21 | Throw The Rules Away with Anthea Palmer

In this episode of Through the Creative Door, Alexis interviews Anthea Palmer, a versatile creative—musician, mentor, teacher, venue owner, and Editor-in-Chief of Jimmy Hornet Magazine. Anthea shares key insights into her artistic journey, highlighting the importance of finding inspiration through tranquillity and personal space. She explains how moments of calm allow her creativity to thrive and provide space for innovation. Anthea also emphasises the freedom that comes from breaking away from conventional rules, encouraging artists to embrace their unique visions. 

 

If you’d like to see more of, you can follow Anthea on instagram; @ jimmyhornetmagazine

 

This episode was recorded on 14 May 2024 on the lands of the Woiworung Peoples. We hope that this episode inspires you as a creative person and as a human being.

Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.

Psst! We are always on the lookout for creative people to share their story and inspire others. Have you got someone in mind who would love to have a chat? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor

 

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Creative resources from Anthea:

Notion - visual organisation tool 

 

BOOKS for marketing: 

> anything by Seth Godin

> anything by Gary Vaynerchuk

Let’s get social:

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

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast

CREDITS

Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor

Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel

Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel

 

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00:09 - Alexis (Host)

Hello, my name is Alexis Naylor and I am your host here at Through the Creative Door. On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge Elders, past and present. On this podcast, I will be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way. I’m delighted to welcome you to Through the Creative Door. 

Hello, Anthea Palmer. 

 

00:52 - Anthea

Hello, Alexis Naylor

 

00:53 - Alexis 

I am so chuffed to be chatting with you. You are such a vibe and I am in such awe of you. Oh, my goodness, that's so sweet. Welcome through the creative door as I come to your house. 

 

01:06 - Anthea (Guest)

Through my creative door. 

 

01:07 - Alexis (Host)

To your creative space. But before I launch into questions, I wanted to start with a little bit about you, which I mean. You are so multifaceted and there's so much to your career and you as a human being. But even just to touch the surface, um, you, you, you are the editor-in-chief of Jimmy Hornet's magazine, which is amazing. And I feel like, are you in the like the first year? 

 

01:42 - Anthea 

Just through the first year

 

01:44 - Alexis 

 Yeah, amazing, amazing. Um, you know, for those who may or may not know, you have a history of being an amazing musician and singer. You've been a teacher, a coach, a mentor, and you've also owned multiple you know music venues in overseas and here in Australia. And, yeah, I feel like I'm only touching the surface of who you are. 

 

02:09 - Anthea (Guest)

You get to an age and there's enough years that you've done a lot. That's all it is. 

 

02:11 - Alexis 

Have I missed anything? What have I missed? 

 

02:14 - Anthea

I've had a couple of art galleries as well over the years and I did do a stint in the corporate world of communications. But yeah, that's, that's probably all of it pretty much.

 

02:28 - Alexis (Host)

I feel like there's just so much is this sea of amazingness, that is, Anthea Palmer. But, um, so we'll go into, get into the first question. Yep, first question, and because you have such a array of history behind you, this is probably well, I don't know, maybe you have a different answer for, for a different uh, life, life force. But what does a creative space mean to you, and why? 

 

02:55 - Anthea (Guest)

um, it's a really interesting question. I think twofold. Firstly, personally, as a creative person, it means a lot to me to have an environment that's inspiring and comfortable. People find creativity in different places, and some people like chaos and stress, and out of that chaos and stress comes a creative flow. But for me it's far more about a bit of tranquility and I like to be surrounded with things that I love. And so, yeah, on a personal level, it means a lot. I've got to sort of have things ordered and things I love around me and be comfortable in my environment to really, um, work at my peak. 

 

03:52 - Alexis (Host)

When you, when you say things that you love, like would that be pieces of art or? 

 

03:54 - Anthea 

yeah largely art

 

03:56 - Alexis 

yeah wow, have you got a particular piece of art that's like a bit of a anchor for you, or is it a particular artist?

 

04:03 - Anthea (Guest)

I like all of my art. Really I'm looking around the room, not a particular piece, and not necessarily art, I mean, just although I do look around there's a lot of art in the room, but you know I like colour. And then, on a business level, environment has been a really important part of my brand for years and years because I've had live music venues and galleries, and so that even the magazine now it's sort of an extension of the brand that's been building through space, through spaces over the years. So from that point of view, yeah, environment's really important to the brand and that's what's helped sort of build the vibe, I think. 

 

04:59 - Alexis (Host)

For those who are listening, where did this sort of Jimmy Hornet start Like? Where was the first space or idea that you had that name, that name? 

 

05:15 - Anthea (Guest)

Well, the name came when I had the chandelier room, my first venue, and at the same time I was coaching musicians and sort of as a sideline and to help, you know, to be useful, and at that time I thought of the name Jimmy Hornet as like an avatar, for, like my ideal client and it was, you know, like a die-hard creative that just had to create you know that they couldn't not create and at the time it was a musician that I had in mind or that I was working with. But and then I sort of forgot about the name and the first venue was called the Chandelier Room because it was a big factory space with a lot of antique chandeliers. Um, you know for a fact it was a beautiful space yeah, it was in the end. 

 

06:11

It was cool, um. And then I moved to China, mainland Dhina, and I opened venue there and I would normally have just probably called it the chandelier room and gone with the same vibe and kept the same branding. But when I got there I realized I was in the lighting manufacturing center of the world. And, fortunately, local entrepreneurs said to me you really need some marketing advice because this is China. You know, it's like when the Chinese come here and call their business something that doesn't make sense to us, you know which, and we laugh. Well, that happens with foreigners in. China all the time. Yeah, so um. For instance, if I had called it the chandelier room in the middle of the

 

06:49 - Alexis

People knocking, being like where is your warehouse? where's your chandelier? 

 

07:00 - Anthea

Exactly that's what would have happened. So they were like there's, just because it would have been the french light, called the french light in character translation. So anyway, so we had to come up with a name that would work in china. And we, oh, we worked and worked and worked all these names. 

 

07:18

That went on and on and um, the poor little marketing man was really pulling his hair out and then, sort of last resort, I said, oh, look, the only other name I can think of is Jimmy Hornet, which is sort of a silly name from the past. And he got really excited about it because Jimmy is a well-known Western name in China and it has very nice characters. It's Jimmy, and so he said Jimmy works. And then Hornet, there's very nice characters for Lucky B and of course, if you can have a lucky character in China, you know it's very favourable. And the character for Lucky that he chose also means musical note. 

 

08:04

So he was like super excited and apparently all the characters are very well balanced and everything it was meant to be. It was meant to be. All the characters are very well balanced and everything it was meant to be it was meant to be. So it got, it was called Jimmy Hornet or Jimmy Ray Fung in in Mandarin, and when I moved back to Australia I just thought I'm not rebranding again, and so I kept the name. So then the venue here was called Jimmy Hornet as well, and now the magazine's called Jimmy Hornet. 

 

08:31 - Alexis (Host)

I love that. No, it's beautiful, it's lovely to, and I think that's the thing about this podcast is the journey of creativity is not straightforward. Yeah, that's very true. Things come to the forefront and then they subside and then they come to the forefront again and I I think you sharing that story is just yeah. 

 

08:58 - Anthea (Guest)

you've got to sort of go with the flow, I mean in life and in creativity and everything really. Yeah. So that's how it came about. I've ditched the Chinese characters. They serve their purpose.

 

09:10 - Alexis (Host)

I think this next question is going to be a hard one, but then maybe it won't be. What are you most proud of creating? 

 

09:20 - Anthea (Guest)

It is a really hard question because I'm proud of lots of things actually that I've created. I'm proud of the spaces that I've created. So I guess interior design, design, but also venue design, particularly like third venue. I was good at it by then because I'd had two tests, although the China venue was beautiful. So I'm proud of that. I'm really proud of the magazine because it's new to me and I'm learning as I go, learning so much and it's really stretched me creatively and I'm really proud of it. Yeah, I mean I've just released Volume 5 and I think it's the best one. So I do feel like I mean I like some more than others for lots of reasons and they like my children. I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but I sort of do, um yeah, but I am really proud of it and excited about about it. Um, so I would say the magazine, yay. 

 

10:26 - Alexis (Host)

I love that. I love that, on the flip side of something that you're proud of, what is something that has challenged your creativity and what do you reckon the major lesson was from it? 

 

10:44 - Anthea (Guest)

um, it sounds a bit dull to heart. Back to the magazine, but that the reason I'm saying that is because I had no background. I have no formal background in design at all. I've just lucky, I've got a good eye for things. And nor have I got a background in publishing or printing or anything involved in being a magazine publisher. 

 

11:07

So I had to teach myself everything from scratch and I think the lesson I learned and when I think back it's a lesson that served me well through throughout everything I've done really creatively and that is sort of throw the rules away, because you know, there's a lot of people in the magazine industry that think people, things have to be done a certain way, even if it's like font size and index pages and referencing, and I mean there's obviously some things that are essential to a publication. But who says they have to be done the same way? And the magazine is quite different from most other magazines. And that is because I just thought, no, I'm not going to worry about learning all the rules, I'm just going to do it the way I want to do it and let it sort of progress, you know, naturally. So yeah, I would say, don't get too caught up in like the expectation or the rules that are already set in place. And that's been a really big lesson

 

12:20 - Alexis (Host)

Did you? ever feel at all pressure to abide by any of the rules? 

 

12:25 - Anthea (Guest)

Yeah, definitely. I mean, like any industry, there's a level of it that can be a bit pretentious, and I'm sure there are some. I mean there's a lot of like high art magazines and I'm not a high art magazine at all, but there are a lot of beautiful high art posh magazines and they would be bigger sticklers for, you know, I guess, the legacy of magazine layout and that sort of stuff, a particular aesthetic, and exactly yeah whereas, yeah, I'm not and I I don't really care about it, I just care about how the end product looks. 

 

13:05

I don't really care about whether people are going to go. You know, tut, tut. I mean, I've had, I have had online complaints, oh not um, you know, not awful, awful. But somebody did say it looked like an adolescent school project. And somebody said I just can't understand why you would use such and such a font at such and such a size. And I'm like, well, because I thought it looked good. But you're going to get that with everything. It doesn't matter what you know, what you do or how you're putting yourself out there. There's always going to be some criticism. 

 

13:44 - Alexis (Host)

Oh my goodness, it's so funny how I mean I can empathise with that. I released a song with a friend of mine and we've got a matching music video, which we're both very proud of doing. But yeah, the criticism of, oh, you're too close on your face or you're too like, it's like everything's critiqued. It's like you're damned if you do, damned if you don't really.

 

14:05 - Anthea (Guest)

Exactly, and you know, sometimes you look at the person that's made the comment and just think where are you even coming from? You know, if it was somebody who was an expert or had a lot of experience, you know you would probably take it a bit more to heart, I guess. But you know, everybody's a critic, aren't you critics everywhere

 

14:23 - Alexis (Host)

I mean especially with the internet. These days it's a bit easier for people to critique you. Yes, yeah, now is there an object or a thing that you can't live without when you're creating? 

 

14:43 - Anthea (Guest)

Yep, my notebook really I'm a note taker, um, I'm pretty much constantly writing notes. So I have a notebook. There's one right here next to me. This is my current one and, um, yeah, it doesn't matter what I'm doing, whether I'm um, I mean, for instance, even if I am singing, learning a song, playing piano, if it's magazine editing, if I'm writing, if I'm brainstorming, it always my hand just starts writing and I get very frustrated if I don't have a notebook with me. So, even if I go out, even if I go out for lunch now, I take a notebook. Really, yeah. 

 

15:23

Cause I think well, if somebody's late, I could doodle for 10 minutes.

 

15:28 - Alexis (Host)

Amazing.  Yeah. 

 

15:28 - Anthea (Guest)

So that's my yeah, I take a notebook everywhere and I've got. I keep them for a while in case there's anything in them I want to refer to. So I've got a notebook cupboard that's got like all my old notebooks in it and I just put masking tape on the front with the date. You know that it started and ended, yeah, and I keep them for a while and then they end up being tossed out. But yeah, 

 

15:49 - Alexis (Host)

Do you have? I know this sounds like an odd question, but do you have like a particular kind of pen that you like? 

 

16:01 - Anthea

I do! 

 

16:04 - Alexis

Yeah, because I feel like there's something about the glide on the paper clearly for you.

 

16:04 - Anthea (Guest)

Also, I usually use this like multi-colored thing oh, I love it yeah because, depending on the notes and what's in my head at the time, something might have to be in blue and something might have to be in black, so that I can quickly see that there's, you know, two aspects or whatever. So I also am a little bit color-coded. And some pages are really neat and some patents pages are just chaos, which is probably just how I was feeling on the day. 

 

16:34 - Alexis (Host)

I love this. Do you ever find writing on your like typing on your laptop or in your phone? Does that give you justice? 

 

16:44 - Anthea (Guest)

I have both or yeah, so I mean, I'm always doing everything on my laptop and I have a big screen attachment because I'm editing, so I sort of need, and I'm a bit blind these days, but I always, at the same time, have my notebook yeah. 

 

17:00 - Alexis (Host)

The notebook is your anchor. Yeah, yeah, I love that so much. If you could give one piece of advice, one nugget of advice, to another creative, what would it be? 

 

17:14 - Anthea (Guest)

um, oh look, I think it would have to be to try to stay in your own lane, regardless of what you're doing, so sort of be true to yourself, even within your creativity. Try not to, you know, get too influenced and too pulled away from what's your natural vibe, expression, brand, whatever you wanna call it. So, yeah, I think, just stay in your own lane. And that sounds really easy, but it can be difficult because we're all influenced by money and people and opportunity and this thing's flying at us everywhere. So I think it's easy to get distracted. Yeah, but I think just try to stay in your own lane, yeah. 

 

18:04 - Alexis (Host)

I love that. That's so, so poetic, so good. I'm wondering what resources would you recommend, like books or podcasts or anything that pops into mind, for someone who wants to develop their creative process. 

 

18:23 - Anthea (Guest)

I would say notion. There's a, a software package called notion and it's the best sort of visual visual organization tool, online tool that I've come across, and I've tried. You know lots of things because I'm a very visual person. So, um, as far as organizing ideas and categories of ideas and visuals, um, there's all sorts of tools that you can sort of plug into it. But, yeah, it's called notion, I think it might be notion dot, it's not dot net, but I think it might be Notion. It's not net, but it's, yeah, it might be Notionnet. Anyway, people will find it. But yeah, I use it all the time, yeah, I use it a lot just to keep things organised and put things away. In case, you know, there was a thought process that I can come back to that I might want to keep Again, visually, it's great for just organizing. You know, even as a musician it would be great as a visual artist, as a designer, as a writer. Yes, terrific tool. So that would be my tip. And it's quite cheap, it's not expensive at all. 

 

19:27 - Alexis (Host)

Well, that's helpful yeah, yeah, it's a win. Yeah, is there any like books or anything that has helped you along the way, do you think? 

 

19:39 - Anthea (Guest)

I mean recently I'm very involved in online marketing for the magazine. So you know, I mean I guess the authors that spring to mind for me, because no matter what I'm doing, I'm always trying to market it and sell it. So I mean, I love Seth Godin. I've read all of Seth Godin's books. He's like a marketing guru, very clever man, I like. I don't like the man so much, but he's. His books are good. And that's Gary Vaynerchuk, who's also very famous American marketer. Yeah, I guess they're the two authors that come to mind that I've literally read everything that they've released. 

 

20:25

Yeah and then around that. Usually my reading these days is non-fiction, because I feel like I just don't have enough time to read fiction at this stage of my life. 

 

20:35 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah. 

 

20:36 - Anthea (Guest)

Yeah, so that would my the two authors I would recommend having a look at. 

 

20:40 - Alexis (Host)

Oh love that. If you could hear any other creative come and chat with me on the podcast and answer these questions, who would it be? And why? 

 

20:50 - Anthea (Guest)

Because you're about creativity really, and, as is the magazine, I've been thinking a lot about the creatives that you don't give much mind to, and I'm quite interested in floristry in my mind at the moment and I was thinking it would be great, because of the questions you're asking me to, to find a florist, yeah, and just get their idea of space and creativity and tools and yeah. So I think somebody that's in that realm and I mean you would have to be so creative and like all other creatives that you've got so many aspects of floristry. I mean, still, the business side, the creative side, um, I think, yeah, I think they must have some good information that we could all tap into.

 

21:47 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah, I love it. Oh, my goodness, thank you so much. You're welcome, Anthea Palmer, for being on through the creative door. 

 

21:51 - Anthea 

Pleasure anytime.  

 

21: 52 - Alexis 

Yay! 

 

21:57

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favourite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye.