As I mentioned in my intro, I am not a designer by profession - although I have a BA and an MBA (which i must admit i did to please my very traditional parents lol). My long life dream ever since i was a little girl, has always been to be a textile designer and have my own custom made line of luxury home decor (including pillows, cushions, bed linens, drapes, rugs etc).
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Growing up in Europe and Africa, I had always been so fascinated by the home decors, accessories, the vibrant colors of custom made fabrics & textiles and especially luxury linens (the Italian kind). I could spend hours in home stores on the streets of London (Oxford Street), just feeling the fabric and admiring it so much and wondering how it was made. My sister was the opposite of me. She was always into clothes & fashion, but i was more like my mom and prefered the luxury linen and anything to do with home decor. I would rather spend my money on a nice quality decorative pillow/cushion or high quality luxury bed linen than to buy that latest fashionable dress I saw in a magazine. Although I do love shoes - I always felt investing in my home decor and surroundings brought me better energy and greater joy. Your home is where you live, not just physically but spiritually and emotionally - and its the best investment you can make for your well being.
Growing up in Europe, Africa and America has exposed me to so much more than i thought i knew. Although I have attended a few tradeshows such as AmericasMart (held here in my state of Atlanta, GA), my ultimate dream is to be an exhibitor for my NYIGF tradeshow in New York and Maison de Objet in Paris - to showcase my beautiful designs.
Thus far, as I embark on this journey to owning my own business, I have come against a few road blocks but I refuse to give up. My biggest challenge has been finding out from sources how I can get my sketched textile design on fabric or where can I get my fabrics manufactured here in the USA. Some of my questions included :
-"As a small biz owner and young entrepreneur with limited budget, what is the minimum yardage order any mill will take from me?
-"Are there any specific textile mills out there who cater for small biz starters like myself
-"How do I even present my designs to the mills - what format? handsketched, digital?
It seems like it is an industry trade secret or something - nobody wants to talk to me. I have emailed "people" - some are even young entreprenuers (I wont mention their names) whose home decor line I truly admire, but the majority of them simply ignored me. I asked once and maybe twice - intepreted the long silence treatment to be "We dont care to tell you" - and I simply moved on. I was not asking any of them to tell me WHO their vendors are or who manufactures their fabrics, but I was expecting something as little as a "general advice" - such as the do's and dont as i begin this journey in the textile industry.
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One or two people (one even has a bigger brand) responded to me and just gave me the little advice they could give me - which i felt so honored and grateful for. At the right time when my product is launched I will give commends and name those who took their time to answer some of my questions. It has meant a great lot to me. Just simple advice such as "attend this or that textile tradeshow, network and show your few fabric swatches (which i have now made at spoonflower) or sketches to manufacturers" etc, or their recommendation of sites or books to read - has meant so much to me.
One or two people (one even has a bigger brand) responded to me and just gave me the little advice they could give me - which i felt so honored and grateful for. At the right time when my product is launched I will give commends and name those who took their time to answer some of my questions. It has meant a great lot to me. Just simple advice such as "attend this or that textile tradeshow, network and show your few fabric swatches (which i have now made at spoonflower) or sketches to manufacturers" etc, or their recommendation of sites or books to read - has meant so much to me.
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It is not easy at all starting a business (especially as i am also working a 9-5 to make ends meet) and being clueless to the industry you are trying to enter, but what doesnt break you makes you stronger (wink) - I learn as I go. Getting into the textile & home fashion industry has been a life long dream which i refuse to give up or prolong anymore. I will continue to strive at this until I become the sucess I yearn to be by the Grace of God.
One of the advice i got early this year is to learn to use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop if i plan on doing my own designs my self (rather than outsource to a graphic designer). I have chosen to learn these softwares myself because there is nothing better than owning your own designs and feeling proud that you designed them yourself. I also feel as i am starting out, I do have enough free time now, to learn these tools and at a later stage once my workload gets heavier, I could hire a graphic designer to help me out. For now, I just want to learn it myself. Since I currently work full time in corporate and dont have time to attend any classes, I also have decided to learn the Adobe Illustrator through lynda - an online software training. My main focus is learning about repeats for textile designs.
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I was adviced, the best investment I could have, as I learnt how to use Illustrator or Photoshop or any textile design for that matter would be, to own an Apple Computer. I have been a PC user for over 20 years, but after visiting my local Apple Store and playing around with the I Mac and Mac Book, I could definately tell what the fuss was all about. I decided to join the Apple Family.
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I contemplated between the MacBook and the IMac for the longest time. I liked the MacBook because of how small and compact it was and if I was to travel home (as much as I do) It would be easy to carry along with me. On the other hand I liked the I-Mac Desktop because of how large the screen was (21.5) and I could imagine see how much larger I could view my finished product for my textile designs. After much convincing by the Apple Sales rep and explaining to them what exactly i will be using it for - I decided to go fo the IMac Desktop 21.5 inch (and at a later stage - for the portability, maybe get an IPad to sync my folders to it as i travel to London). After many months of saving, I finally did it today (10/13/2011) - I purchased a Apple Imac 21.5 inch - and expect delivery in about 5 business days (am so excited) - My Abobe CS5 which has the Illustrator and Photoshop were all included in my total packaged price of purchase (awww I am going to miss my PC - NOT!!!!!!!).
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Question:
Are any of my readers out there textile designers? Are you proficient with Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and/or textile repeats? What advice could you give a newbie like myself?
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I contemplated between the MacBook and the IMac for the longest time. I liked the MacBook because of how small and compact it was and if I was to travel home (as much as I do) It would be easy to carry along with me. On the other hand I liked the I-Mac Desktop because of how large the screen was (21.5) and I could imagine see how much larger I could view my finished product for my textile designs. After much convincing by the Apple Sales rep and explaining to them what exactly i will be using it for - I decided to go fo the IMac Desktop 21.5 inch (and at a later stage - for the portability, maybe get an IPad to sync my folders to it as i travel to London). After many months of saving, I finally did it today (10/13/2011) - I purchased a Apple Imac 21.5 inch - and expect delivery in about 5 business days (am so excited) - My Abobe CS5 which has the Illustrator and Photoshop were all included in my total packaged price of purchase (awww I am going to miss my PC - NOT!!!!!!!).
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Question:
Are any of my readers out there textile designers? Are you proficient with Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and/or textile repeats? What advice could you give a newbie like myself?
So I got my Apple Imac - I got my Nikon DLSR (see old post) - I have never used either of these two before, but I am ready to learn all i need to know, as I happy blog and share my experiences of starting my own business - alongside sharing all my greatest decor finds with you all.
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Never give up on your dream - you can do ANYTHING you put your mind to, and always rememeber that for a hundred "No's" that you get you will always find 1 "Yes".
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I am so optimistic and so happy!
xxx
Kosia
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(PS: Oh and one more thing, the apple rep told me about a IMac carry case called I-Lugger which i could use to carry my Apple IMac if i ever decided to transport it with me as a carry on luggage overseas. I guess it was his way of convincing me more to purchase the IMac - which i did.
It is admirable that you are determined to pursue your passion at all costs. It would be interesting to read about things that inspire your creativity, and what motivates you to keep pursuing your interest when you encounter obstacles. Good luck with your endeavor! Maintain your optimism.
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