Camilla Westergaard, Content Editor at Folksy

Once upon a time, trying to enter the world of art, craft and design was like trying to enter an elitist club where  you had to know and say the right things. Thanks to the rise of platforms like Folksy, the self-titled “Home of British Craft”, that’s no longer the case. 

Making everyone’s work accessible to the world is something that Camilla Westergaard feels passionately about. Having battled imposter syndrome in her university years, worked in galleries and started her own craft business, Camilla is now Content Editor at Folksy. As her Instagram bio puts it, “in charge of words and pictures.”

I caught up with Camilla to talk about what makes a great digital story,  the ups and downs of social media and the joy of the internet when it comes to small brands making themselves known. 

Camilla, you're in charge of words and pictures at Folksy and I've always appreciated that you tell great visual stories. Can you give us an insight into how you do it?

Well, when I first started on Instagram, I didn't really understand what it was. I didn't even know it was public, that people could see it. Then suddenly there were all these people commenting on my posts so I thought I better change what I was doing! 

I post quite irregularly but I love that you can tell stories with Instagram. I just try and use it as a record for me of the story of my life and of our family. If I see it like that then I love looking back at it but if it becomes about comments and likes then it becomes stifling for me. 

I've taken a step back from it recently because it was getting stressful and I started to feel like I was living my life for Instagram shots. I had to put a stop to that because that's just not a way to live. 

Interesting times at the moment and everything is changing. Can you make a prediction about how you think creative industries might change? Are we reaching total overwhelm with social media? 

Well, I think social media is still really, really key to selling online. I think it's great in that it's democratised the whole process. 

Before, crafters and makers were so reliant on the gatekeepers of galleries and shops to be able to sell and you just didn't have access to the market or the audience unless you had gone through that gatekeeper. Although I think galleries and shops are really important, and I would really support them, I think it's been really healthy that makers now have more control over their own audience.

I also think of it from a female point of view too, that women have access to a new source of revenue that they didn't have before. I think that's really, really important but we also need to keep a check on it because it comes with a lot of pressure and a lot of negative aspects for our mental health.  I think if we're relying on social media more and more for our businesses we're going to have to control how much of ourselves we give to it, maybe treat it as a job that we log into at a certain time.

I know you've done a lot of different things up until now, and I have too and sometimes in the past I've been really hung up about the fact that I've tried so many things and sometimes felt like an imposter. Have you also felt like that because you've had such a varied background? 

Actually I have, yes. My dad was a professor of sociology and he was massively respected. He wrote textbooks that are still used in universities now and he said he always felt like an imposter, even at the end of his career. We actually talked about it a lot in my 20's, before I even knew what imposter syndrome was and he would say it's completely normal. 

I always wanted to be a gallery curator and I studied Art History at university. It was all about how art has essentially changed our history and that was what I was really interested in. I chose the A levels that would get me there and be what I needed but once I went to university I just felt like I wasn't supposed to be there.

I was from a Northern state school and it was all very public school, very privileged. Other students knew so much. They knew all these paintings and myths and the Bible and I didn't have the same kind of education. I felt so awkward all the way through it, so out of place.

As the three years went on I realised that I did have something of value to add. I could feel other people's self-confidence but actually what they were saying wasn't any more insightful than what I had to say. So I worked hard, really hard, and it took me a long time to get the self-confidence but in the end I got a first. One of my favourite teachers who I didn't think even really knew me came up to me after the results and said "Nobody gets a first by fluke. You earned it." 

After that I went to work in galleries and it was all still so elitist, like an exclusive club where you had to know the right words or know how to talk. I think that's why I was really attracted to Folksy because it feels like it's an inclusive, equal place where everybody has the right to be. It's all judged on your merit as a maker, nothing else.

I kind of think I wasn't doing any good for anybody in the art world but I can do good for people working on an online platform like Folksy. Maybe it's not a big thing, not like changing the world but we can try and do our bit within our sector, can't we? 

You grew up surrounded by a very creative mum and the things that she made. Do you think that childhood experience has affected how you're bringing up your own children in terms of creativity?  

Well, my oldest son's 19 now but I remember when he was born. I was 25, so I was really young, but I just remember thinking that I wanted to make his life magical, you know, filled with creativity and magic. I don't have aspirations for him in terms of becoming a doctor or a dentist or making lots of money. I just see my job is to bring up children that are good humans and that are happy and have the tools to be able to live life in the way that they want to live it.

I think I've tried to always get them to think creatively and act creatively so we talk a lot. Or sometimes I talk a lot and they're fed up of hearing it!  I just want them to think for themselves and listen to things and read around subjects. I hope they won't just accept what somebody says but have the knowledge to see that there are different sides to an argument.

At the moment I feel uncomfortable that there's alot of de-platforming going on. So for example, some people in the public eye, who I personally would completely object to, have been taken off Twitter.

For me, even if I hate everything a person stands for, I'm still uncomfortable that as a society we just remove them from the dialogue. I think it might be better if we listened more, to everyone’s experiences and views and made sure that voices historically left out of the conversation because of things like race, class and gender are being heard, rather than just shutting them down. So I try and get my kids to take this approach too, questioning things. That's what creative thinking looks like. 

DIDN’T SKY NEWS CALL YOU RECENTLY FOR AN interview about Folksy? How was it? Was it scary? 

Yeah, so on Sunday afternoon at about five o'clock I got an email from Sky News asking for an interview about growth in craft at 6.30 the next morning.

A year ago I would have been far too scared, I would've found a reason not to do it but I've found it so refreshing since lockdown to see people who I thought were so professional sometimes have to use technology and then makes mistakes. Or you know, they don't have a nice Zoom backdrop or things just aren't as polished.

So I just decided to treat it like another Zoom meeting and trust myself. I kept reminding myself that I've been in this sector for a long time. I know my stuff. I know that it's in there somewhere.

If I become too nervous, it's going to hinder me so I had to get prepared with the facts and stats, write them down several times and then trust that they would be in my memory and that I'd be able to get them out when I needed them. Sometimes you just have to trust that you can do it and that nobody's going to judge you.

It's wonderful advice. I think the more you take a step forwards, that's how you get confidence. You get confidence by action not by sitting in the corner doing nothing and just willing yourself to have confidence. It comes by you stepping out, even though you're scared of doing the thing and then realising "I did it!" 

Yes, when I was at college and school, I was terrified of everything. I couldn't talk in front of people at all. I went to university to do Art History and we had to give tours. I remember once being in the National Gallery and having to do a presentation on this painting with my whole class sitting down on the floor. Then all these other people were coming and standing because they thought I was someone official.

I'm so naturally shy, like really, really, really shy. I had that real moment of fright or flight and I remember thinking that I wanted to run away but that if I did, that's what I would remember and then it would be much harder to do it next time.

So I just stood there and got through it, knowing it wouldn't be perfect but if I ran, then that running would never be undone.  The more that you do things you realise that you need to trust yourself. And sometimes other people are nervous and I don't judge them for it, it just makes them more real and relatable. 

For an authentic masterclass in words and stories, find Camilla here. You can discover Folksy here.