How I Got Here: The Founder of Acid.Flwrs on creating and achieving her own career dreams
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Sevak Babakhani
WORDS BY MAGGIE ZHOU AND CAIT EMMA BURKE
“Every cool thing that I now get paid to do I just started doing because I found it interesting and did it on repeat until it got noticed.”
Have you ever stalked someone on LinkedIn and wondered how on earth they managed to land that wildly impressive job? While the internet and social media might have us believe that our ideal job is a mere pipe dream, the individuals who have these jobs were, believe it or not, in the same position once, fantasising over someone else’s seemingly unattainable job.
But behind the awe-inspiring titles and the fancy work events lies a heck of a lot of hard work. So what lessons have been learnt and what skills have proved invaluable in getting them from daydreaming about success to actually being at the top of their industry?
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Welcome to How I Got Here, where we talk to women who are killing it in their respective fields about how they landed their awe-inspiring jobs, exploring the peaks and pits, the failures and the wins, and most importantly the knowledge, advice and practical tips they’ve gleaned along the way.
Claire Mueller has a career story that’s nothing short of extraordinary. Most known for her work as the Founder of Sydney-based fine art floral studio, Acid.Flwrs, Claire creates avant-garde installations, art pieces, prints and bouquets. She’s collaborated with the likes of Napoleon Perdis, Mariam Seddiq, Casetify and the NGV – all in the two-year span since her floral empire launched.
The field Claire finds herself in now is quite different to the three degrees (costuming, fashion design and physiotherapy) she studied at university. After finding herself in a “hover state” in the wake of her dad’s health struggles, she pivoted away from the fashion industry and into the academic world of physiotherapy. In one fortnight period, she found herself balancing 11 exams and shooting hundreds of products for Christmas gift guides.
It’s that willingness to try her hand at everything that’s led Claire to become the stellar “translator between ideas and reality” she is today. Read on to hear about her career journey so far.
What do you do and what’s your official job title?
I’m the founder of Acid.Flwrs and a strategic creative working across varied projects for other brands. This means different things every day – I could be starting at the flower market then painting in my studio, in a production meeting for an event or project, running around sourcing or shooting content.
Take us back to when you were first starting out. Did you study to get into your chosen field, or did you start out with an internship/entry-level role and climb the ladder? Tell us the story.
I grew up in Perth and studied costuming at [the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts] (WAAPA) straight from school. [I] was always obsessed with fashion so went on to RMIT to study a Bachelor of Design (Fashion) afterwards.
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While I was there, I made sure I got involved with everything – dressing backstage at fashion weeks, being on the student council, working on independent creative productions, volunteering to assist anyone doing anything interesting, collaborating with other students on shoots and generally just getting around it. It was the era of blogging and social [media] was just kicking off so I was learning how to use a suite of new tools to communicate and showcase creative work which turned out to be invaluable foundational skills.
I’ve always had [the] drive to create opportunities which in hindsight was probably pretty annoying for people on the receiving end, but I figure if you don’t ask you don’t get. While I was studying, I worked part-time in a boutique [for] an Australian designer and I pushed to get them to create a role for me to do visual merchandising in the region. I could see it was needed and knew I could do it, so in my mind, it was a no-brainer. That mentality has driven most of my career progression, though it definitely hasn’t been linear.
What challenges/hurdles have you faced getting to where you are now? Can you tell us about one in particular?
It’s been a really winding road to get to this point. A significant challenge was leaving Melbourne just as my career was kicking off to go back to Perth and [provide] palliative care for my father. I’d gone over with every intention of coming back to continue in fashion, but the experience fundamentally changed my values and I no longer felt excited about chasing a future in an industry that, at the time, was pretty toxic beneath the surface.
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While the creative potential of fashion drove me, I’d always been extremely self-conscious and had a lot of anxiety about existing in the industry at that point. In this hover state – with my future on hold, having left everything I was working towards on the other side of the country and trying to hold it together through impending grief – I woke up one morning physically compelled to run, which provided intense clarity in a time of chaos.
The double-whammy transformative experiences of running and doing hands-on palliative care put me on a different path and I was fascinated to learn more about clinical health. I studied physiotherapy for a few years, which was obviously a massive pivot. As someone who used to wear heels every day and had barely seen a football game, walking into a lab full of sporty school leavers was, to say the least, fucking terrifying.
I flipped my brain into science mode and worked extremely hard to get through an intense academic schedule, while also freelancing as a creative on the side to earn money. I’d shuttered my blog by then but had been doing outfit flatlays for fun on Insta which ended up getting me work as a product stylist. I used to do gift guides for the Sunday Times magazine and shopping centres.
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In my second year of physio, I had an exam period with 11(!) exams and had to shoot two Christmas gift guides (hundreds of products to source and keep track of) in the same two weeks. I literally didn’t sleep. [I] passed the exams though, which I’m very proud of despite it not being relevant to my life at all now.
Obviously, I’m no longer in the health field, but that experience made me realise that my perspective as a creative communicator was valuable in different industries. I’ve since gone on to work with start-ups and tech companies, despite my degree being in fashion design. The ability to see beyond the constraints of what’s expected in a certain industry is 100 per cent what has made Acid.Flwrs work, and something I really encourage everyone to explore in their own landscape.
What do you want people to know about your industry/your role?
As a brand creative, I’m passionate about people understanding that creativity and visual communication is fundamentally important in all industries. It’s not just superficially about making something look cute (though, of course, making things look cute is part of it).
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There are layers of cultural context in everything and always functional outcomes to consider, so my role is very much about being a translator between ideas and reality. When I was younger, I wasn’t great at taking clients along for the journey, but now I understand that the better you are at setting the scene, the more likely you are to get to do what you think is good.
As someone in the floral industry, I want people to know that flowers are expensive and take heaps of prep. Perishable goods are VERY STRESSFUL to work with so appreciate your local florist, please! And as the founder of Acid.Flwrs, I want people to know that I only want to make weird flowers so please don’t ask me to make pink ones – they already exist in the real world.
What’s the best part about your role?
The best thing about Acid.Flwrs is having the opportunity to work with amazing designers, creatives and brands to create fun things. I find creative collaboration so exciting and am super inspired by different perspectives and experiences, so it’s an amazing platform to keep exploring new things.
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What I love about working as a creative for other brands at this point in my career is the ability to bring a robust perspective. I’m usually thinking 20 steps beyond where we’re at to problem solve… It’s really satisfying to see a project go smoothly from concept to execution. I have no time for unnecessary stress and try to impart this [to] the teams I work with.
What would surprise people about your role?
I do a lot of maths on the fly and there is HEAPS of planning involved in both creative production and running a creative business. My spreadsheet game is strong, and I have at least five different to-do lists on the go at any one time. I think a big misconception about being a creative is that you just float around having wild ideas.
But the reality is that to bring those ideas to life, you have to be organised and dedicated to the process, or they just dissipate. I’m very okay with trying and failing but hate the idea of wasted potential. Saying that, I’ve learned that it’s important to have space to float around too.
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What skills have served you well in your industry?
Writing is a skill that one doesn’t immediately associate with a visually creative role but this has probably helped me beyond all others. I actually can’t draw and my graphic design skills are rudimentary, but being able to clearly communicate an idea is fundamentally important. Whether you’re writing a concept description or an intro email or a social post, being able to get a message across is a good life skill.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be in a role like yours one day?
Put in the work, always be open to learning and create your own opportunities. Every cool thing that I now get paid to do I just started doing because I found it interesting and did it on repeat until it got noticed. If you’re waiting for someone to give your permission to do something, you’ll be waiting forever. You don’t need a client or a budget to be creative. Set yourself a brief or a challenge and start making things happen.
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One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to ‘fuck it up a bit’ (in direct reference to my creative folio and work as a stylist). If you’re only ever doing work to meet someone else’s needs, you’ll never find your own vibe.
What about a practical tip?
Get a creative crew around you, especially if you’re freelancing or running your own business. Doing your own thing is a rollercoaster! Connecting with other creatives is a lifeline, and it’s super important to build a network to share the journey. You’re not all going to be up at the same time, so be humble when it’s not your turn and generous when it is.
Read the rest of the How I Got Here series here.
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