A few weeks ago I was invited to come back to the Manchester School of Art to present my portfolio to the current third year students, and talk to them about my experiences after University.
It was a great experience for them as they were able to see a “finished” portfolio (I say finished, it feels very unfinished to me!) and what the expectations within industry are. I also took this opportunity to be quite frank with them about the ups & downs after university. Of course I had a lot of great stuff to tell them, but myself and my course mates were very unprepared for the huge anti-climax you can feel when you have finished, and suddenly have no job. This can be extremely disheartening, and you must have a back bone & persistence in order to take on the fact that you will receive many rejections within this incredibly competitive industry.
It was also a great day for me as I ended up giving some one to one tutorials, which I was surprisingly good at! It made me realize how much I have grown in confidence and how much I as a designer have developed.. It’s incredible how much I have learnt in the months (6 to date) that I have been at Romo.. My style and skills have gone to another level and I am producing a much broader range of designs.. I am no longer scared of Geometrics, which is HUGE for me!
One of the things I heard when I was at university was how disappointed some of the students were that I wasn’t posting onto my blog so much anymore.. which I am very aware of and I am going to try and make a conscious effort to change it, starting today.
So here is a little sneak peek of something I have only just started today… all being well, it will become a design of Tulips for a silk scarf. I am currently working on some designs (which you will have already seen the original designs of on here and my website, applied to an interiors context) which I am translating into scarf designs..
Deciding on fabric choices and the size of the scarves is really tough as I am having to think long & hard about who my target market is.. but once I am fully satisfied with the final chosen designs & my choice of silk, production will be underway, which is SO exciting! Expect to see them within the next few weeks…
