The Umbrella Is Getting a Little Bigger
Recently I made the bittersweet decision to close my studio on Main Street in Zionsville and move Creative Umbrella back home. The business isn’t going anywhere. I’ll continue doing the design work I love, just without the storefront.
As I thought about writing this post, I realized something. Thirteen years ago, when I named my business Creative Umbrella, I intentionally chose a name that wouldn’t box me in. I imagined it might someday become a collective of freelance creatives or even grow into a larger agency. I wanted a name with room to grow.
Life had other plans. Creative Umbrella grew, just not in the way I expected.
Five years ago I opened a studio inside Black Dog Books on Main Street. I used to joke that I was paying for advertising but got a cute studio as a bonus. In many ways, that little studio accomplished exactly what I hoped it would. When I opened it, most of my clients were on the East and West Coasts. Today, Creative Umbrella is well known right here in my own community.
It was the right place for that chapter of my life. Closing the studio isn’t about stepping away from creativity. It’s about making room for more of it. Before graphic design became my career, I loved painting and photography. Somewhere between client deadlines, running a business, and building a career, those creative outlets quietly took a back seat. What this change gives me is time to return to something I’ve missed for a long time.
Art.
This week I unpacked an easel that had been waiting patiently for our basement remodel to be finished. It feels like more than unpacking an easel. It feels like quietly making room again for a part of myself that’s been waiting to come home.
I don’t know exactly where this path will lead. I’m not launching a new business or announcing a grand plan. I’m simply giving myself permission to create again for the joy of creating.
Maybe that’s what Creative Umbrella was always meant to be. Not just a graphic design business. Not an agency. Not even the collective of creatives I once imagined. Just a place where creativity, in all its forms, has room to grow.
It turns out the umbrella was always big enough. It’s simply getting a little bigger.
Thank you to everyone who has supported Creative Umbrella over the past thirteen years. I’m grateful you’ve been part of the journey, and I’m looking forward to sharing what comes next.