Member Spotlight: Larisa Deac

I'm Larisa Deac, a UX/UI designer and the artist behind Papertint. I live temporarily in New York and work remotely for a company in Finland. I recently launched my art brand Papertint here in the city, which is an outlet for me to share abstract paintings with the world. 

Tell us about your journey to starting Papertint!

My journey started a couple of years ago back in Finland, when I got some acrylic paints as a gift from my husband. I've always been into creative hobbies, but painting was something I hadn't explored so much until that point. During the long months of darkness and winter in Finland, I wanted to do something to bring more positive energy to my surroundings so I started to paint. My works are often inspired from vibrant colors and warm places in the world. When I moved to New York a few months ago, I decided to turn this passion into a bigger project and that's how I came up with Papertint. Today Papertint is an online store where everyone around the world can go and find something they like for themselves.  

How do you balance your day job with your side projects?

I keep an organized to-do list and order tasks by priority. I start my day job early in the morning, and I focus the first 8 hours of the day on my work. I make plans during the weekend for Papertint (usually a lot of brainstorming), and during the week after work I divide my time between painting, marketing and implementing features for the online store. Sometimes I keep up with my weekend list and other times I don't, but I think it's all about having your thoughts and plans written down somewhere and being able to get back to them after a while. 

What do you usually work on when you're at a coworking space?

I work on the UX/UI design of a content discovery tool for journalists. It's nice to be at a coworking space because I can quickly grab a quiet room if I have a meeting, and sometimes I get to meet people who are freelancers or remote workers like me. The coffee is always great too!

What are your tips for being productive?

Turning off notifications on all channels has worked well for me. Doing this for at least 2-3 hours a day helps me achieve a lot of things in a short amount of time and be really productive. Oh, and sleep. Having enough sleep works wonders.  

What is your favorite thing about Croissant?

It helps me be more productive. I used to work out of cafes at first, but I wasn't feeling comfortable if I wanted to stay there for a long time. Croissant app allows me to have as much coffee as I want in many different places and the environment is always friendly. Plus, I get to play with cute puppies in most of these places. 

I also like that there's a Croissant community where you get to meet people and do coworking sessions. It's been fun!

Thank you Larisa! You can find her on Instagram at @papertint, the Papertint website, and her design website.