Adèle Park is a packaging designer, problem solver, Muay Thai boxer and devoted joy seeker.
In everything she does, Adèle is a builder. Bringing creative problem-solving into three-dimensional reality, making it tangible, is kind of her thing. With her grad degree in Interior Architecture and undergrad in Interior Design, we asked Adèle to break down the difference.
“In some ways, interior architecture exists between architecture and interior design. In studying interior architecture, you’re using psychology to figure out things like creating spaces that take people’s needs into consideration, more from a user standpoint.”
Interior architecture asks questions like, how will this house best host an active, growing family of four? How can an art museum best direct the flow of human traffic, without creating the need for signs around every corner? How can product packaging visually and functionally start to communicate a brand’s promise? Answering these questions with effective, and eventually tangible, creative thought is among Adèle’s many loves, interests, and talents.
“When I work with packaging it’s almost like looking at something as a little tiny piece of architecture.”
While packaging design seems like a natural fit for Adèle, finding her making-match took time, open-mindedness, and curiosity.
“In grad school at Rhode Island School of Design, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to explore different departments—I tried jewelry design, furniture design, typography, textile weaving. That experience helped me understand that design is not meant to be confined to one area. That kind of goes for any sort of creative, especially architects, look at Zaha Hadid or Frank Gehry, they designed jewelry for Tiffany, so. It gave me an open mindset.”
Adèle always maintained a steady interest in graphic design, too, and taught herself how to use graphic design tools—her current daily work tools at Studio Adèle Park, her full-time packaging and graphic design business.
The first time Adèle encountered packaging design, something clicked. It’s graphic design. It’s making three-dimensional things with a purpose, and a specific audience, in mind. It’s creative problem-solving. All in one.
“When I had the opportunity to try packaging design I was like oh my god, maybe this is what I was meant to do.”
After practicing freelance packaging design for a year and a half, Adèle accepted an in-house position as a junior packaging designer with a home fragrance company in New York City.
Over six years, Adele sharpened her skills and got hands-on experience, once again, trying many different things—designing for private label brands and various companies, creating visual merchandising solutions. But eventually, she wanted out—not of the work, or the company, but out of New York City.
A tale of two homes
Adèle set her sights on San Francisco, landed a job, and relocated to the city she now considers one of her two homes. She shares, “Home is where my family is. So Korea is definitely home, too.”
Adèle was born in Indiana and her dad’s microbiology work took her family all around the country. After living in Bloomington, Philly, Houston, and Palo Alto—all before middle school—Adèle and her parents moved to Korea, her parents’ home, and where Adèle lived through middle school, high school, and college (undergrad).
“Living in all those different cities, everything felt very transient. In grad school [in Rhode Island] you know everyone is going to go away and go somewhere else. Living in New York City, people come and go, it’s not really the type of place people settle. In that sense it always felt like things were up in the air, not grounded. So coming to San Fran just really made me focus on, not just work—I have the opportunity to have a life, and think about the people around me, and what I’m doing outside of work. Having lots of great people around me helps me feel grounded here. So San Fran is my home now. I have two homes.”
Adèle builds relationships intentionally, much like she builds everything else she gets her mind and hands on. Her focus on relationships, in work and life, is the ultimate expression of her personal values.
“I don’t quite think you can say you really like a project, but not who you’re working with—to me, [relationships] influence the work so much that you can’t really say that. Working independently, you’re never forced to work with anyone. Even in companies with the best intentions, there’s tension among people working together so closely for many hours. I was very disenchanted by that. I didn’t care to entertain that anymore. That’s one reason I decided working for a company was not for me. I want to enjoy the work I’m doing and the people I’m working with. The beauty of working for yourself is getting to build relationships with people who make you happy and bring you joy—just by working with them. But that can’t really be discovered unless you actually give it a chance.”
Building her business
Making a full commitment to her own business, for Adèle, required building her relationship with herself first. This ever-important personal work, and her business, have bloomed in parallel.
Adèle craves variety, personally and professionally. She doesn’t find working for one brand satisfying, nor having a single side-hobby or interest. When she moved to San Fran she worked for one brand, realizing pretty quickly that was not a fit. Rather than stay at the job out of obligation, and without a plan or any real intent to freelance, she left the job, placing faith in the leap itself as the right move. It was.
While she’s been self-employed for six years now, Adèle has continuously mined her values, asking of them, of herself, if the path she’s on is correct. Just three years ago, the answer became a clear yes. Her mindset (and her website) shifted from freelancer, to business owner. And she’s not looking back.
“In my life I’m most proud of starting my own business and sticking with it. While my work speaks for itself, putting myself out there (networking, cold calling, talking about my merits, selling myself, etc.) and facing the unknown and uncomfortable in many ways was, and is, a challenge. I never once thought there would be a time I’d have to advertise what I’m good at. Having been taught not to boast about myself (in Korean culture, it is considered being full of yourself/narcissistic), it still feels awkward to point out what I do well, and I am still working through that as we speak. Nonetheless, I’m proud of persevering through each challenge that came my way and for not giving up when things got hard. I’m also proud of taking the time to dig deep and understand myself and my values to know this decision was right for me.”
Building her life
One fundamental truth, or question, guides Adèle’s life: Does this bring me joy, or is this bad for me? She shares, “All I want to do in life is live a joyous, happy life. So to me it’s about figuring out what gives you that. And that’s different for every single person.”
Adèle has found many interests that bring her joy. In her non-working hours she draws and paints, is freshly learning wheel pottery, volunteers building houses, and practices martial arts. One of her values, and drivers of joy, is to be a lifelong learner—and she’s living up to it.
“I started getting into martial arts five or six years ago. Right now I’m doing Muay Thai, which is Thai boxing, and before that I did boxing for a few years. There are so many values in martial arts that translate to your everyday life—one of my favorite things is being present. You can’t not be present when you’re practicing martial arts, it’s almost impossible, you’re forced to be in the moment, do what you’re doing, only what’s in front of you. Learning patience. Practice, the idea of repetition and putting the time and effort in is the only way you’re going to learn. We think, oftentimes, oh, if you have the talent you can just kind of fast-track it. But the lesson is that you just have to put the time and effort into it and do it over and over again until you get better at it.”
For Adèle, presence is a recurring theme. In between building small-scale architecture in the form of product packaging and displays, Adèle volunteers her time to build full-scale houses.
“For about a decade now, I’ve been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and Fuller Center for Housing. I don’t get to do it as often as I’d like, but roughly once a year I’ll go on a 10-day trip to a country that needs housing and do construction work for a week. You get so much out of it, you get so much back from the experience; not only appreciation for the things you do have—it really puts your life in perspective—but it helps you think in a different way. You’re doing physical work; you’re present. You don’t have to think about anything else other than what you’re doing. I find that hard to do on an everyday basis. You’re often ruminating, your mind constantly in chatter—it’s so great to not have that when you’re there. There are lots of different components to it that enrich my everyday life in a different way than anything else does.”
Building advice for fellow solopreneurs
Throughout her life and career, Adèle’s close observations of what works for her and what doesn’t have led to a well of riches that she generously agreed to share.
To anyone considering starting their own business, or currently in the thick of it, Adèle’s words are a solid blueprint.
“The saying “You miss 100% of the chances you don’t take” couldn’t be more accurate. Without trying, there’s no way to know if running your business is right for you. If you’re waiting for the perfect time, or what I used to say, “when I’m ready for it,” that time may never come unless you take that step and find out for yourself. You may discover that it isn’t the right thing for you. But at least you’ll know you tried and have no regrets. This doesn’t mean you have to quit your 9-5 right away. If you’re on the fence, maybe try it as a side business before fully diving in.
Be willing to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. You will encounter situations that you wouldn’t necessarily with a full-time job. That may be pitching to a new client, marketing yourself, handling business finances, etc. After working for myself for six years, I still come across new situations and learnings all the time. And I know I will continue to, as long as I run my own business. New challenges can be exciting but uncomfortable at the same time. If you want to run your business, be prepared to welcome the uncomfortable, often!
Be patient with yourself, and allow the room to grow and learn from your journey, with grace. Nowadays there is so much instant gratification that it’s easy to forget there is no shortcut to learning the ropes of running a business. As with anything worth pursuing, much time and effort is needed. You may be eager to see growth and change immediately, but that isn’t always the case. Don’t get discouraged. The pace is different for everyone, and it’s important to have patience and to allow growth to happen as it was meant to.
Take caution not to compare yourself with others; it can be a deadly rabbit hole. Someone once told me that when you compare, you’re always less than. How many times have you compared yourself to a friend, family member, or colleague and felt inferior? Look within and ask yourself what is important and what your measure of success is.
Don’t forget to nurture your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. When you work for yourself, it’s so easy to just keep going and focus solely on the act of working. But your work is just one aspect of your life, and if you only invest in that, you soon realize it’s not sustainable. Practice mindfulness, exercise regularly, spend time with loved ones, and do whatever nourishes you as a whole.
Don’t take things personally. When your expectations are met with disappointment, it’s easy to think you are not good enough, they don’t like you, or it’s a personal attack on you. Often, we jump to the worst-case scenario and are quick to blame ourselves. Remember that work is something you do, not who you are. Work is business. And business is not personal.
Stay curious and be a lifelong learner. As we get older and stay in business longer, we may find ourselves in an endless loop of the same thing, different day situations. If we don’t make the time for new experiences and learning, that might be one of the easiest ways to become obsolete and irrelevant. Learn new skills and experience new things to fill your tank and use that to fuel your work. You’ll find that it brings you joy and makes work easier, too!
Believe and trust that all will be well. In moments of anxiety, take a deep breath and remind yourself that all will be well. Examine this and ask yourself, ‘have I been okay (okay as in did I have food and shelter and basic human necessities) in the past? Am I okay now? So, could I say I will be okay in the future?’ Worrying will not help you move forward, and you don’t have to know every step to get where you want to be. You just have to take the first step, and the rest will be revealed.”
Adèle would never want to come across as someone who knows it all. The funny thing about wisdom, though, is that people with the most are quick to claim they know very little.
“Even though I’ve been doing this for several years I’m just at the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much to learn about running your own business and being your own boss, it’s challenging but, even despite all that, based on my values, it’s the right choice for me. This path we are on is unpaved and unique to each of us.”
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