FINDING INSPIRATION with Abby Ward
If there’s one thing the entire AOI and Fenimore Lane team can agree on, it's Abby Ward's sheer creative talent. We’re huge fans of the former Art Director at Tory Burch's iconic flat lays—Ariel has worked with her for years, from creating advertising collateral for her Chasing Paper collab, to creating custom mood boards for her upcoming book. Check out Abby's Fall board, and this blue and Italian-inspired summer board for a peek into Abby's collabs with Ariel – her beautiful work is all over FL!
We were thrilled to ask Abby to be one of the first Talk Shop interviews we ever did, and we’ve been cheerleaders for her incredible work ever since. Recently, Ward went from the digital to the physical, creating her own fabric-covered pinboards available for purchase, so anyone is able to create a meaningful and inspiring mood board at home. The collection did so well that it sold out in the first week (don't worry, a fresh batch is available now!) We wanted to sit down with this talented creative to hear more about her story, why art direction is so important to her, and how you can approach art direction and mood boards in your own life.
Congratulations on the sell-out launch of your pinboards! Tell us how this idea came to fruition:
That is so kind of you, thank you! I love creating mood boards and flat lays, which have become such a central part of my business, and I am frequently asked how I build the actual boards. The ones for my clients are loose makeshift foam boards covered with fabric on the floor of my office.
My dear client and friend Chauncey Boothby inspired me to make a beautifully framed fabric-covered pinboard that I could hang in my office for my own personal inspiration. I ended up loving the finished product so much that I decided to make a few batches using different designer fabrics. My hope is that others will love having one of these special pinboards in their home and that it will bring inspiration to their lives.
Where does your love for creating mood boards come from:
Scrapbooking throughout my childhood. I always loved the sentimental component of collecting and arranging things from everyday life.
How do you create your boards:
Creating a mood board is such an amazing collaborative process. The board starts with a room or project my client has worked on, a season, color, or print. I spend hours researching imagery and combing through favorites I have saved over the years that tie into the overall look and feel. I work with my client on the ideal background fabric or wallpaper to anchor the board. I print all of the photos in my home office and trim them to have the white border which is an aesthetic I established while working at Tory Burch.
Laying out the printed images and layering in various fabrics is my favorite part of the process. Photographing the board is a fun challenge because it depends so much on the perfect natural light, the cropping, and the tweaking of the layout within the frame. I typically take hundreds of photos of a single board throughout the process until everything is just right.
You can evoke a brand’s ethos so clearly with your boards; how do you distill imagery to anchor the photos and overall “mood” so clearly to your client’s requests:
My love of photography, travel, fashion, and interior design informs a lot of what I create today. I am always gathering inspiration from people, places, and things and have saved years of photo research. I have my go-to resources for inspiration and will do a deep dive to find the perfect imagery. I also believe my clients choose to partner with me because we are aesthetically aligned, which makes the creative process come together organically.
If you had to pick one: physical or digital mood boards:
Physical always! The process and outcome are both so rewarding. I love stepping away from the computer to curate and photograph a physical board. A physical board has depth and texture, and I love finding the perfect light to shoot in and play up the shadows.
What advice would you give someone who wants to get into art direction as a career:
Create what you love and have a point of view. Pay attention to the small details, take photos, and appreciate the beauty in the little things. Don’t be afraid to relocate or look for a job that will stretch your skills. Everything is a learning experience.
When will you be launching more pinboards:
My second batch, which includes a new set of prints, is available now! Shop them here