Anita Crane says becoming a textile designer was a natural choice for her.
"I have always loved to sew. I created my own wedding dress with antique
laces," says Crane. She is a textile design artist from Utah.
"I would encourage anyone to go into textile design if they love the textile
medium to express their ideas."
Enjoying the work, both the creative and technical side, is important.
If you love the look and feel of fabrics, you will be able to continue to
bring enthusiasm to your work.
"I always tell young students I meet to only work in a field you love,"
says textile designer Jozien Vet.
"If you find a field of interest that you like, you will be good at it
and succeed. I have been in textiles for 26 years and still love designing
and seeing the finished product."
Vet says "it is still a thrill" to see someone wearing a jacket with "our
fabric" while traveling. She enjoys seeing her fabrics on furniture in a hotel
lobby or in a trade magazine advertisement.
"I took an interest in textiles at an early age and focused my art in textiles
in high school," says Sue Gundy. She is the principal designer at a textile
firm in Seattle.
"If you love fabric, texture, pattern and color, then it is definitely
the right field for you. It's an exciting industry that's always
changing and evolving."
Designers are limited only by their creativity and vision. Of course, selling
designs to clients is another end of the business that one learns from experience
and from on-the-job mentors.
"I have had the good fortune of working with some of the best people in
the woven velour business," says Scott Manley. He is the technical designer
for a textile firm in South Carolina.
"I got a basic understanding of how things were made and limited design
exposure from school, but the most valuable things I learned from others."
Manley worked his way up through the ranks, beginning as a loom cleaner
in 1985. While attending school to earn a degree in textile management, he
held various production and management jobs until reaching the level of shift
manager.
"I was drawn to the design part of the process then, but did not get that
opportunity," he says.
"My next job was technical superintendent of the largest woven velour plant
in the world, where I had a 20-plus person sample department weaving both
jacquard and dobby velvets. I simply find this field interesting."
Manley suggests getting some experience in textile manufacturing either
as a summer job, as an intern or in a co-operative education program.
Anyone interested in textiles should "bring with them general knowledge,
an inquisitive mind and an adventurous heart," he says.
Adventure and excitement can be a big part of the field. Travel to different
cities to visit mills or work with clients might be in your job classification,
depending on the size of the company you work for.
Manley says he has visited Florence, Milan, Frankfurt, Edinburgh, London,
Brussels, Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York and Chicago on business.
"Each day offers a new and interesting situation," he says.
If you own a design company, as Gundy does, you will also deal with accounting,
sales, office cleaning, advertising and marketing. Still, seeing the process
from design to finished product is worth all the hard work.
"I love to visit the different types of mills and see all the huge machinery
in action," says Gundy.
"Once, I traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay, and saw the whole process of
a sweater being knitted. The spinning mill spun the wool into yarn, the knitting
mill knitted the individual pieces and the finishing mill sewed the pieces
together to make the sweater.
"All the mills were very small and friendly. They let us choose the colors
of wool we wanted to put in the yarn that was spun and we were able to adjust
the designs as they were being knit."
"The art to designing in textiles is being able to exploit the limitations
of the technology in which you are working," says Manley.
"You have to be creative in the way you utilize the tools that are available.
In order to be creative in that way, you must understand the nature of these
tools, whether [they're] yarns, finishing chemicals, dyes, machinery,
processes or the skills of other people."
Gundy once traveled to Lyon, France, to visit a ribbon mill. "The mill
was very old and had the old jacquard card looms, as well as modern computerized
looms. The ribbons they wove were so incredibly fine it took your breath away,"
she says.
"This mill also had an archive of all the ribbons they wove over the past
two centuries. I could have spent a month just in that room looking at the
old volumes full of designs," she says.
To be successful, you need to be aware of the limitations to production
and marketing. Gundy suggests learning as much as possible about every aspect
of both design and production.
Manley agrees. "Learn as much as you can about the technical side of design.
Know the process, the machinery and the raw materials -- as well as the creative
'artsy' stuff like patterns and colors."
Crane says she finds the reward in actually doing the project and seeing
the completed piece. If you feel your excitement may waver, Gundy says there
are many different areas in the textile field.
"Designing isn't the only opportunity. There are also opportunities
in line styling, sourcing, production, sales, market forecasting and coloring,
to name just a few."
You may be able to specialize in one area of textile design, or work your
way into a supervisory position, as Manley did. "I have 'made' my
position over the last five years to include both design and development,"
he says.
"My job is specialized to cover woven velour design primarily for automotive
seating, although my skills are more broad," he says. "If someone has interest
and finds [textile design] pleasurable, I think that there are opportunities
for them."
Vet's job is a little different. "I am a design director for a velvet
and corduroy mill that produces fabrics for the apparel and home furnishings
market -- both manufacturers and distributors," says Vet.
She comes from an arts background. "I studied fine arts and especially
loved printmaking, so printing in textiles was an obvious direction for me
-- and a good way to make a living right out of college! I always sewed and
loved fashion and fabrics."
She says it's a tough field to break into. "We have no other young
designers besides me and don't anticipate hiring any more in the future.
There are many more workers and part-time artists who cannot survive by creating
portfolios of designs for textiles."