For as long as she can remember, Cristal Clair Simmons always had a love for art. After years of exploring art as a hobby, with much encouragement, she launched two businesses, both showcasing her remarkable talent.
Now 23 years old and the youngest of six children, Cristal grew up in Bartica where she lived until 2017, when she moved to Georgetown to pursue her studies.
The artist shared that while all of her siblings dabbled in art, she is the only one who has pursued it as a career. While their creativity may have rubbed off on the young artist, she credits most of her inspiration to her beloved uncle. Her favourite uncle, as she refers to him, is deaf and dumb, yet, this never prevented him from pursuing a career in art. She boasted that he has many customers, including companies, who contract him to do work for them.
Today they communicate using sign language, but Cristal said when she was a girl and had not yet learnt sign language, they still understood each other. Cristal recalled that she would sit beside him every now and again and absorb everything he did to create his pieces.
With her always creating, friends and family were always encouraging her to start her own business and be paid for doing what she loved. At first, she lacked the confidence to get started but it was always at the back of her mind.
Finally, in 2020, she launched her first business, Clair’s Art with the slogan, ‘A heartful of artful creations’. It offers acrylic paintings, portraits, abstract art, landscape, pop art, anime art, pencil art, henna tattoos, face paintings and resin arts/crafts.
Cristal shared that at the time she established Clair’s Art, she worked at Teleperformance. Trying to balance a full-time job and a business was quite a challenge. Her mother, she noted, has always remained supportive in whatever she has her heart set on doing and it was she who told Cristal that it was time for her to move on and seek something else she found more pleasure doing. She took a leap of faith and left her telemarketing job.
“COVID was definitely a wakeup call for everybody. Like, what am I doing with my life?! We’ve definitely seen a spike in the small business industry. I had to drop one or the other. I knew it was a risk I needed to take if it’s something I wanted to do. It took some time, business, that is, but it has been good so far,” Cristal said.
In February 2021, Cristal established her second business, Eventful Designs. At the beginning, the kind of orders that came in were for small balloon arrangements, but with more people becoming familiar with the work she provides, Cristal now finds herself being booked for bigger orders. One of her very first bookings was for a gender reveal. Cristal has since been booked for a wedding in August; her first.
She laughed as she shared that she was booked for a divorce. Cristal shared that one of her clients who had just been divorced placed an order for a balloon arrangement that read, ‘Divorced, The End of an Error!’
Just recently, she had the honour of catering for events on the State House lawns hosted by First Lady Arya Ali. Already she is rolling up her sleeves to take on another upcoming project there.
Most of her sales, said the entrepreneur, come through her second business which these days often finds her putting together her masterpieces for companies. It’s been a while since she last did a painting through Clair’s Art but every so often, a job like that comes in.
When she started Eventful Designs, she knew there were other businesses like hers, but she didn’t let that stop her from doing what she desired to do. Some people who want to get into business, she posited, prefer to wait until they find products and services that are different from what is being offered on the market. She admonishes that they should not let another similar business on the market prevent them from doing what they want to do.
Comparing Eventful Designs to other similar businesses, Cristal said, “I realised that I could be available when these other businesses aren’t. I can offer different packages at different prices. I also offer the marble balloons and the henna balloons. These balloons don’t come [readymade] so I have to hand design them.”
Having to create her own marble balloons and design her henna balloons allows the artist to get even more creative. All of this, she said, helps to make what she does stand out.
Also, what keeps many of her bigger clients returning is that companies pay the same price the average man pays for one of her packages. Cristal explained that companies have shared that often when they have an occasion and reach out to have a certain package provided, businesses raise their prices, and it’s rarely ever a small increase. She has been commended for keeping her prices the same.
It’s part of the reason why she remains true to her mission statement, ‘Make it affordable; make it eventful’.
In doing that, her clients have come to realise that while making a profit is important to Cristal, she tries to cater for everyone through her packages because she loves what she does.
The artist tries to get most of her materials locally unless she is catering for a big event and is required to buy in bulk then it’s usually cheaper purchasing online. She added that sometimes she also has to resort to importing supplies because businesses on the local market have increased their prices by 100% or 200%. Cristal explained that this is not unusual as anything trending or in demand incurs increased prices.
Though her work speaks for itself, the artist confessed that she is her biggest critic. There are times she is not entirely pleased with a piece she did because it didn’t turn out exactly as she had pictured in her head. Yet, when the customer turns up and exclaims joyfully over it, she is elated. “I’m learning to deal with it. Besides making my customers happy, I genuinely love creating,” she enthused.
Cristal has a diploma in Communication Studies from the University of Guyana. She had hoped to also pursue studies at the E R Burrowes School of Art, but with studies there requiring full-time attendance as well as it being a bit too costly, she has set aside the idea of that happening.
In the meantime, she is doing business courses. She also has plans to learn to do realism art.
In five years’ time, Cristal hopes to have a shop front as well as staff. For now, her service includes pickup and delivery, while for the bigger arrangements that include garlands, she creates them onsite.
In her free time, she likes to make new crafts, follow up with courses or paint.
Born under the sign of Aquarius, Cristal loves to eat chicken curry, dhal puri and cheesecake.
Potential customers are asked to book as early as possible in advance or at least three days upfront for small arrangements and last-minute party decorations.
Cristal can be followed on Instagram @eventful.designs_ or @clairs.art, on Facebook at Eventful Designs or Clair’s Art or on WhatsApp at 694-9602.
