Story & Lesson Highlights with Tom Vaughan-Johnson & Kat Vaughan-Johnson of Morningside, Buckhead, Cheshire Bridge

We recently had the chance to connect with Tom Vaughan-Johnson & Kat Vaughan-Johnson and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tom & Kat, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
We’ve recently adopted a three legged dog we’ve named Skips! He’s been an absolute blast to have in our home and has been a source of new joy and inspiration with his antics. Since adopting him we’ve forced to take more breaks, go on hikes, and focus on the present. Skips has been loving tagging along with us to our print shop. So much so he has been made an honorary employee as the head of quality control. He started off pretty shy around people but over time has had a great time meeting all our local clients who stop by.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
We are Split Arrow Print House! We are printing studio that focuses on helping artists & creatives monetize their artwork through print.

We are both artists who migrated to the world of printing. We started our own art careers by making and selling our own work as printed products. While we still make our own work, Printing for others has allowed us to educate, connect, & help so many artists turn their passion for creating into a serious career.

Our small print house is now celebrating our 10 year anniversary! We couldn’t be more excited to continue to come up with new ways to assist creative people to making a living through art.

In our tenth year we have put an extra focus on education. Sharing everything what we know about making prints, file set up, and selling your work.

We have also been working hard on building out more of our new risograph printing program. It has brought some new and fresh energy to our studio coming up with new products and options to create with.

Our studio is the first [maybe only] Risograph Printing studio to have full product and pricing available for everybody to see. We have worked with this print method for 8 years for our own artwork and we’ve loved seeing its popularity grow. We felt it was necessary to make printing as easy as possible. Putting this print method up on our website for online orders has taken us 3 years of planning, and building behind the scenes. Having this method so transparent has been a fantastic way to introduce new artists to us and to a funky and niche print style that we love.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
For Kat, she had a professor in college who was a main influence. His name is Duncan Snyder and he really helped push her farther into her photography. He always told her she would excel at anything she wanted to do as long as she stuck with it. Duncan was her professor for a few photography classes over the years. He was always available for a quick chat or offer up advice, whether it was a series she was working on or general life help. Duncan was always straight to the point but never made anyone feel subpar.

For Tom, He’s had few teachers & professors help push him to grow and live to his full potential. Worth Mentioning is Keith Knore, Mike Lowery, & Goni Montez; all having significant influence. Keith Knore being the first mentor to see real artist potential in Tom and fostering a passion for design & communication arts. His leadership & hands-on skills were the base for learning all of the production techniques that has been the foundation for creating our Print House. Keith Knore being able to see what Tom was capable of early in his life and pushing him to become a better artist, teacher, and person has led Tom to want live each day creating and being surrounded by art.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
For Tom, your passion for making, building, & creating has been the most defining life characteristic and is something that brings joy to so many people through sharing that passion.

For Kat, your kindness and creativity are two of your strong suits. They will get you far in life as long as you remember to keep some room for yourself!

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
That perfection, luck, and talent don’t exist.
Tom’s Grandpa used to always repeat like a stuck record “P.M.P.” ‘Practice Makes Perfect’. While growing up that’s all Tom heard. We now know practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes your ‘luck’ not your ‘perfection’, Perfect isn’t acheivable & doesn’t exist. All practice is, is your ability to see what you want, to push yourself, and keep heading towards your goals. That perseverance of your own interests and goals is all it takes to look lucky and talented to the outside. The feeling of luck and talent you feel is the recognition you’ve deserved the whole time. The harder you push yourself towards your goals & accomplishments the luckier you feel.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
We have been working hard on teaching lately. From doing small one on one sessions, zoom calls, and social media. We can feel a huge gap in artist education where it comes time to turn your creations and ideas into tangible and retail ready products. From the very foundation of our print house we have felt that getting printed work should be achievable to anybody who wants it. We feel we are on a path to opening up dialog in the demystification of printers, and creating a path to learn how to be a successful full time arts through teaching.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://splitarrowprints.com
• Instagram: @splitarrowprints
• Youtube: @splitarrowprints
• Other: TikTok: @splitarrowprints

Image Credits
Tom & Kat Vaughan Johnson