Meet Grace Austin | Fibre Artist & Freelance Writer

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

Hi Grace, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
I hear that the cool kids aren’t calling it ‘balance’ anymore, but ‘harmony’ and I dig that. The structure of my working-life and wider lifestyle has changed drastically over the years, and being self-employed has allowed for some fluidity when it comes those changes.

I’ve pretty much always been self-employed, right since after I left college and kicked off a tentative freelance writing career. At that time, I was in my early 20s and living in China. My living expenses were incredibly low; I was single, dependant-less, and used to seeing my bank account bottom out (and it didn’t bother me much). I spent a lot of time outdoors—on the beach, learning to kitesurf, and in the jungle. That lifestyle was what allowed me the wiggle room to not earn very much while I gained experience and built a writing portfolio.

Years later, I co-founded a content website and the idea of a work-life balance flew out the window. It was a kind of travel blog for digital nomads in the extreme sports niche. I was constantly working—the total cliché of never being able to switch off. But, in another clichéd sense, I loved what I was doing/making/writing, so it didn’t feel like work, a lot of the time. I got to travel lots and spend time in funky little surf towns, exploring hiking trails, testing out surf-y bungalows across Asia… it was very cool.

The not-taking-a-break thing caught up fast though, and I burned out. Stopped writing (professionally) completely and started an offline business as a salve. That’s ‘pacie grews.’—my fibre art business where I make bespoke macramé designs and teach creative workshops. There was a lot of grinding to get that business in shape, too, but it felt a little more balanced and healthy not being glued to a laptop 16 hours a day.

Now, I do both. I regained my grá (That’s Irish for ‘love’) for writing and have relaunched my services. I try to keep things really real and avoid the type of jobs that burned me out before. I focus on brand voice creation; working with businesses to nail their brand persona and apply that across their content touchpoints. I still run ‘pacie grews.’ on the side, mostly in the workshop space. I’ve been teaching a lot of macramé and weaving classes to school kids, folks with disabilities, and private groups too. I also went back to college as a person in my 30s, which is wild. I’m on track to qualify as a psychotherapist in about three years’ time.

My life looks very different to how it did when I first started my self-employment journey. I’m married, have 3 cool step-kids, and we live at home in Ireland with a very demanding Thai street dog and cat that came home with me at the end of my travels. Life is big now, and work weaves around it. I think that’s the beautiful, privileged thing about self-employment—you can adapt, change tack, and rebalance what you’re doing depending on what life is serving you up at the time.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
So, I create in two main ways. One is fibre art and the other is words. I once heard someone say that the etymology of ‘textile’ comes from the root ‘text’, which makes sense because both are about stories. That felt like a neat little bow to wrap around my somewhat scattered career trajectory.

Let’s go with fibre art first. My primary medium is macramé, which, for the uninitiated, is the ancient craft of knot-tying. It’s such a grounding (and astounding) thing to create something complex and beautiful from a spool of cord. My favourite type of creations are large tapestries and oddball installation commissions. Last summer, I made an enormous nest that hangs from the trees in an interactive garden; it was entirely made of salvaged fishing nets and cord made from recycled PET bottles. I’m really enthralled by the concept of waste and how we can reimagine it and repurpose it for art.

Then there are the words. I’m a content writer by trade, which isn’t always very sexy—but over the years, I realised what made my work different was the depth of personality I could inject into clients’ copy. I see it as a kind of intellectual acting. I now specialise in brand voice development, where I work with a company owner to get really granular about the persona of their business and develop a way of communicating that conveys this. It’s a niche I’m pretty stoked to be in.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Woohoo! Showing people around West Cork is fun as feck (can we say feck here?). We’d explore Glengarriff Nature Reserve and go up to the mountain lake. Drive out to Allihies and camp, sea swim, and sauna on the beach. Closer to home, we’ll visit our friends running Arundels in Ahakista for the tastiest lib grub (ans more pints). Everyone gets taken to The Anchor in Bantry for a creamy Beamish. Back out towards Mizen Peninsula and we’ll head to Levis’ Cornerhouse for live music and pints of Murphy’s. Adventure out to Baltimore to see the Lighthouse and eat tacos in The Algiers—or Dédé, if we’re feeling lavish. Hop out on a boat and see whales off the coast. Can’t forget the culinary highlight of Monks Lane in Timoleague. Perfection.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to the balance restorers in my life: namely, my husband, therapist, and Dan Harris (who absolutely does not know me—if you’re reading this, hi Dan!—but whose podcast, books, and meditation app has set the tone for many of my days over the years).

Website: https://paciegrews.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paciegrews/

Image Credits
photographer: Kate Bean