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Life, Glamour, and Powertools -perspectives from Ann-Marie, the I.D.iva! |
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8/22/2003 It’s been three months since my last entry and I bet you all think I’ve just been partying up a storm since graduation. Well, I haven’t. I went to Hilton Head for a week, spent time in the ATL for a month, and waited to hear back from Nike since I had sent them my portfolio some time ago. I waited. And waited. And started going crazy until finally I was flown out there, given a 15 person interview, and ASKED TO JOIN THE TEAM!! Woo-hoo! I am so, so happy you have no idea. The footwear designers out there were super cool and the Nike headquarters is insanely huge and awesome. Portland was actually a big surprise to me. I was expecting flannel and Birkenstocks but the city is really cute and has a lot of style. A nice euro-vibe, lots of cafes, lots of gardens, really nice people; this was a far cry from the bustling conkrete-jungle called Brooklyn that I live in now. Anyways, I loved it and the clean air and beautiful landscape was just what I needed. So, yeah, this I-Diva has a J-O-B now and is starting to feel all grown-up. I start in mid-September, so I have a few weeks left to do the whole move-across the country thing. But, I already found a very cute apartment in the trendy Nob Hill district so all that’s left is getting me and my stuff over there. But, I’m not here to strut and brag, I’m here to help ALL YOU STUDENTS OUT THERE so pay attention. You may be thinking, “Wow, Ann-Marie is so freaking cool. She had an internship her senior year at Puma and now she’s working for Nike. How did she do it?” I’m not trying to tell you what’s important and what’s not, I’m giving you MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE with I.D. so no hate mail, please. Well, luckily for me I worked my ass off at Pratt and got some good work and skills out of it. So, firstly, if you are a slacker and aren’t “cracking-out” and pushing yourself so hard you’re becoming an insomniac, keep in mind that there are kids out there that are and it will pay off for them. You only have three years in that major and you don’t want to graduate and wish you had worked harder. Out of all the skills I gained, there is no skill with the most money-making potential as DRAWING. Don’t let yourself be fooled by silly CAD professors. You need to be able to draw clearly and with some degree of speed. I’m sorry, but any design director in any field wants to see variety. If you have to come up with concepts for a shoe or a toaster, you have a limited amount of time to generate some ideas so you can either draw like a madman and impress the hell out of them or sit at your computer and nerve-rackingly try to put together something in Alias or whatever. At the end of the day, the drawer could quite possibly have fifty or more little sketches and line gestures, while the cad-kid has maybe five if he’s an Alias superstar. So take a drawing class even if it’s outside your major and learn to draw out of your head and with confidence. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, it just needs to be understood and powerful. So, for any project the professors may throw at you during your time in school, I find it mandatory to carry a sketchbook. Some professors won’t require detail drawings to accompany a product you might design, but you should do it anyway. Sometimes those little sketches you do in that book during lunch or while talking with friends turn out to be the best ones of all. If you can show your design process for all your projects you will blow people away. And not the photos taken of you doing a step-by-step explanation of how you bent plywood for a stool, but the drawings of every thought that came to your head the day the professor said you’d be designing a stool. Evolve those designs on paper, don’t just think about them. The result will be this awesome story of how a turtle head or a curve inspired this, which turned into this, then you found out, how funny, that people in 8 A.D. sat on turtles shells for rest, etc. which turned into this dope little stool. If you’re doing detail/final drawings, do call-outs and don’t be afraid to scribble your thoughts all over the page. Always ask, “If someone were looking at this drawing and I wasn’t there to explain it, would they understand what it does / how it moves, etc.” Please do not become one of those people who has nothing but re-styling in their portfolio. Some kids think that they have succeeded and can go to sleep after making a very cool-looking potato peeler or whatever. They simply redesign the outer appearance of a product and maybe make it look a little more futuristic or curvy-wurvy. This is what I like to call ‘I-D-ish, superficial’ crap. It makes me mad because it is so typical these days in design school. Now, if this product is in some way smarter or more innovative and also looks nice, then it gets a nod of approval. In your portfolio, you should have AT LEAST one project in which you demonstrate how smart you can be. This is one of those projects that involve research, people-watching, ritual-observing, and problem-solving. In the end, you have something that’s not just a product, it makes people feel better, it makes something easier, it helps the environment, or whatever, you get the idea. For me, this project was the tea product I did senior year in which the end product enhanced the ritual we all know and love, of preparing and drinking tea. It took an entire semester and I really put my heart into it. I’m patenting this product this very minute, so you never know what will come out of your clever little ideas. Be an inventor, not just a designer. Nike took particular interest to this project because it showed INNOVATION, the word that they live by. So, drawing and innovating. What else? I know that I.D. gives you lots of options. Cars, household goods, footwear, furniture, tabletop, environments; you can try them all! But seriously, senior year should be a focus year. You should try and pick a target group. Don’t think, “Well, if Frog Design doesn’t like my cool chainsaw, I’ll go show my flying car to GM.” Uh-uh. Find your passion and what it is you really love doing or just have knack for and show that you love that in your portfolio. When I was interviewing with Phil Russo, for the Puma internship, he mentioned that he received tons of portfolios where the person had different projects but only one footwear project. To him, that person didn’t have a passion for footwear, they probably just took a shoe class and were trying to get a job. How do you solve this dilemma of showing more than what school can provide? DO IT AT HOME. Draw tons of shoes or cars or whatever else interests you on your own time. My fabulous boyfriend is trying to get a job with another footwear company out in Portland, and he never took a shoe class at Pratt and never had any internship. He loved shoes and wanted to take the class but couldn’t fit it into his schedule. So, he started drawing a ton of them the week after we graduated and then did about five hot renderings in Illustrator and sent them out last week. The company already contacted him to say that they’re taking a deep interest in him. So, don’t expect school to be all you need for the industry. Find what you love and attack it through drawing. My last bit of advice would be to stay active in the design community. Go to design shows and go to seminars. In New York, we’re blessed with having the Core 77 homebase, so there have been lots of lovely Offsites where we could be enlightened, get hammered and network with lots of designers. It’s not ALL about who you know, but it definitely helps. Don’t be a stranger, let people know who you are and why you should be their sparkling new intern. So take this advice and run with it. When you make your “official-neatly-bound” portfolio, make it read like a storybook. Let people know how much went into a project and what happened along the way. Don’t just show two sketches and then the final model. And when you go into an interview, be armed with tons of ammo. If you did huge drawings that you later scanned and shrunk down to fit into your “official-neatly-bound” portfolio, BRING THEM. The real drawings, even if they’re torn on the edges and smeared with blood from that exacto-knife incident, will tell the company who you are better than the cleaned up version. Be proud of all the dirty work and tears you went through; it will all pay off. 5/21/2003 "Schoooooooooooll's...out... for... summer! Schooooooooooooll's... out... for-eva!" woo-hoo! (to be continued after I finish off my party week) 4/11/2003 Okay, I’m back. Too many people were telling me I was slacking on the write-ups, so I woke up at 7 am today to type before my crazy weekend begins. I’m graduating in four weeks, so this means that I have no life outside of the studio. The other night I set-up a little power station in the wood shop after it closed. In between spraying coats of paint and sanding, I was on my laptop, feverishly doing Illustrator work for portfolio class, finishing Italian homework, and reading the works of Nietzsche, who I must say was a brilliant man. This went on as the sun was coming up. I felt dizzy. I was thinking in Italian. I began to question my existence and why the hell I was sanding this stupid piece of blue foam. At some point in the night, my boyfriend showed up with flowers since it was our one-year anniversary. He left and I stayed until 9 am when teachers started breezing by. Oh, the fun of being one of those “ID kids-that-never-go-to-sleep.” Anyways you get the idea of how things have been. So, a lot has happened since I last wrote. Okay, you know how I’ve been patenting this tea-packaging thing? Well, two weeks ago I flew myself over to Las Vegas where there was a three-day “Take-Me-To-Tea Expo.” Tons of tea companies, packaging companies, teashop owners, etc., were there from all over the world, at these little booths. I networked and chatted with lots of people, got inspired, and drank so much tea to the point where I haven’t really had tea since then. I didn’t bring the prototype with me though, and I had to speak very abstractly about the patent. (Lawyer’s strict rules.) The event was well worth the trip, but a humbling one. Never in my life have I wanted to be, like, 10 years older like I did when I was walking around the exhibit hall. People were staring at me and asking why I was there. They just couldn’t believe there was a 21-year old tea entrepreneur out there and that I was ambitious enough to come to the convention. I don’t know, it just felt like I had to really prove myself when speaking with these big, tea CEO’s. I kept getting these looks that said, “Aaaaaahhh, how cute, she has a little invention and wants information.” Grrr. I’ll show them. Afterwards I got to stroll around the strip for a little while before catching my flight back. Las Vegas is so crazy! I loved it, and it was way cleaner than I had imagined. The Venetian was an awesome hotel, and I got to practice some Italian with the staff there. Gondolas drift past you as you walk around and the architecture was stunning. I felt like I had been transported to Disney’s Italy. After buying cheesy souvenirs, I was back on my way to New York and reality again.   (Chilling with Pavarotti in the Venetian) I also had this great big epiphany last month as I thought about the whole “Nike” thing. Originally, I was sending in my work so I could hopefully land that “Adrenaline” internship for the summer, remember? Well, I realized I didn’t want to be an intern anymore. I wanted a real design position! I never thought I would move out of New York, and who’s to say what will happen, but I’m willing to move to Portland. Yes, that is a huge change and a big move, but I moved from the Bahamas to Georgia so I can do anything. (I’m prepared for all the cursed rain, too.) The opportunity would be amazing, anyway. Reading Donald Lehman’s recent “Student Life” write-up, confirmed the rumors I had been hearing that the IDSA Student Conference sucked. I was up for that award (The Pratt IDSA Merit thingie) among five other seniors, but alas, I was not chosen. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise, seeing that I would have been so annoyed being there and wasting my time. Everyone should read Donald’s write-up if you haven’t already; it’s so right on. Until next time. 2/1/2003  So, here we are. The fabulous Puma New York crew. From left to right we have Phil Russo (US Manager), Professor Mark Eggert, myself (in tough-girl mode), and Johnny Kraljevich. My internship time is up there, but I can’t tell you all how awesome the experience was. Everyone there trusted me enough to complete six shoes for an up-coming season, and I did my best to not let them down. I’ve recently started seeing the prototypes come in from Asia, and it’s the coolest thing ever. You’re holding this shoe and thinking, “whoa…I drew this thing and here it is.” Anyways, this is my shout-out to the coolest bunch of guys around! They’re responsible for you spending all your allowance money on those hot kicks with the form stripes! Well, I’m back from winter break and I’m in my LAST SEMESTER OF SCHOOL! That’s pretty scary. I have all these little projects going on, too. The patent for the tea-thing is in full-swing, so that’s a lot of work and legal stuff. Then there’s the portfolio book I need to finish and send to Nike by Feb. 28. If they like what they see, I’d be going to Portland this summer for their “Adrenaline” program. Basically, it’s a 12-week internship for young and budding footwear, apparel, graphic, etc. designers from around the world. I think it would be so cool to see how they do things out there. I’ve heard crazy stories so I really hope I get a chance to experience it. I’ll find out at the end of March. Then there’s the school stuff. I’m taking the table-top studio this semester. We’re doing “lights” in there and I get to learn all about the wonderful world of mold-making and ceramic. In the second semester of Space-Analysis, we put all the 3-D skills we learned about volume and tension to the test and create an architectural model of any space or building we wish to design. We started the design process exactly how we started in the abstract transportation class I took last year. We made all these little abstract sketch models out of paper and found objects, not really locked down on a particular idea of what to do. Afterwards, you’d look at these funky little sculptures and realize what you were going to make. It’s a weird process, which many would argue against but I think it’s the greatest way to generate forms. Have you seen the Guggenheim Museum in Spain? That is the craziest looking building, and its designer, Frank Gehry, came up with the design by cutting up and playing with tons of paper and thin metal for weeks. It looks like a blown-up version of a little paper sketch. So, I think I’m doing an indoor lounge/restaurant that makes you feel like you’re outside. Think lots of glass and indoor gardens. 12/25/2002 Merry Christmas, everyone!!! I'm back home in ATL, after a delerious week of finals. Have an awesome holiday and try a very festive Cranberry Christmas martini. Oh yeah, and make lots of snowmen.  11/22/2002 “The Greeks believed that TRUE BEAUTY (as opposed to mere prettiness) was the offspring of these two opposing tendencies, which they personified in Apollo and Dionysus, their two gods of art. Great art is born when Apollonian form and Dionysian ecstasy are held together in balance, when our dreams of order and abandon come together. One tendency uninformed by the other can bring forth only coldness or chaos-the stiffness of a Triumph tulip, the slackness of a wild rose. So though we can classify any particular flower as Apollonian or Dionysian (or male or female), the most beautiful flowers – like Semper Augustus or Queen of Night – are the ones that also partake of their opposing element.” -Michael Pollan, from “The Botany of Desire.” Oh, dear. Here we go again. The next few weeks are sure to be fun-filled with no sleep and too much sugar. This is when we all reflect on the time we have lost to going out on the weekends and the precious time we have left to make models that look like little superstars. After this period of mayhem, I have ONE semester of school left and it’s o-vah! Hard to believe four years of Pratt life and never-never land are coming to a quick close. Product class has been an amazing experience this semester. Peter Barna is making sure that he makes “intelligent, articulate” designers out of us and pushes us in directions with our projects that we never considered. We each have chosen an object that has room to be made-over, and have each attacked it from every corner, filling books with countless sketches and directions. Thanks to Barna’s constant “Umm, no…dig deeper, you’re not there yet,” and a classroom of the smartest students I’ve ever worked with, simple objects have not only been amazingly redesigned, but given a life and personality. Let’s take my project for example. At the beginning of the term, I brought in a glass, loose-leaf flower tea, and a metal bombilla straw (a South American tea straw that strains the tea as you sip). Here was a beautiful gift I had received from “Red Flower” in the city, that I felt could be expanded on. I loved the experience and ritualistic tone of sipping tea and started dreaming up containers and bombillas that would look great at home or on the go. My journey began as a very ‘table-top’ solution to promoting a tea ceremony for people to enjoy. I bombarded the class with various form studies and beautiful drawings. Boooo! Nice try, but there I was again…stylizing without innovating. Damnit. The next few weeks I was pushed into countless directions for “enhancing the drinking of tea” and became obsessed with anything TEA. I started watching people who ordered tea at restaurants or at Starbucks. What were they doing with their hands, what kind of mood were they in? What really sucks about drinking tea and dealing with steeping? Was there a ‘dark side'? I’m happy to say that all the heavy thinking and drifting into space throughout my days, paid off. I’m designing “tea stuff” I never imagined I’d do and going so far as to patent the results. I hate to leave all you readers hanging, but it will have to wait until they’re locked down. Anyways, the point was to remind everyone to do research beyond “Google” and to really redesign instead of simply making something look cooler. Designers are losing the battle when they don’t go out there, ask questions or interview homeless people on the streets. If we are trying to enhance people’s lives through objects, we have to remember that there is a ritual and feeling that accompanies every object. It’s nice to work from that. You can have the latest, most gorgeous, ergonomic, toaster sitting on your counter, but really…it’s that desire for toasted cinnamon bread with apple butter that counts. 9/10/2002 School is back in full swing, and I’m now a big, bad senior. My internship with Puma is in its final weeks so in the mean time, I’m racing between Pratt and the SoHo studio. School has a much different feel to it this semester. Time is closing in and the “real world” gets a little closer each passing day. Am I ready to be a hardcore designer, or what? My portfolio class alarmed me yesterday that I will be forced to market myself and condense my work into a neat, little book. I realize I have the least “typical” collection of I-D work; drawings that stand out much farther than any CAD work I’ve done and avant-garde approaches to footwear, fashion, and transportation. I’ve yet to construct a super-product model, such as a hand-held electronic thingie, which I feel pressured to do before I leave an industrial design school. It’s too bad I have morals when it comes to putting more “stuff” out into a world overflowing with artificial, unnecessary objects. This in no way includes shoes; a person can never have enough. A passion for footwear was fully realized this summer, and was topped off with a trip to Puma’s US headquarters in Westford, Mass. this past weekend. For two days, Puma designers from around the world met up for a final design review of the latest collections. So much talent and style exists in this company and I sat there feeling so fortunate for the experience. I was able to present my final designs to the group and listen to other designers explain their inspirations and show brilliant renderings of their footwear. This semester, I’m taking Peter Barna’s product class, space analysis, and portfolio development. Italian class is twice a week to prepare for my big, overseas move one day, and yoga will help me relax and get my mind off objects for two hours. Barna’s class is new this year, but it has a very poetic and symbolic tone that I’m intrigued by. There is no, “Okay, it’s toaster design time.” Instead, we’re reading Michael Pollan’s “The Botany of Desire” and tackling human desires as seen through the eye’s of plants. The four chapters address SWEETNESS from the apple, BEAUTY from the tulip, CONTROL from the potato, and INTOXICATION from the marijuana leaf. Through this book, we’re learning about how nature can control and manipulate humans to do things for them. Pick me. Water me. Put me in a shady place. Take a bite out of me. Grow me in your basement. In the same way, everyday products do exactly the same thing. Pick me from the Target shelf. Make sure you clean me. Recharge my energy. Don’t drop me or I’ll die. We give life to inanimate objects…so who is really domesticating whom? So, I’m in the Puma office right now, attempting to complete the “tech. packages” of my shoes to be sent off to Asia for prototyping. I think I’m going to flip out the first time I see my little designs floating by on the streets. Later. |
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