It's September and we fondly remember our school and high school years. Together with the children, we relive stereotypical questions such as: What did you do on vacation?, but also the famous: What will you do when you grow up?
This moment of beginnings gives us beautiful emotions, especially since this fall we are launching the first one collection of footwear Izabela Mandoiu: stylized Romanian opinions.
The idea of job currently has a meaning subsumed under the conceptual umbrella of career. We prepare children to have a job and make a career in a certain field.
But we must not neglect the necessity of practical trades and their usefulness in a world mostly driven by technology. We need people with manual trades. The stories woven with values are hand-stitched by the village ladies we collaborate with. Their talent and skill is their strength.
This summer we were visited by a wonderful duo, consisting of Anca Bold Gheorghe and Ema, mother and daughter. They deal with Blog in Tandem and they do a great job together!
The video interview went smoothly, you can view it here . And once school started, we felt the need to give written answers to Emma's questions, with melancholy and longing for the beginnings of the Clothing Designer job, explained in a way children can understand.
THE "JOB" OF DESIGNER
- What basic qualities do you think a DESIGNER needs?
A designer needs first of all aesthetic sense and of passion for people . In this job you work for the client, and his joy is practically the motivation of your job. The art of aesthetics is a talent that many designers are born with, but this job is also learned, so the talent can be learned over time.
To be relevant, a designer must be passionate, ambitious, thorough and of course, persistent .
- DESIGNER – can it be considered a job, with the right papers?
Yes, it is a job that involves several skills, from knowing types of materials, to knowing how to do product design, tailoring, sewing and touch-ups.
It comes to mind The Valiant Tailor, and I admit, you have to be smart to make a business out of design, to be credible and last in the market.
You have to have the courage to be a designer, but also a business administrator and to know what messages you want to convey. You have to learn to juggle priorities and know what exactly you are telling the public about your collection, what is special about your work.
As the Tailor had a motto: 7 in one shot, so I have one too: Stories woven with values , because we sew by hand and it's a real art to sew one, from scratch.
- What is the route for a child who realizes that this is what they want to do in life, be a creator or fashion designer?
Admiration for beauty, for clothing, for combining colors and textures, passion for fashion are the first clues. Equally important is playing with dolls and their clothes.
If you like dressing up dolls, making clothes for them, improvising all kinds of dresses, then this can be an indication that you have attributes to become a fashion designer. If after analyzing other jobs, the interest is still set on this one, then you need to consider a college or a course to learn.
- How do you get from someone who is passionate about clothes/painting/drawing to someone who makes a living from it and even makes a business?
It's an old saying: there is no death trial . First it is good to see what it is about and if you like it, even before studying the field. And if you want it to be your own business, not just to work for a company as a designer, then you also need to know business management, from how to make an invoice, to how to hire and how to motivate a team.
- How is the daily life of a DESIGNER? What rigors are there? What important steps?
Very important to mention is that a female designer also has a family, and in the morning, all attention goes to the child. From 9 o'clock he starts work in the workshop, receives customers in the showroom, interacts with customers, takes orders from the website.
He also orders materials and accessories, many other administrative activities, and in the evening the creative part continues, cutting materials and preparing for tailoring, selection of traditional motifs for creations, thinking of collection concepts, correlated with trends.
- How would you define this job for a child?
It's easiest for me to make the association with playing with dolls and other toys, when you think about where the doll goes in your game. If she goes to the Opera, you prepare her a long dress, cut it, tie it or sew it as you can, you don't give up until it fits her, and then you put on some accessories.
And when you want to take a picture of it, you arrange deco pieces around it, to make it look like an opera. This is how it happens at photo shoots, when we set up for product photos and campaign photos.
- Can this job be done without passion, just as a job and that's it?
Of course it can be done, but a job must bring you satisfaction. If you feel like you're struggling too much to get a product to come out and you don't enjoy insisting until it looks the way you want, it's better to give up.
If you don't like interacting with people, maybe you're an introvert, and maybe it's not a good idea to become a designer. Why am I saying this? Customers want to interact directly with the designer.
Often lately it happens to me that my clients request to take a photo together. And that's a flattering thing for me.
- Are you happy with this path, with your JOB? Is it important to like it? When did you realize that this is what you wanted to do in life?
The most important aspect in any job is to like it, to come naturally to work, not to feel the pressure of some attributions. it it requires creativity, ingenuity, but also realism , to see what the market demands and how your collections relate to the market's demands.
I realized that I wanted to do ii in the first phase, then when I got IA FROM GRANDMOTHER. I saw the women in the family dressing up in very beautiful and colorful dresses, as is typical of my area, Argeș, but the moment I received them as a gift, I was enchanted.
That's why we started a communication campaign, GET FROM GRANDMA, through which we want, in the long term, the following:
- Let's maintain attention on Romanian values and traditions
- Let's remember the idea of the timeless clothing gift and the custom of giving it from mother to daughter.
- Let's remember the value of quality fabrics, which make Romanian clothing production sustainable
- Let's support the women in the villages, who still work by hand, hand basket products like no technology ever will.
The special bond between a grandmother and granddaughter can be very difficult to verbalize, but the meaning of this bond can be transposed in a Romanian-themed wedding, which will last for years.
- Do you currently use technology in your job? How do you think things will evolve in the future? Do the children who dream of being a DESIGNER also have such skills?
We use computer embroidery in some creations, but it is still hand stitching that represents our stories woven with values.
Children who want to know this job, fashion designer, are expected in production workshops, to understand how things happen and if they are interested in such a job. Until they discover their great passion, from which they will make a career, to be creative and to be eager to know, because, he said Aristotle: "All men have in their nature the desire to know"
We thank Emma for the initiative, together we can make children want to know this profession.
Article prepared by: Cristina Stan
with appreciation,
The Izabela Mandoiu Workshop team
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