In Conversation With Jade Buckley

Meet Jade Buckley, the creative force behind Jaades Co.

From her early days with crayons to navigating the corporate world, Jade's journey has been a fusion of art and entrepreneurship. A promise made in high school came to fruition in January 2023 when Jaades Co. was born, aiming to revolutionise the art world by bringing quality art to everyone.

Combining her love for painting with content creation, Jade now connects with millions online, sharing her art globally and collaborating with brands like I Love Ugly. We chat to her about the inspiration behind her art, how her creative process has evolved and our newly launched collaboration.

Tell us about yourself and what you do.

I am Jade Buckley, a Canadian founder and artist of Jaades co. art house based in Toronto, Canada. I love sharing stories on canvas and have always been drawn to painting. After completing a degree in business, I was able to blend my two passions by founding Jaades co. My main mission is to make good art financially accessible.

Where do you pull your inspiration from?

My inspiration comes from wanting to capture a moment, to share an experience and perspective with a collector.

I think being human is a uniquely lonely experience. It may seem odd to say but that feeling, or ache is so natural and normal. In an effort to soothe our loneliness we seek community; we lean into culture, and we create to share our experience.

I believe creating and experiencing art reminds us that we are not alone in whatever we go through. So, in this way my inspiration often comes from a desire to support community, share experience and make others feel less alone.

Tell us a bit about your creative process.

This is a hard one to write about, as it is somewhat dependent on the painting. The first step I typically take is visualizing what it is that I want to create. I like to create mood boards and use my sketchbook to test out new mediums and approaches. From there, I jump right into it. Apart of my creative process is allowing the painting to have a life of its own and change as layers are added. Sometimes it looks like how I planned, and sometimes it becomes something completely different. The painting process you see online enters many stages different stages of life. I will go from loving it, to wanting to start again in the blink of an eye. But that’s just a part of the creative process.

What are some creative practices outside of painting that you enjoy?

I love making videos, and this is where social media comes in handy for this creative process. With family in the creative industries (film, etc) I enjoy storyboarding, capturing B-roll and finding the best way to share a creative process through the medium of short form video.

Creativity for me is all about storytelling and I think film is such a perfect way to share your experience with others. I love the outputs and the final pieces that collectors place on their walls but there is something special about them coming along with me in the creative process. By making short films they get to see how the piece changed, grew and developed throughout the course of its creation.

What has been a highlight through this collaborative project with ILU?

I absolutely loved talking through the translation of an image from canvas to cloth. It is so incredible to think of all the ways that the same piece can be shared with collectors. I loved going back and forth to figure the perfect image for the collection and then how that image was printed. The ILU team was so creative on discussing the fabric, placement, colouring, and more. The highlight was this process of translation.

How has your practice evolved as you have grown as an artist?

I always knew I was going to be an artist, but I cannot believe how everything has turned out. Bigger than my wildest dreams I get to paint, package, email, account, frame, and ship creations every day.

In your younger years as an artist, it is all play and I want to make sure I protect this as I have grown as an artist. I will say in honesty that starting a business and making Jaades co. come to life has not been easy, but the collectors have made it fun. Like anyone who has monetised their passion you always walk that fine line of wanting to make sure you protect your curiosity in the process of turning your practice into a business. I always want to make sure to keep time for painting for myself, not in a selfish way but in a protective way!

On a more practical side Jaades co. works in a circular pattern - phases of creating, launching, and selling collections. The pallets, topics and stories of these collections are informed by my emotions and environment in that state of maturity. Naturally, as we grow so does our experience and I can’t help but translate that to my series. The bloom series was informed and influenced by the social significance of flowers; I started noticing how people share flowers to translate feelings. Whether it’s to make a significant other feel special, spoil yourself or share your grief, I started to see flowers as signals of emotion in my environment. My practice evolved with my surroundings.

Growing up might also mean coming to terms with the idea that the creative process can be an end in itself (passion for the sake of passion) or a means to an end (passion for purpose/business), I want to make sure I understand that and make a conscious choice to do both.

What are some goals you have set for yourself for the near future?

Jaades co. is just starting out, we have just celebrated our one-year anniversary on January 16^th 2024, I am looking back over the 2023. I have moved into a new studio in Toronto, and I cannot wait to see what inspiration the space affords me. I am certain new waves of inspiration will continue to grow and evolve and I’m so excited to find new inspiration in this city.

The last few months have involved lots of collaborations with other creatives which I always welcome. This has ranged from live art shows with Red Bull, Pop-up shops, fashion placement and this collaboration with I Love Ugly a great transition of Jaade images from canvas to cloth. Keep an eye out for in person events.

My focus is to refine the ‘machine’ … as an entrepreneur there is always something that can be done so it is all about prioritising. I want to make sure to oil what we have created in the first year. I am so proud of how far we have come and cannot wait for this next chapter.

If you want to follow the journey you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @jaades.co

Explore the I Love Ugly x Jaades collection here.