When a restless maker who’s been designing since his teens sits down with a marketing strategist, you don’t just get a chat about aesthetics—you get a hard-edged interrogation of what it really means to turn an idea into a brand that survives. In this episode of *Clean Your Toilet*, Freddy and Will talk about crafts and commerce, toys and trade-offs, and why creators must become uncomfortable hybrid-operators if their art is going to pay the rent.

Most people picture an artist’s life as romantic: sketchbooks, midnight inspiration, gallery openings. Freddy’s life shows the other side. He started drawing as a kid, launched his first company while still young, and spent decades learning both craft and the messy business of making things people want to buy. Hungry Hamster Club is the result — an IP that started as collectible toys and artworks. Freddy also has an interest in NFTs, Web3 collaborations, and a variety of product experiments. But building an IP isn’t the same as building a business; the two require wildly different muscles.

This conversation pulls no punches. Freddy admits the survival moves: taking odd jobs (waiting tables, restaurant management), doing paid work to fund toys, and taking a day job in Web3 to sustain production. He’s honest about the compromises and the weird humility of pitching your passion as a commercial product. Will pushes on the tough marketing truths: a brilliant object doesn’t always sell itself, and visibility is not the same as value.

They unpack the creative paradox at the center of every maker’s life:

- How do you keep a creative spark alive when production calendars and cashflow start dictating what you make?

- When is a passion project allowed to remain "just" passion, and when must it be productized?

- Can you scale a collectible without turning it into a soulless commodity?

Freddy’s craft philosophies emerge as practical playbooks. He draws a clear line between art (conceptual, expressive) and design (user-focused, functional). He describes the role he plays now: creative director, provocateur, mentor, negotiator — someone who must “switch heads” between artist, salesman, and client whisperer. That tension gives birth to one of his favorite lessons: “The best ideas aren’t only created — they’re sold.” Execution, packaging, and the ability to sell the vision to a partner (or a retailer, or a licensee) are what turn an IP into a global toy.

Will reframes this as marketing truth: narrative is leverage. Hungry Hamster isn’t only a toy — it can be a story, a license, a tiny cultural world that other brands want to plug into. The commercial pathway Freddy sketches — 12 activations in a year, licensing deals, and retail presence — is ambitious but deliberate. Freddy doesn’t want to sell out; he wants to learn how to sell smart.

If you’ve ever:

- Felt guilty about “selling out” but needed the money anyway

- Wanted to keep making the things you love while scaling a business

- Wondered whether to take paid client work or guard your creative time

…this episode hands you both the hard questions and the practical reframes. Freddy’s journey shows that being an artist in business isn’t betrayal — it’s evolution.

🧼 Your creativity is the clean water.

🚽 Monetisation pressures are the drain.

💩 Compromise, fear, and procrastination — that’s the clog.

Clear it. Build slowly. License wisely. And let what you make carry your voice to the world.