Paper installations by Marsha Golemac

Illustrated paint cans by Marsha Golemac

Paper boxes by Marsha Golemac

Melbourne paper artist and designer Marsha Golemac came to our attention in two simultaneous ways.  Firstly, we spotted her crafting up a storm at Megan Morton's School in Sydney, and so inevitably we decided some instagram stalking was in order!  Not long after this, we spied Marsha's amazing work in person, at her colour-popping Enchanting Form exhibition for Craft Victoria's Craft Cubed festival recently.  The universe seemed to be telling us to find out a little more about Marsha!

Turns out Marsha is a stationery and homewares product developer by trade, having spent many years working with the talented peeps at kikki.K, before going freelance late last year.  These days Marsha's creative output it very varied - she's a paper artist, a visual merchandiser, designer, consultant and also dabbles in food / event photography.  She also decorates events, retail spaces and other interiors with her inspired paper installations - and is pretty excited to be making a career out of her childhood love of 'cutting and pasting'!  Sheesh. This is one seriously skilled (and driven!) not-yet-thirty year old person!

We were pretty excited when we found out Marsha was based locally (in Collingwood), so we decided to pay her a little visit and learn a little more about her work!

Marsha Golemac in her Collingwood home studio. Photo - Lucy Feagins

Tell us a little about your background - what did you study and what did you do career wise before going freelance in the events and interiors world?

I studied a Bachelor of Arts degree, however while at university I also worked in retail and it was that experience that led me to an interest in product buying and development. So since completing study, my career to date has predominantly been in product. Getting into the industry wasn't easy, I had to knock on a lot of doors and really prove myself before I eventually got my first gig as an assistant buyer for Australian fashion retailer Portmans. Soon after I realised that fashion wasn't really my thing.

I had always been quite creative and I wanted to work for a company that had an incredible eye for detail, branding, design and product. I had a think about which Australian retailer really stood out for me – that brand was kikki.K, and thankfully I have been fortunate to work as a product developer for them for a number of years.

Though, late last year I hit a bit of a crossroad and started asking myself  ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’. It is a strange question to ask yourself at the age of 28 but I realised that it is very natural for one to discover new interests or revisit old ones as time moves on.  The question is whether you choose to embrace them or not I suppose.

I looked back at my childhood (which sounds like a bit of a cliché, but it’s true) and I realised that the little me really seemed to be on to something all those years ago. I spent my time drawing, painting, creating anything and everything and constantly rearranging my parents' home. So, here I am all these years later with the same interests and same passions. Essentially, I have left product development to be a child again.

I guess I was naturally influenced by society to grow up, find an awesome full-time job and eventually make lots of money when in fact I could have just listened to my 10 year old self and said 'I want to cut and paste when I grow up!'  I discovered a real love for paper art and decided that I wanted to pursue this love in a variety of different ways. I quit my job, opened up my book of ideas and started to action each of them one by one. I started a blog, worked on projects for free, introduced myself to some very talented folk – and somehow everything has just kicked off.

You're a multidisciplinary talent - working as an artist and designer, visual merchandiser, event stylist, product development consultant and sometime photographer. Can you elaborate on what you do now in a freelance capacity as a maker/stylist, and how you incorporate all these varied skills and passions into one career path?

Yes, that was another thing, I had too many interests and I wanted to give them all a go. No one said you had to choose one path, so why not right? I knew I wanted to work with paper and create inspiring spaces by incorporating paper, I also knew that working full-time in this capacity was not going to happen overnight, therefore I work as a freelance visual merchandiser for a variety of fashion retailers and sometimes I work as a food/events photographer. I love that I am doing something new every day and that every job provides me with a new experience/challenge.

BIG thanks to Marsha for her time and for sharing her beautiful work with us. Something tells me we'll be seeing a lot more from this talented local lass!  ps.  Marsha has a beautiful blog which definitely deserves a bookmark, and I am loving her Pinterest boards too!

Marsha's Enchanted Forms exhibition from the Craft Cubed festival earlier this year

A few sweet details from Marsha's home studio