Since Christmas I have been attending the Brainchild lectures, at first not really with the intention of entering just hoping for some tips which may have helped after uni. Then I thought about how what I do could be put into a business idea and with help from my sister, came up with the idea of making personalised fabrics for other people in the way that I had done for myself, so decided to enter. The prize of the competition was £1000 as well as £4000 worth of business mentoring!
So the idea is that people go onto my website, upload photos of what ever they like, things that are special to them. Perhaps photographs of people who are important to them, places, animals and anything else! I would then draw from the photos and make a design (on photoshop) which would be approved by the customer. The client could then choose which colours, fabrics (I plan to offer a silk, a cotton and a wool) and product they would like (which will include cushions, scarfs, bags, aprons and more) and then i would make it for them!
I was required to think about my market, at first I struggled with this as I thought it may suit anybody who was looking for a special gift for a loved one. One suggestion that was given to me by one of the judges during the one to one sessions (which I found really helpful) was that the wedding market would be an area where people are likely to be looking for a keepsake gift!
So whilst I was on my placement at Zandra Rhodes I sent off my application which was a form split into sections and I had to explain my idea in 300 words. Meanwhile, I was also getting questionnaires filled out (incase I got short listed). When I did get short listed I was really pleased but also a bit panicked because I knew that I would only have 2 days back at uni between my work placement and my presentation in which I needed to prepare boards and a powerpoint presentation! I was also exhausted from my placement and had caught a rotten cold of my baby cousin! AND I had another competition interview on the tuesday (which I'll tell you all about later). But I managed to get it all done. I followed up the feedback that I had received from Richard Peat who was running the competition and also had a run through of my presentation with him which left me feeling more confident!
On the day of the day of my presentation I was using the CAD embroiderer whilst practising my presentation to other textiles girls :) ! I was extremely nervous and thought I was going to be sick. I felt that my presentation went very well (even though I was very shaky) and had two hours until the presentation evening, just enough time to go out for pizza with my two housemates :)
I was VERY pleased to have won!
My Boards
I then had to write up a press release for the next morning.
I was in the EDP but was a bit gutted because they misunderstood my idea and said that the customer would be doing the drawing and the designing when really its me! :( Never mind!
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