Design Process

What Is Your Design Process?

When I start a new design collection it is usually from being inspired by photos I have taken of flowers. Once I have chosen a few images I then set up a private board on Pinterest and I pin these images plus additional photos to reference colours, textures, current trends and anything else that can be used for inspiration.  I then start by drawing some rough sketches on paper to capture the look and feel for the design and motifs.

When I have enough, I usually draw way more than I use, I scan the drawings and I start to digitize them in either Adobe Illustrator or on my IPad Pro depending on the look I want for the collection. Then it is time to add colour because I usually work entirely in black and white  until I have completed all the motifs and icons I think I will need for the collection. After I am happy with the colours it is time do to the layout and build the repeat pattern. If it is vector art I will use Adobe Illustrator for this and Photoshop for any painted  work.
 

The main hero pattern will shape the look and feel of the collection and it will dictate what other coordinating designs are needed to round out the collection. Sometimes I will design a placement illustration first and then work on repeat patterns. If I am designing for a particular product or market area I will keep in mind the scale, size, complexity and density of the repeat as well as the type of the repeat that would be appropriate.  

I also like to mix up my process, mediums and tools, so I will switch between drawing, working digitally and painting.  Taking breaks from being behind the computer and working more traditionally is not only good to give my eyes a break from the screen but is also very freeing and it allows me to experiment and just  to create without any set plan. This is when I make those happy mistakes and have those ah ha moments!

A love a good sketchbook with smooth pages, markers and pens in various sizes, gouache paints, Posca paint pens, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Draw, Photoshop and now my iPad Pro.  It literally took me half a year to get used to drawing on it and at the beginning I felt like I was skating on ice!

Do You Have A Routine?

I like to try and keep a routine as it helps me to achieve more by being disciplined with balancing my business, daily chores and family life.

At the start of each week I set myself a weekly to do list as a target to work towards filled with things I want to achieve or need to complete during the week. This list is often quite large and sometimes is a bit too ambitious, but it keeps me on track and makes me accountable!
 
The beginning of each day is always the same and really regimented and always involves a coffee first thing in the morning whilst I check my emails and social media accounts, followed by some light household duties to get them out of the way and I if I am not too busy I like to go for a morning walk.  

Next I select 3 - 5 tasks from my weekly to do list  that I plan on completing that day, this way my weekly list is broken down into smaller more manageable chunks and is not too daunting. 
I like to start the week by dealing with all the non-artistic business related things such as accounts, admin and planning, to get them out of the way early in the week and off my mind. This then leaves me feeling more refreshed, motivated and free to create and work on my illustrations and designs for the rest of the week.

I am a bit of a night owl so I do a lot of my initial sketches and drawing at night when I have the house to myself and then the next day I will work on final artwork and repeat pattern collections. 

Some days and weeks do not always go as I had planned and I  juggle my design work in between running a business with my husband  so I try to make sure I have at least one day a week where I do not do any work and I am away from the computer.

How Did You Start?

I have always had a love for fabrics, fashion and textiles since my early childhood and when I was growing up I wanted to be either a ballerina or fashion designer! 

I was always artistic and enjoyed making things and I had to fit this in between my hectic schedule of learning ballet 6 days a week before and after school. I really enjoyed pottery, sculpture, drawing, painting, copper art and even macramé and string art! I learned how to sew, knit, crotchet, do tapestry and embroidery from my mother and grandmother when I was young and I remember designing and sewing my first outfit when I was 9 years old. 

Since the mid 80’s I have been designing jewellery for our business and managing the admin, accounts and website and once my children were older I began to look for other things to do as an interest outside of running our business. My daughter, who had finished school, was now studying fashion design and she told me about a course I might like to study - Textile Design and Fabric Printing.  I had to produce a portfolio with drawings, painted artwork and designs for the application and I was really scared because this was something I had never done before! I waited anxiously for 8 weeks to see if I would be accepted into the course and had almost given up hope but then the letter came to say that I was accepted into the course 😃 

During this full time year of study I learned about Surface Pattern Design and I decided that this was what I wanted to do. Six years later and after taking numerous other courses I have worked to create an extensive portfolio of designs and illustration art which I will be exhibiting in New York at Blueprint, an independent Illustration and Print Show this May 20th - 22nd.

Make It In Design Interview!

In August I was interviewed by Make It In Design! I was thrilled to have been selected for this designer feature on their website and blog. For those who missed seeing my designer interview and would like to know more about me and read my interview which was published on 31st August, here is the link  - Kirsten Katz Featured Designer

Designer Feature with Make It In Design Blog

My Journey Into Surface Pattern Design

It has been an accumulation of experiences, learning, interests, careers and different businesses over the past 30 years or so that has taken me into the world of surface pattern design. These past 30 years definitely have added a backbone and undercurrent to following my dream and artistic pursuit to be a designer. 

Growing up I was always artistic and I loved art and crafts classes, everything from pottery, sculpture, drawing, painting, copper art and even macrame and string art! I learned how to sew, knit, crotchet, do cross stitch and embroidery from my mother and grand mother. So I was always making things to either wear, display or to decorate in some way.

I distinctly remember designing my own nightdress, cutting it out of some fabric and sewing it up one day after school before my mother came home from work and I was only 9 at the time. I had two dreams when growing up; one was to be a ballerina and the other a fashion designer.

I learned ballet from the age of 4 and it was a huge part of my life. I continued learning all through my school years and went on to be a ballet teacher and an aerobics instructor. Throughout my ballet years I also made and designed many costumes, spending endless hours late at night hand sewing sequins all over leotards and making crowns and tiaras. But my passion for fabric was always there, even though I did not realise it. 

I loved nothing more than to walk through the department stores in the fabric section and buy yards and yards of fabric to take home to make a new outfit to wear for the weekend.

Over the next 20 years or so I have been in the jewellery industry and have run my own businesses with my husband as well as raised a family of 4 children. During these years I spent many weekends with my children doing art and craft activities and even taught art as a volunteer at my children's school and helped organise the school art shows.  

I had found a new passion for art and creating again. I began to draw and just experiment with different mediums and ways of painting, but the subject matter was always the same.....Flowers and more flowers, especially Australian native botanical flowers. 

I painted them, I did lino prints of them, I made collages from paper and I even made applique wall hangings in fabric featuring flowers. It went on and on until I found glass and mosaics! That then became my chosen medium and focus for my art, inspiration and designs. 

With my children now in high school I decided that I could take time out a bit and go do a course to study something, so I chose web design! I thought yes that would be a way in which I could learn something new and use my artistic skills at the same time. I did two courses over a year full time, but in the end it was not for me because it was alot less creative than I thought it would be.

The next turning point came a couple of years later when my daughter had finished high school and was fortunate enough to be accepted to study fashion design at The Fashion Design Studio. A year into her study she mentioned to me that they also had a course in textile design and fabric printing which I may like to do it. I looked into the course and I applied.

I had to submit a portfolio of original art work as well as design three specific patterns for three different markets as part of the submission process. Nervously I waited for about 6 weeks until the letter came. I had been accepted! 

What followed was an extremely intense full time year of study, design classes, drawing classes, colour theory, marketing and business classes, learning to screen print as well as digital design. There was so much to absorb accompanied by endless assignments and design briefs. However I loved it. I dreamed designs and worked day and night and most weekends whilst studying. 

The working late into the night and on weekends has not stopped and my passion and desire to design has never waned. Over the past three years I have set up my own studio and I have been working on developing my style. I have created numerous pattern collections and also designed and manufactured my own cushion collection. I am finally able to say that I am happy and love being a Surface Pattern Designer! 

To Blog or Not to Blog?

That is the question and something that has been on my mind all day. However before I go into my thoughts and decisions about this I will share with you a very funny memory from Las Vegas when I was there on a business trip.

It was 3am in the morning and my husband and I were going back to our room at the Bellagio Hotel having deciding to stay awake all night and shop, eat and drink because we had an early flight back to Australia and the shuttle was picking us up at 4.30am. Anyway as the lift doors were closing in got two older men, one of them made some small chat to me in the lift. I was so tired and just thought I do not need this at 3am in the morning and was a bit like stand offish and didn't pay much attention.

I sensed my husband was behaving funny and did not interject with his normal wit, sort of lost for words. I just thought he was as tired as me and didn't think much of it until we got out of the lift. My husband looked at me and said 'Do you know who that was trying to chat you up in the lift and make small talk with you?' I said no and I do not care I am tired and it is 3am and I have to finish packing before the shuttle picks us up at 4.30am.

He said that was Mel Brooks! And he was trying so hard to talk to you in the lift and you had no idea!! LOL Just a brush with fame and one of those moments that is by chance which leads me back to my thoughts and decisions about blogging and why I decided to start this blog.

What Do I Want? What Makes Me Happy?  What Do I Really Enjoy Doing?
The answer to all these questions was - To Design!
Great I know what I want, what makes me happy and what I really love to do....But what now?

What do I do with all these designs? Do I just hold them or do I share them? 
Of course I want people to see them, I want my designs to be noticed, shared and enjoyed and I want people to buy things with my designs on!

So how can I make this happen? How to I get people to know me as a designer, my style and my work? I need to share my work and promote!

 Who at this present time knows and what inspires me to create? Who knows my thoughts and the ideas, concepts and struggles that make up one of my designs?

The answer is ME and only me! This is why I have decided to go start a blog. My blog, an artists journey as I like to think of it, will be about me as a designer, my designs, style, concepts, process, inspirations and of course short comings. It will be a way that I can share the essence of my art and designs.