CREATIVE MINDSET

The name Malta Creative Collective been doing the rounds in the Maltese creative scene. Dayna Clarke speaks to co-founders Carla Grima and Rossella Frigerio to find out more about this movement of like-minded creatives.

Rosella Frigerio and Carla Grima

Photo by Emma Tranter

Carla Grima

Born on the Maltese islands, Carla spent her childhood immersed in the Mediterranean lifestyle. She recalls fondly her earliest memories of falling in love with design was during summers spent at her family’s ceramic workshop playing and painting on clay.

Carla was inspired to take her passion further by studying at the local design college, MCAST and then reading for a BA Hons in Fashion Innovation Management at UCA, Rochester. Her studies led her to gain experience with fashion houses between London and Paris with designers Jonathan Saunders and Marc Jacobs as well as mentoring students at UCA.

Holidaying back home in Malta in 2014, Carla was desperate to find clothing made from natural fibres that fit our hot climate. This organically inspired her to create a resort wear brand, Carla Grima Atelier, which is now based in Malta, produced in Italy and sold in Malta, Thailand, St Barths and Antigua.

Her love for telling a story through carefully crafted production has inspired her latest collaborative project Salt&C, a Maltese concept shop hosting locally designed products.

Rossella Frigerio

With both Maltese and Italian roots, Rossella was raised in Asia and completed her university studies in law at UCL and LSE in London. Following several years working in-house in a multi-national corporation and subsequently within Vivienne Westwood in Milan, Rossella decided to combine the legal, creative and practical commercial experiences that she had accumulated to co-found Sofia Capri – a niche sandal brand which was handcrafted entirely on the island of Capri. Alongside her then business partner, they brought the brand onto the shelves of numerous concept stores, malls and 5-star resorts internationally, including within several One & Only hotels in the Maldives, Mauritius and Mexico, Level Shoes in Dubai, Eden Rock in St Barths and the King Street Precinct in Perth. Selected by Vogue Italia as one of the emerging brands to watch, Sofia Capri garnered press from numerous international publications, including Monocle, Elle Singapore, Vogue USA, and Conde Nast Traveller.

Today, since moving to Malta in 2014, Rossella co-manages her family-run hospitality venture, Locanda La Gelsomina and runs One Blue Dot, a consultancy that provides brand development services, copywriting and practical commercial advice for emerging creative enterprises and makers globally who uphold a positive purpose.

Photo by Justine Ellul

Photos by Craig Hitchings

What is Malta Creative Collective?

We began talking about bringing a group of creatives together after the two of us, with our respective brands, collaborated on creating a trunk show at the Westin Dragonara in the summer of 2016. We realised that by working together, each bringing our own experience and unique set of skills and contacts, we had accomplished so much more as a team than if we were to have run the event on our own. This inspired us to share what we had learnt from this experience with the wider creative local community, which we felt was incredibly insular and lacking a genuine collaborative drive.

In January 2017, we decided to bring together 12 creatives from differing industries, both local and international, to a ‘speed-dating’ style of meet-up where we all sat around a table at Camarata in Valletta and had two minutes each to introduce ourselves and our work. We didn’t know what to expect, and didn’t know if anyone would even show up, but to our surprise, the response was overwhelmingly positive, and this inspired us to continue organising meet-ups, which eventually led to the creation of an identity, a group name and logo, as well as a website.

Malta Creative Collective is an independent, non-commercial entity that seeks to promote positive, genuine collaboration between creatives based in Malta across differing industries while creating a space both for Maltese and international creatives to network and collaborate, for it is not always easy to get everyone together.

Photos by Craig Hitchings

The Collective also aims to showcase the incredible wealth of talent that is based here, and that is successfully pursuing a commercial venture using creative skills. Through the Collective, we have organised pop-up retail events, workshops and talks geared at sharing knowledge and innovative know-how, and two editions of the Creative Circuit – a temporary multi-site event across locations in the capital city that aimed to showcase the diverse creative work in unconventional and lesser-known settings.

Photos by Craig Hitchings

We seek to pursue a spirit of inclusivity - the Collective is open to all, and our meet-ups are free for anyone interested in what we are continuing to attend.

Who is involved?

Aside from ourselves, we collaborate with a diverse group of collective members who form part of a panel, and together we meet every few months to share ideas on future projects and gather feedback on what their recent creative experiences have been. We discuss how any of these experiences can be shared with others, both within and outside the Collective, to help nurture transparency across the creative sphere locally. The panel also helps us select prospective collective members, who apply to become an integral part of the community through an application form presenting at one of our meet-ups.

At present, the panel consists of Patricia Grech and Steve Risiott from A Collective, Natalie Rose Vella, Inigo Taylor, Gioia Clavenzani and Ivano Ghinelli from JAD, and Sergio Muscat.

Having said this, for us, every creative that approaches the Collective – whether on a temporary or permanent basis – is a valuable contribution to what ultimately we are all seeking to achieve: affirmation of creative talent grounded in quality and supported by a healthy, non-competitive vision.

Why is this important on a local and international level?

CG: When we began this project, I realised how much I had missed my days at university; brainstorming projects and discussing designs with my studio buddies. The working design industry is so closed and secretive that we miss out on feeding our imagination by closing our studio doors to collaboration. I think it’s essential that we learn how to be open with each other, trust our ideas and respect others to create a broader creative community both locally and overseas. As a result of what has emerged from the Collective, Salt&C was inspired by all the creative studios locally and houses the works of some of our creative members.

RF: For me, honest collaboration across all spheres in life is necessary, for it is a precursor to growth as an individual and ultimately, to fulfilment. When we begin to realise that each one of us has something valuable to contribute in our own unique, distinct way that is intrinsic to our way of being, the fear that prevents us from sharing what we know naturally falls away. Highlighting the strengths of adopting this attitude is essential – both locally and internationally – because it ultimately helps break down barriers and hopefully inspire the next generation of creatives to do even better.

Photos by Craig Hitchings

What has been the reaction to the Collective?

The Collective has been an incredible journey, for it has revealed just how many positive, open-minded and talented creatives reside in Malta who are embracing this collaborative spirit with enthusiasm. Every time we have thrown a call-out for information, asked a question or looked for help, we have always been bowled over by the positive response generated each time. As far as we have been able to tell, the collective and what it represents has been well-received by the creative community.

What results have you witnessed?

Through the Collective, we have seen, among other things, gallery owners discover creatives and subsequently collaborate to host exhibitions, fashion brands come together to co-host a rooftop pop-up, collective members run informative workshops and talks offered to the public, and the international press feature the collective and its members as a highlight of the island’s emerging and dynamic creative scene.

Tell us who some of the creatives involved are and something about their work.

The Collective’s creative members – who are part of the online directory (maltacreativecollective.com) – form an integral part of the what the group pursues, and range from creative agencies and contemporary artists to illustrators and a KonMari consultant.

Is it challenging to start creative businesses?

This is a question which we often discuss at our meet-ups, as one of the main aims of the Collective is to support young/emerging creatives that are seeking to use their skills to run a sustainable business. Some of the issues that creatives face includes the absence of a centralised point of reference that offers clear and comprehensive information on running a creative business; few established creatives that mentor younger creatives, and generally a scarcity of innovative and positive creative role models that are leading the way commercially.

What are your plans for the Collective? Any upcoming ideas, concepts or events?

We aim to organise further meet-ups and a possible repeat of several successful workshops/talks that were run by collective members earlier this year as well as run the third edition of the Creative Circuit.

We are hoping to launch an annual or biannual independent printed publication that showcases the work of creatives (both members and non) on the island, and we would love to find a more permanent space that encapsulates the Collective’s spirit and showcases the creations of collective members.