When people ask what I do, I never really have an answer. I don’t just do one thing. I do a myriad of things. However people expect an answer to that question, you can’t just say ‘this and that’ or ‘you know, stuff..’ so my simple answer to this question is ‘I design and make homewares and furniture’.
My problem with that answer is the word design.
My housemates at university were once told in a lecture that ‘nothing you ever design will ever be original. Its all been done before.’ That lecturer sure knew how to inspire a generation. However I do understand what they were trying to say. This world is so old that the basic idea of something isn’t new anymore. Everything is just an improvement or a variation of something thats gone before it especially in the world of interior design.
This notion becomes particularly apparent when you watch shows like The Great Interior Design Challenge and in practically every episode someone will incorporate art-deco into their design. The point is, trying to design something completely new and original is getting harder and harder if not impossible.
Anyway back to me. Am I a designer? Well I guess in a way, yes I am. Just probably not a typical sit at a desk with pen and paper and design sort of way. In fact as soon as I sit down with said pen and paper with the intention to ‘design’ something, any inspiration I may have once had goes straight out the window. Spending a number of years in education being taught ‘how to design’ I think pretty much ruined that. Designing to me has now become that horrible thing I have to do before the fun making part. The ‘show the journey of how you got to your final design’ part, because theres no way you came up with that idea straight off the bat…
Design should be about freedom and expression however my education made it a chore and something I resented. Now, and I guess I always have, I think of something in my head first, then find some materials to make it with and lastly I make something. I skip out the whole pen to paper bit. I design as I’m making, I see what works and what doesn’t because no amount of drawings will ever be the same as the real thing.
So am I really a designer if I don’t technically sketch a design first?
Of course I am. Deep down I do know that. Years of teachers telling me that to design something it needs to be something physical that someone can see and judge. And yes the dictionary may not be on my side for this either but just because I don’t draw my designs and I keep them in my head doesn’t make them not designs. They’re still designs, after all I make things from those designs in my head and you can’t make something without a design.
And then the next question; is it something new and original?
Well no of course not. Its a cushion. Some clever person a while back realised life was just that little bit better with a bit of comfort and 20 scatter cushions decorated nicely over your bed. But what makes my cushion unique compared to other peoples? That would be the way I designed it to be. The type of fabric I used, the trimmings and fastenings. Thats true of anything I make not just the cushions.
For a while I’ve been wanting to push that idea further and design my own fabrics so that my products are truly unique to my brand. But again my designs will probably be a variation of something thats come before but I’m okay with that. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it right? I know florals look pretty and I know geometric patterns add a flare of modernism why not capitalise on that? Everyone else does, you just have to do it better.
Tales of a Self Employed creative 