Claude-Joseph Vernet, Moonlight, 1772. National Gallery of Art. Gerard van Honthorst, Music-Making by Candlelight, 1623. SMK.
Imagine a place where creatives land when the industry wobbles, and grow when it doesn’t.
This is the idea I keep pitching to my friends. Now I’m pitching it to you.
Are you a creative who…
- Loves being a freelancer, but not the struggle of doing it all.
- Might not be in a creative role, but wishes they were.
- Feels like something is missing from the creative industry and market.
- Worries each time companies start layoffs, and wishes there were another option.
Why I keep coming back to this
Any time there’s some kind of financial calamity, the first people cut are the designers. Then everyone in our industry braces to be next.
We can go freelance. But business undervalues creative work, and once you’ve freelanced, getting back into an agency or an in-house team gets harder, because people judge freelancers.
And new grads have almost nowhere to land and build skills.
I first sketched this structure about three years ago, during a rough stretch. It’s been in the back of my mind ever since.
So here’s the dream.
Everyone stays independent.
You keep your freelance life, your own clients, and your own rates. You just stop doing it all alone.
Start in the community. Step into the collective when you need it.
Join the community to stay in the know, share work, and meet people. If you get laid off, or you’re ready for more, the collective is already there, with people you know.
Creative is a frame of mind.
You could be a creative designer, writer, accountant, lawyer, or macaron baker.
I’m wildly flexible on what “creative” means. A creative accountant who helps balance our books. A creative lawyer who reviews contracts. Someone who bakes macarons and wants their work history to show it.
We decide what to build next, together.
Imagine a shared list of everything the house needs. Members rank what matters most, and anyone can pick something up as their own project.
Founding members help decide how ownership works.
I’m not in this to get rich.
I want to contribute to my house and keep my kids fed and clothed. So I plan to be painfully transparent about the business: what it spends and what I make.
And someday, a gym for art.
A place where the painter and the glass blower can come work because it won’t fit in their house. Show up, make something, take a class, go home. Maybe one day.
One rule.
To join, you agree to be kind, to care about each other, and to mentor and be mentored.
Anyone can stay in the community. The collective is for people who show up for each other and care about the craft.
No jerks in the treehouse.
Aesop
The crow in the corner of every page, and soon on your phone. Coming to the App Store for a one-time fee.
Someday, a sandbox game with him: a world we build together, literally.
Kawanabe Kyōsai, Full Moon with Crow on Plum Branch, 1880s. Cleveland Museum of Art.
Where else we’ll hang out
Discord
Open now
Where we talk, share work, and draw together on Drawpile.
GitHub
Open now
For the tools we build, out in the open.
The Atelier
Open now
The paintings, prints, and photographs Corbie learns from, free for anyone to use. Someday, a room there for making art together at the same time.
Why isn’t it launched?
I want to see if anyone wants this to exist. I have ideas, but I’d like to see what we can do together.
I don’t know exactly where this goes yet. That’s the point.
Next roomSee how it works today.