reflections
In the end I think I produced a good product for the PDE collection. However this was not without issues and problems. I feel that if I had full access to the GSA workshop I could have used the expertise and equipment in order to improve my textile work, as I had little to no prior experience and had to find out many things the hard way. For example, it would have been hugely beneficial to use an industrial sewing machine, as this would have allowed me to sew through more layers than the consumer grade sewing machine I used in my production. In my production i encountered a few issues. These primarily being the fault of me being underprepared when going into manufacture. I really needed basic sewing equipment like a big ruler and set square, as it was a right pain to measure and mark up with a 30cm ruler. Furthermore, it was a good idea to do batch production - creating each part as a batch then moving on to the next part. This meant that I improved as i made all the parts, working from the simplest to the most complicated steps. This also allowed me to only use the equipment that was necessary for that stage - useful when working on my cramped living room table. I found the online working environment quite challenging as I found it was much less of a creative environment. I thought that sharing ideas and getting feedback was far more difficult this year than previous years. This meant I found myself less driven to work on the project, and not enjoying PDE as much as I have done in previous years. However, due to the current situation this couldn’t be rectified, and I found that going for walks as well as meeting people outside of studio time helped improve creativity and passion for the project. One of the main lessons I learnt doing this project is the power of research before diving blind headfirst into trying to learn a new skill. If I had researched what I would
have needed to manufacture my wallets more thoroughly in the initial stages, I would have probably change my project quite considerably. This could have come in the form of an all 3D printed wallet or even a self-sew kit. If I did this project again, I would reach out to more people to get opinions and feedback rather than just waiting for tutorial sessions. This would allow me to more accurately get relevant feedback from my target market. Overall, I think this project was run really well, especially in the current situation - and as Craig said, this year’s crop of products are the best yet. But I bet he says that every year. It was great working with industry professionals like Jen and Maryam and learning how things operate in their businesses. This was an interesting taste of potential careers after PDE.
