Professionalism and Employability Report

My understanding of Level 5 is that this is the year that I need to begin thinking about where it is that I can imagine being placed in the textile world. Prior to returning to second year, we were asked to complete an Influences folder- gathering together a collection of practitioners in the current industry, looking as to where I thought that my work could be placed, and what is it that I am inspired by.

As so not to commit myself straight away, I pulled my influences from over a variety of art based areas – illustration, craft, gallery based, interior and fashion. Predominantly, many of the chosen practitioners were based as either as freelance designers or as part of a design team, both areas of which I am interested to explore. 

It was also apparent that there were key themes evolving as to the work that I desire to produce;

Embellishment. Pattern. Stitch. Colour. Texture.

 I believe this task to be an ongoing project, something to continue thinking about, researching and developing over the duration of my degree. This folder was used as the basis of both my Intentions and Locating unit, helping to incorporate key credentials for my preferred style, as well as thinking where in industry I would be able to make the best of these skills.

Context of Practice
Recently I have pinned my preferred context to have qualities suitable for costume design and designing textiles for fashion. Choosing to work upon a fashion orientated live brief this term, looking at designer Elie Saab, has enabled me to look more in depth as to the types of jobs and practitioners involved in this field, as well as looking in detail at the kinds of works that I am inspired by.
My practice is firmly set in embroidery. I enjoy the concept of both machine and hand stitching- hand for time consuming process, producing rewarding results and machine for its endless experimental possibilities. As well as this, I feel that it is a practice that can be combined into all textile worlds. 

I like the idea of adaptation between both working on my own and in a design team. By no means do I think that it would be easy; I feel that I have the determination, passion and motivation to succeed as a freelance designer, but also feel I have the skills to work in a design team as I enjoy collaborating, and constantly learning and progressing through combined practices.
Over the duration of this year my understanding of the textile market is constantly developing. In terms of embroidery knowledge, I have taken part in as many possible workshops through both the university and individually set up plans, to broaden my portfolio of skills- something that will give me an advantage when moving into the textile market.  Writing a personal brief for our Locating Unit meant being able to sculpt the project around the skills that I am passionate about and being able to research further into what is already out there within my desired practice.

Being lucky enough to have guest lecturers on a regular basis stimulates thinking about where we could end up after graduating. My biggest influence for choosing this career pathway has been shaped by freelance textile designer, Karen Nicol. Instead of categorising her work for a set market, she adapts her work in order to work a vast amount of settings, primarily interior and fashion. When speaking about her practice, it was clear that Karen has had to make alterations, and be flexible with the skills that she has, in order to get to where she is now. For example adapting skills when designing for a catwalk, larger embellishments- less time consuming, easy to see and get noticed. One key piece of advice I took away from the lecture was that to work in the textile industry, “the more you do, the more you learn, the better you will become in your chosen practice”. 

Audience of Practice
In fashion design, the audience is usually evolved from themes and settings that are found at the time of research. Target audience is ultimately based on what is on trend at the time- so looking at trend forecasting and colour stories would play key influence- as well as relevancy to the market and more importantly, what will sell. In a more literal setting, for example costume design, the audience would essentially come from theatre groups, for example West End production companies, or as I have previously mentioned in tutorials, television. 
Alongside the featured examples, I believe that the audience of your work would also come from company trend preference, for example, if a fashion company like Elie Saab wanted to hire a designer to create their fabrics, they would be drawn toward feminine, romanticised stitch pieces, involving a pastel colour palette, whereas the BBC Strictly Come Dancing clothing department would be interested in heavily sequined embellishments on bold, eye-catching colours. 

Future of Practice
The time that I have left between now and graduation will be extremely important in terms of continuation into market researching, building networks and finding my place in the industry. Continuing to broaden my knowledge through both tutorials and networking in the School of Art holds an incredible bank of knowledge in itself. Practically all tutors have their own practices outside of teaching, so talking to them really helps to get a sense what I can aspire for. Applying for work experience, and just in general asking questions to tutors /guest lecturers has been extremely useful. I have gotten into the habit speaking to the guest lecturers after their presentations, and then following up with an email regarding possible experience- practically all of which I have received positive response back from. The people that I have emailed I have either researched in projects, been influenced by their practice, or are people who have the career lifestyle that I aspire for. A final idea would be working through collaboration in order to explore working as a team, something that I am looking forward to doing in my next unit, Unit X.

The textiles market is constantly evolving, so there are many factors that could affect my future.
A key aspect is the development of new technology. It is a market that is expanding every day, so for example the skill of hand embroidery could be jeopardized because people won’t have time to wait for samples to be produced in such a fast paced society- there will be machines that can batch produce for a fraction of the labour costs and time, which is unfortunate, as these are the qualities that I appreciate the most when learning my practice. Trend forecasting will play an important role when working for a fashion based setting. IT will mean keeping up to date with what is in style and ‘on trend’ all of the time. Finally, there will be a large amount of graduates all setting up in the in industry at the same time as myself, so it is key to leave MMU with originality and enthusiasm in order to succeed. 

Bibliography

Personal photography

Speaking to Karen Nicol in person

http://cargocollective.com/kellyflegal

http://www.chrisanne.com/Articles.aspx?cat=Strictly+Come+Dancing

http://creativepool.com/articles/jobdescriptions/textile-designer-job-description

http://www.karennicol.com/pages/lace.html

http://www.pinterest.com/lauramaykent/embellish-embroider/
http://www.style.com/fashionshows/designerdirectory/ESAAB/seasons/
http://www.thedesigntrust.co.uk/category/freelancing/