Editing The Pen Addict 491/transcript (section)

== Career Transition ==


'''Annabelle Hiller:''' Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so, so here's, here's what happened. Um, I had to quit music for one reason or another. Um, it being, it just wasn't feasible for me, uh, mentally I have horrible stage fright and that's not great if you study music performance. Sure. Um, but I also couldn't not do something creative. In fact, I never thought I was creative. I always thought I was recreative because I didn't compose music myself. I just played what somebody else invented, but I knew I had to do something or I could, I don't know, leave my mark behind or whatever. Um, and I actually decided to do this goldsmithing study that I did not because of jewelry. I don't really care about jewelry. I don't really wear it. I did it because I wanted to make pens. Um, I knew that I wanted to work with pens in some regard. Um, I knew I wanted to do something creative. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know what that would entail, but I figured learning how to manipulate metal is probably the best way to get there. And then as I did my goldsmithing study, it's, they just make you make jewelry and which is kind of cool because jewelry isn't, I mean, jewelry can be anything, right? It can be quite artistic. So you do learn a sense of, I don't know what is visually appealing, um, a sense for shape and, and art and composition and stuff. So that's definitely cool and helpful, but, and I will make jewelry occasionally, um, say like engagement rings for my friends or whatever, but it's not really what I, what I got into metal work for. That makes sense. Gotcha. So yeah. So like the,

'''Brad:''' the focus is really, I mean, I, to, I know, I guess I have to trying to define it without defining it, but like goldsmithing and metalworking is more of the correct terminology for what you do and what you want to do. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me, tell me about the, the, the program you went through, cause I was following you kind of your journey and the, you know, all, all the, the ups and downs and trials and tribulations. And it was, it's like a real, like, it's a big deal to go

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' through what you went through. Right. Um, yeah. Ask me a more specific question. Cause there's so

'''Brad:''' much I could say. What was the schooling like, right? You had to go to school or were you working with like other masters and trainers specifically? So what was the process like of becoming essentially a, a, a master goldsmith? Is that the correct terminology? I guess kind of it's, that's also a

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' whole thing. Um, cause in the Netherlands, uh, there's not really like a law that says once you have done this, you're a masters that there's a guild that says you've had, you have to have run your own business for 10 years and have taught in order to consider yourself a master. However, I did make a masterpiece at the end of my study. So yeah, it's, it's a whole thing. Nobody agrees on anything. Um, gotcha. And I think in Austria, had I done the same course, I would be considered a master goldsmith there. So do with that what you will. Um, yes. How many, how many years was,

'''Brad:''' have you spent working on this? Four years, baby. Nice, nice. Yeah. So that's awesome. So it was

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' actually, it was interesting cause I had this idea that goldsmithing might be cool, but I had no, I, I'd never done anything like it. So, but what I learned, um, or realized over it. So I basically just jumped into it thinking, let's just try this. Maybe this is the thing. Um, and I got really lucky in that it was the thing that I ended up being good at and that, and what I, what I particularly loved about goldsmithing is that, um, so with harp, right, you usually have a certain time period where you prepare for a concert or whatever, but what really matters is the day of performance. If you screw up on that day, people just think you're bad. I, I'm not, I'm not swearing. I'm trying

'''Brad:''' my best. I'm going to give you a behind the scenes, give the listeners a behind the scenes. Annabelle

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' has a swear button. Oh yeah. Okay. If I up, then people are going to think I'm

'''Brad:''' Myke is so happy right now.

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' So, yeah. So, so the, the main thing that matters is the day of performance. If I don't feel well that day, I'm, it's just not going to go well. However, you're defined by that. Yeah, exactly. That's just what people are going to perceive you as. But with goldsmithing, you have a whole month or however long to prepare something. And on the day of the presentation, it doesn't matter how you feel because you've already done the work. You've already done everything that you needed to do. And funnily enough, even so at, at the, the last year and a half of my study was just pure internship. So you work with goldsmiths and they teach you and whatever. And I noticed even then that just by the fact that I was observed, I did much worse. Hmm. So it's really this me being observed makes me feel really, really insecure and it's silly, but that's why I work from home and nobody can bother me here.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. See, I don't think it's silly as all. Who's someone who deals with, you know, anxiety and like, you know, having to perform and things like that. Like it's a real thing and then can be just like debilitating. And I'm glad that it sounds like, you know, the gold, the goldsmithing is, is really kind of what you were meant to do. And you're able to use that platform to go into pins. And you, you mentioned before, like you decided to kind of go down this path because you wanted to make pins or, or make, or be involved in that industry. So I want to talk about that. I want to get into how kind of the, the pin thing started and, um, and kind of break all that down and then tie all this in together. But first, let me take a quick break and talk about one of our sponsors this week. And that's, uh, that's Harry's. So you can hang out and chill for a minute, Annabelle. I'm going to, I'm going to get this, uh, Harry's ad in, in, and this episode of the Pinonic is brought to you by Harry's. Harry's is the gift that keeps on giving their blades are sharp and long lasting and still as low as $2 each when it's finally time to replace them. Um, I'm a Harry's customer. I'm a Harry's fan. I use pretty much all of their products, um, especially the razor blades. They are the best I have ever used. I'm probably, I don't know, well into six, seven, eight years into using them. They're great. They're the perfect gift because they offer high quality and fair prices. They make sharp blades that last German engineered and award running razors that are backed by a hundred percent quality guarantee. So if your recipient doesn't love their shave, you'll get a full refund this holiday season. Listeners can get $5 off plus free shipping on Harry's limited edition holiday shave set. Go to harrys.com slash pin addict and check out, check out everything that they offer. The sets come with a weighted handle, three razor cartridges, foaming shave gel, and a travel cover. Everything that you need for a smooth shave, all packaged in a handsome holiday gift box. To claim your $5 off plus free shipping, go to harrys.com slash pin addict. Our thanks to Harry's for support of this show and relay FM. So I think, um, $5 off of your final, uh, project in goldsmithing class probably wouldn't make a big dent in the purchase price of, of the pen that came out of it. So we will have a link specifically in the show notes for what I'm talking about right now, but can

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' you discuss, um, the symphony? Oh boy. Oh, I could, I, in fact, I have talked about it for hours and

'''Brad:''' hours and hours. Oh, I hope I'm not bringing up any bad thoughts. Oh, no, no, no, no. Um, no, it's just,

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' so if you work on something for so long and you've invested so many hours of your life into it, it's very difficult to summarize, but the symphony is a pen. Very good. Yes. Um, and it's so, so when you do this, this four year study, um, I, I guess I haven't answered the question properly earlier. So it's a four year study. The first two and a half years, you kind of learn all the basic techniques, be it engraving, stone setting, just sewing, filing, whatever handy skills you need as a goldsmith. And the last year and a half, um, you work with goldsmiths and just get more trained and they also prepare you to make your final masterpiece. Um, which you spend about a year working on. So with the symphony, um, I decided to go back to my music roots. Um, as we mentioned, I was a harpist and I decided to also go back to, I guess, my, my geographic roots. Um, because the, the foundation for the symphony pen is Gustav Mahler's fifth symphony. Um, Mahler himself grew up, well, is that right? Um, I guess he did grow up, um, or at least spend his adult years in Austria. He was a Jewish composer and conductor and he wasn't very liked at AHA because it was the year 1902. And, um, you know, historically lots of stuff was brewing there. Um, but he composed this symphony, which the theme of the symphony also spoke very, uh, closely to me, which is, it, it kind of deals with, with death and what one does, um, to get over it. Not really the stages of grief, but what happens when somebody dies, what, how does it kind of affect you? And every, the symphony consists of five, uh, movements and every movement I kind of adapted and transformed into one part of the pen. Um, which is why it doesn't look super mega coherent just because every movement kind of deals with a different aspect of, yeah, what you go through. And so there's like the overlay of the pen. If people click on the picture, I love the overlay. It's my favorite part. It's also coincidentally my favorite part of the symphony, which is the adegetto. And, um, yeah, that's what I did. I tried to turn music into something visual and it turned into a pen. Surprise, surprise. And, uh, that's why it's called the symphony. And I like it.

'''Brad:''' I hope so. Cause it is absolutely stunning. I have to ask you before I dig into more of the