Keep your eyes peeled!

This is just a prelude.

block and screen printing addiction

Thanks to my dear friend xiu, I know of Fictive Fingers and their awesome works. I signed myself up for their screen printing class and before I knew it, I was hooked.

These days, I document most of my creative stuff via instagram so this one is taken from one of my instagram posts. (Please do follow me! arielthemerrow )

Anyway! The class was really fun and free. I don't mean FOC. But the freedom to work at our own comfortable pace, use our own designs, etc. The two owners Hani and Aisah are really sweet and helpful! They don't interfere in your decision making process - they just provide advises on the end product. "If you want it to look like this, this is how you can do it.." You know. Encouraging. I love them. That's why I went back for their block printing class.

After the screen printing class, we brought home a small kit including the stencil paper (for screen printing), rubber block and carving knife (for block printing), and a booklet introducing themselves and with pictorial guide on how to do block printing. The guide is really detailed so that you don't have to attend the class to actually learn how to block print. But, I still went for the class because I love the owners, their class and because of my believe in learning things best in person.

My mum has this belief that I strongly stand by - even though books and the internet are available, it's still best to pay some money to learn "that something" in person. She loves to cook and bake etc. So for her, even though the recipe is exactly the same, she won't be able to get it right unless she first learn it from a teacher in person. Then eventually using a few recipe to perfect her own.

Same logic here! The guide was detailed yes. But I needed to see the carving in person to actually get how it works. How to control the knife, how to carve, etc.I must say, I'm addicted to block carving. Carving on a rubber block is so easy. 

Look at my latest stash of blocks I've carved so far. I'm an amateur so my blocks are definitely more simple. But I've been printing them on fabrics and it all works out pretty fine. The only disadvantage is that my blocks are so small - it takes alot of time and effort to fill an A4 size fabric.

I've also recently tried printing my own wrapping paper. Turns out the effect is not too bad! But lesson learnt: never use normal printing paper because they tear so easily! It was so hard to wrap! (sadly, the recipient didn't seem to appreciate my work.)

This is my most recent work. Was just doodling as I watch TV. Then I came up with this design. It's for screen printing. Yes I bought my screen and squeegee from Fictive Fingers (good quality at a relatively affordable price) and a beginners' set of paint from Art Friend. It's my first attempt to screen print at home and I was over ambitious! It's so hard to control a huge piece of fabric (1m x 1m is abit too big for a beginner like me), especially to dry them. I officially consider my attempt failed. Will try again this weekend.

So keep a look out!

seven-months worth

It's been more than half a year since I joined my current workplace. People have commented how I have grown in this job, how much "smarter" I've become. I don't really have a clear idea of how much has changed so I decided on coming up with this list - my own survival list. Perhaps this list may apply to other industries too.

Ariel's Working Survival List

1. Take note of what you do every single day.

This may sound pretty stupid. But it's important. Let's say your boss is mostly not around (which is so in my case), she might ask for a weekly report from you and your fellow colleagues. So in this case, you already keep track of what you do daily. But some circumstances may require to record even more detailed (hourly tracking). Whether is it mandatory, such reports are actually your personal insurance in the office. You may never know which person in the office is not happy with you and decide to rattle to your boss that you are slacking your time off. And when you are confronted on what you were doing at a certain day (or time), you wouldn't want to be caught off-guard (especially for a forgetful person like me) and not be able to recall.

Such recording is also good to help you personally keep track what you have done over the days/weeks/months/years. You may start to feel overworked (or underworked) and thus this is when this recording becomes your useful evidence in a war between you and your boss and your HR.

2. Keep your friends close, your enemies even closer.

Everyone has at least a friend in the company. If you don't, at least be liked by someone. Try not to step on too many people's toes. Make as many people in the office love you - you may never know when you need their help. If you do make an enemy or two (or even more), don't be too openly hostile to them. The best tactic is to act as though you are their friend. It's never good to have too many enemies around you, especially if your position is all the way at the bottom of the ladder.

3. Humility is the best virtue.

Who doesn't like a humble and modest person? Unless it's fake of course. No matter what your position is, where your authority stretches to, it's always good to maintain the basic humility. People tend to be "softer" to other humble and polite human beings. Just like animals, if the other party is a threat to us, we will wear our armor and our spikes. Thus, it's best to be humble and polite - respect the seniors, your fellow colleagues, your supervisors, etc. A person with good manners is liked every where and this will help in the above point 2 that I mention. For a newbie like me, this is the best trait to have (if you are sincere) - seniors will be willing to teach you precious lessons that took them years to learn.

4. Do not simply follow the crowd.

5. Blend in.

Ok the above two points are related, and not at all contradicting. I shall explain why.

Every company has its pre-existing set of working ethics and style. Some hasn't been changed in years, so as a result, the way of working has become inefficient and may even be causing the company some damage. When it is obvious the methods of working (or recording or whatever for that matter) is not efficient and is causing attrition in the company, voice out. Do not skip levels of authorities and go straight up to the biggest boss. Speak to your super first, if all else fail then approach the boss.

However, keep in mind to blend into the company culture first. Every company has its own unique culture. So take note of the culture, learn and then blend in. Do not stick out like a giraffe standing among the rhinos. Blend in first, be one of them. Then if the need comes to voice out concerns regarding work processes, it will be easier to get your point across. People wouldn't think that you, a new-comer, is trying to flip the entire office upside down. They wouldn't see you as a threat, and thus it will be easier to get your message across and easier to get it accepted.

It has never occurred to me that these points I mentioned above are important. Though this isn't my first job, it is the first job I really cared about. So these lessons are all the more important to me. I'm not a saint so I do make mistakes. But considering how badly some of my previous jobs had went (by the time the half-year mark has reached), I think I've risen up pretty well in the past 7 months over here.

all I needed was this inspiring push.

Last week before I left on my holiday trip, I attended a seminar hosted by Her World & herworldPLUS - How to make it in fashion. It was held in conjunction with the Asian Fashion Summit at Suntec's newly renovated Conference Halls. To be honest, I signed up for it on impulse - I was reading the article "9 tips that all aspiring fashion designers should know" and found out there was this really affordable seminar (a mere $15 as compared to the other conferences costing from $149 to $449). So I went for it.

I was expecting the talk to cover stuff about what young designers should expect (no glamorous red carpet but hours of sweating through the night with hardly any sleep) and how to survive in it. On the contrary, it was mostly about e-commerce and what you have to do when you first started out.

I shall pick out some golden advice I took from the four speakers and share them here.

The first speaker was Debra Langley (CEO and Founder of Inverted Edge). One thing she kept emphasising was not be afraid to fail. When you fail, learn from your mistake, pick yourself up and try again. You can keep failing - it's fine as long as you don't make the same mistakes. She kept failing when she first started out, but every time she fail, she failed with a different mistake.

Planning is one thing she feels that a lot of designers these days fail to do. Business plan, merchandise plan, marketing plan, logistics plan, etc. It may sound easy, but many people failed to do so. When you don't have a plan, the business is fragile and hard to succeed. It will be very hard to retain your customers because (for example) they do not know what your company's identity is, when will your new collection be launched, how fast can they get the new arrivals once it's launched. I made this mistake myself many years ago when I tried a small online venture. I launched everything at one go, and never launch anything new for months while I continue to try to market my stuff.

The second speaker Pamela Wigglesworth caught our attention with her interesting real-life examples. We all know that social media is important in today's business world. But I didn't know just how important it is. Taken from her article on her blog, this was what she said at the seminar too - there is 1.19 billion active monthly Facebook users. Look at the numbers carefully. 1.19 billion active monthly Facebook users. That is how much customers we can reach out via Facebook!

It's very important to keep the conversation going. The conversation that Pamela speaks about is the "conversation" between you and your customer. This conversation is important as it helps to pull old customers back into your store, reminds them of your existence, etc. This may not come as a new piece of information but I'm sure many of us neglect this. We are all so eager to attract customers into our store, but we all forget about customer retention and also making them come back for more.

Thomas Tan was so excited even before the seminar starts. As he was chatting to other attendees before the seminar start, his high-pitched voice rang across the room and infected everyone with his excitement. He is a very jolly speaker. He shared his personal experiences when he first graduated and try to find his way around before finally becoming a mentor at TaFf. He brought up a very good point - when you graduated from the Fashion Design Diploma or Degree, you don't necessarily have to be a fashion designer. There are many other ways to work in the Fashion industry. Like he shared, there are some students who are excellent drafters or drapers or seamstress. The lecturers could see that too. But such rare talents became lost in the sea of thousands of fashion graduates (yearly) when they graduate just wanting to be a fashion designer with their own label.

Priscilla Shunmugam (founder and designer of Ong Shunmugam) came in halfway through the seminar looking jet-lagged. That's because she just had her first solo runway the night before at Audi Fashion Week 2014. While fighting her fatigue (she was surviving on 2 hours of sleep every night for many many nights), she shared her stories of how she started off. She managed to return the money she borrowed from her friends (to buy fabrics to start making dresses to sell) within 9 months and began making profit in 11 months. It is an impressive feat. She fought off comments from the audience that her success came with luck. It came with sacrifices (social life, job, etc), plenty of research and in my opinion, quite some natural talent in tailoring.

So as you can see, it's quite unexpected and really inspiring. I'll be looking out for more workshops/seminars of similar nature because this is really the best way to learn new knowledge from the professionals or people in that industry who has been there done that.

My first work trip to HK!

It's April next week.

I'm officially 4 months into my job. The dreamy happiness of a new job is starting to wear off! But I'm still grateful and happy about my job. I must remind myself to be thankful for a job that has so much opportunities to grow and to learn. Because in the midst of being overwhelmed with work load, I tend to forget how lucky I am.

Ok I dont know how photo posting works on a mobile app. Maybe the photos will all appear at the end of the page. Haha.

I hopped off a midnight flight to Hong Kong the week before my birthday. Due to a big project,  the trip was brought forward and I had the lucky opportunity to tag along! You can imagine how happy I was. Two main reasons for that. One, that's my first trip to the  bustling city known to be very expensive to live in! Two, I finally get to go on a work trip and learn all about the fabric/accessories/supplier sourcing in Hong Kong!

The trip is exhausting. We barely slept on a 1am flight with a baby crying all night. Then it was 3days of walking, lugging a luggage full of samples, searching and finding stuff. Then at night was another round of walking. This time it's for leisure. Their food is so awesome too! So much better than the ones in sg that call themselves "Hong Kong cafe". Then on the 4th day we take another early morning flight at 5am and arrive back at noon to head right back to office. Gosh. So hectic! Fun for the first time but maybe not as great the next time.

I've been taking up more responsibilities in office, going out to meet more clients, etc. The work nature is slowly changing. But sadly, my working environment is changing too. The changes are not very welcoming. Oh wells, that's expected. That's why I never want to be a boss of my own brand in the future. If my dream ever come true that is! ;)

Time really flies when I'm enjoying myself.

It's been 2months plus since I joined the company. Work hasn't been entirely smooth, but I think I'm fitting in very well. Much better than I did during my 8mth stint in my first job. Urgh. I still shudder at the thought of that place.

Anyway! My probation is going to end soon! Yippee! Means that my OT finally gets to be exchanged for time off. Haha. That's the only perk for me to look forward to ending my probation. Don't get me wrong. There aren't any reason not to look forward to the end of the probation. Haha.

The people in this company are the nicest I have met. They have the most adorable old working people, cutest hr/accounts, most hardworking and humble Chinese (I mean the people from China), and the most understanding and reasonable boss. The working environment is very learning-friendly. And I think there is almost no office politics at all. Working life couldn't be any better. I don't even dread Monday,  beside the fact that I can't go shopping or laze around at home. Time passes so fast the moment I step into office. And even though my job is pretty brain-draining, I don't feel 100% drained in all aspects. I can skip hop and jump in office haha. I think I may seem like a mad women. Hahaha.

But of course my work has it's challenges. There are external people who can be such idiots/bitches sometimes. The software may not be entirely obedient as well. And my projects are not without twists and turns. Nevertheless, I love my job and my workplace. It isn't the 100% perfect dream job of course. But it's the closest I think I can ever find. Even with my cannot-stay-still character,  I think I may be able to stay in the company for quite awhile. Let's not say how long. But it's definitely going to be longer than I'd expected.

And now my ride begins

This post was meant to be posted in early November. But I was caught up in waves and waves of meetings, interviews, etc. Now I finally sat down to finish up this post properly and with some photos too!

The past 2 months had been pretty well spent. I finished school by mid September. Was involved in the Fide Fashion Weeks for 2 weeks. And my personal life had seen quite some ups and downs. Not forgetting we are yet to start preparing for the exhibition taking place at our graduation in December.

There is a change in the school planning of their term breaks. Now students have 2 weeks. Which meant that they all have 1 week less of school to prepare for their final project. I was caught in this change in my last and final term. It was a mad rush churning out my final project for Garment and Composition module. On the eve/day of submission, I worked till 4am, slept an hour or so and woke up to rush it out by 7am before I rushed to school to have it scanned and submitted before our exam at 9am. I never had to work like this before. And I must say my parents were so shock to see the way I worked. Till this day, I still get comments like "if only you'd study this hard for your degree...". Haha. It was so funny. Even when my dear friend mel saw me working on technical flats (an assignment my interviewer gave me), she said "I have never seen you so focused when we studied together!!!". Ok im enjoying this shock from my friends and family. Cos it meant that they could see what this mean to me (:

A few weeks later I went on a short shopping trip to Bangkok with my family. And when I came back, I found out I had the opportunity to volunteer for the Fide Fashion Weeks. And the best part of it was my role - Liason Officer. Basically I welcome the designers and VIPs at MBS hotel,  and facilitate in their movement between the hotel and the event hall on their first day. I made sure they follow their schedule and turn up for their interviews and fittings. I was overjoyed to be interacting with these designers first hand!

I met the shy Burkman Brothers with their cute model friend Frank!

Michael Cinco was the most humble yet funny designer whose clothes were even more terrific than the designer himself. 

The legendary Kenzo Takada has a very charismatic qaura who never fail to smile at silly fanatics like us wanting a photo with him. 

Madame Guo Pei had the largest entourage of assistants and models with her upon her arrival and the longest show (2hrs) of jaw-dropping outfits. The following are some of my favourite looks. I added videos of every single outfit on my instagram!

Sebastian Gunawan is the most good looking designer who has an equally gorgeous collection of dresses. Not forgetting his beautiful niece who is pleasant both in her looks and her character.

And the loveliest old lady I've ever met. She is 60+ years old I heard. Given her age, she moves really slowly and always carry a smile on her face. Whenever anyone greeted her, she will stand up and walk towards him and shake his hand. She may not understand a single word of English yet she will smile and nod at you. Everyone is humbled at her presence. And she is present for every show during her stay in Singapore. So humble and so respectful of everyone. Mind you, she is one of the best wedding designers I've seen and one of the first in Japan! Her personal assistant (an old man who seem as old as her) is always around to make sure she is ok and he is just as polite as she is. She is definitely one of my favourite person at the show.

There are so many more cool designers I've met over the 12days at the event. On Aura tu Vu. Lie Sang Bong. Students from Atelier Chardon Savard. And many many more.

 

I also had the honour of meeting and working other awesome people such as Daniel Buoy and his team, the Japanese "feather lady", etc. And then, as always, there are divas amongst some famous names. I was so disappointed by one of my favorite designers. But overall it was definitely an eye-opening exposure to the industry and many up-close experience of the amazing couture clothes.

Graduation will be happening at 10 December for me. Unlike the advance diploma students, me and my fellow coursemates will have our own exhibition on graduation day. We have been working on the proposal for more than a month already. Not that it was constantly rejected, but they kept asking for more details. So now with less than 3 weeks to the event, our designs are still not approved. I wonder how are we going to come up with the looks by then. Perhaps a miracle would be helpful. 

I started searching for job back in early September. Back then I wasn't super proactive because the deadlines of the final projects were pressing more urgently. But since then, I had been sending out countless resumes and had a few interviews. Some were fine. But I went for some which only left me feeling shit when I stepped out of the office. I was demoralised and had lost most of my confidence in my own skills. Because of the minimum pay that e2i is insisting on, I had a hard time because many local companies are too small scale to afford to pay me that amount. I think I could have easily sent out 30+ resumes.

Finally last week, I got myself a job! As of December, I'm going to be a fashion designer at Moda Ling Pte Ltd. They are an established company dealing with corporate uniforms - mostly hotels. One of the best part is that I'm going to be dealing with Optitex - a new auto-cad software they bought recently. Another perk is that the office is a half an hour trip from home! Ok more about my job another time. Till then!