How my favourite high school band helped me to realign my values in business.

The third anniversary of the company that I founded is a good time for a small summary and celebration of the success that we have undoubtedly achieved. But instead of listing prizes, counting investment meters, and money earned by MIXD, I would like to tell you about something else. I would like to tell you about self-reflection, about searching for your own "core" or, if you prefer, identity and the search for a further path.

Creating and developing a company is a lot of work, many hours when we focus on new projects, presentations, when we look for new solutions and deal with thousands of everyday small matters: an internet that does not work, broken doors, invoices, bills, contracts, parcels from the courier, training. In all this, it is easy to lose your goal, consistency, to do something contrary to yourself and your values. You know - the company is growing, there are more employees, money is needed, new customers, sometimes there are borderline situations such as a pandemic when you have the impression that everything you have earned is sliding inevitably towards the abyss. Going through the first levels of the game called business is difficult, it's easy to get lost.

It is worth pausing for a moment and asking yourself: where am I with myself, with my company? It is worth connecting with your “I”, the first and purest one, the one we constitute in our youth, gathering knowledge and our first experiences, creating our own hierarchy of values, identifying ourselves with the heroes of books and films, song texts, and social groups in which we function.

I also asked myself such questions and was also looking for something that would allow me to carry out such a process. And I realized what a great role in the process of building my identity as a very young person was the third album of the band Korn, "Follow the Leader". It was different, fresh, innovative, surprising, I still can't explain it today, but, in some strange way, it reached me very strongly and responded to my needs.

Maybe it was that I'm not afraid to go my own way, be different, be strange? Even today, I often hear it from the people I meet with as a designer and company boss. You are different, your business is different. There is nothing to cheat: this brand has a lot of my DNA. Recently someone asked me if I had a plan B when starting MIXD. I didn't have any plan. MIXD was something that I had to do, which is connected with me, full of quality, disagreement with the routine, telling it straight as it is and what you think. And somewhere in the background you can hear the music of Korn - the band that will always remain the Korn band, will always have their own strong, recognizable style in spite of musical trends.

I don't think of MIXD as an architectural studio. I think of it as a set of values, a group of people who share them, who create a certain culture. I do not close myself to various development opportunities: whether I design virtual reality, graphics or a product, I only want to do it in harmony with myself, because in my opinion only this gives us and our clients long-term profit.

These thoughts were not far from what you may have recently flashed by in our social media. Simply put - we made some merch, because who will forbid us? We have sweatshirts, bags and caps with the amazing graphics of Karol Banach and the MIXD logo, which was remixed in post-metal aesthetics by Jakub Pionty. Karol's invitation to this project was very natural: he cooperated with us on ibis Styles Sarajevo, our first and so far the loudest, most recognized project, we understand each other very well and we will probably come back to this cooperation more than once. Jakub, on the other hand, likes to redefine brands, undermine the existing status quo, look for new perspectives in his artistic projects, and go against the tide. The best duo we could create!

This project is very personal to me, precisely because it grows out of my experiences, views and preferences. It is a tribute to the album that helped me define my identity as a teenager, an album whose echoes are clearly visible in my company. That is why the graphics of Karol Banach are associated with its cover. But it's worth emphasizing that this merch, just like the owls in Twin Peaks, is not what it seems. It is not about creating cool gadgets or profit from selling them, on the contrary - we want to say something important through cooperation with artists, share it with others, treat it as a kind of spiritual practice that is to move us, develop and change our consciousness. I know that in 2021, creative companies are building team spirit with Ayahuasca (Pyer Moss you are blown into space guys), we started very innocently. ??

I don't think of MIXD as an architectural studio. I think of it as a set of values, a group of people who share them, who create a certain culture.

Instead of a session with a fashionable business coach, we treated ourselves to some fun; thing I've always wanted to do. Maybe next year we will organize a road trip to Mongolia or we will set up a garden? Maybe we will create perfumes or roast our own coffee? Maybe we'll release an album? Who knows that? However, we will certainly search for new ways of expression through these activities and try to support the local community. We will also explore the boundaries of our brand in this creative way, expand them, and look for the right perspective at a given moment.

I named this project "Remember who you are." I am proud that we have managed to achieve success with MIXD on our own terms, especially in a situation when business is still full of superficiality and there is no consent to emotionality. You have to dress in a certain way, behave in a certain way, and fit into certain stereotypes. I decided to express my values through business activities and after three years I am sure that it was the right decision because this is what makes our clients want to work with us.