able to adapt to the needs of the hour. The biggest lesson for me has been patience and self-love. It took me some time to understand how things are connected. Lack of self-love is breeding grounds for everything negative. Everything from being able to empathize with customers, to creating art and to be available for my family, every aspect of life needed a deeper understating and appreciation of the self. It was not always easy, sometimes it is still not. But I have enough experience and awareness of signs that when I start to slide into a mode where I am not fully comfortable and self-loving, I stop and take a break. One or a combination of some self-nurturing activities like sipping tea on a rainy day, listening to my music, meditating, chanting, going for a walk, being with the family or even just eating my favorite Indian street food can get me back on track.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Austin – Keep it weird! I Love the vibe of this place, there is so much happening here in terms of Art, Food and places!

I will first enjoy a good cup of Morning coffee At The Mozart Cafe in West lake area, next to lake Travis! with my favorite pistachio cannole.
then we will drive around Lakeway for some spectacular drive with views of the pristine lake.

I love Georgetown downtown here as it has old town feel with some great Pizza place, great place to hangout with artist sculpture displayed o streets

There are lot of new Indian restraunts that have opened up! and the one I love is called “SAMAY” it has the most authentic North Indian food I have tasted in America! And how can I miss the Masala Chai there!

And a evening walk in Domain with some gelato!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to give a shout out to West elm for recognizing my work as an Artist and offering my products in their stores. https://www.westelm.com/blog/maker/fybur/

Also to Etsy for giving a platform to all makers and creators to make a living by letting us offer our handmade & designed products.
www.fybur.etsy.com

My Spiritual guide ” Maitreya Dadashreeji ” for teaching me more about myself as a soul.
https://maitribodh.org/

And of-course My parents & my designer husband for supporting my creative endevours.

Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Fybur

Instagram: @fybur , @payal_divine_in_me

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payal-sharma-fybur

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fyburdesigns/

Image Credits
Photographer for 2 profile pics is Kamil Rizvi.