Research Report

Lulu asked me to write a research report and gave me 3 days to do it. As she is rebranding herself and struggled to figure out a strong aesthetic in recent years, she asked me to research the history of some processes, trends and silhouettes which she has done in the past and may bring forward and improve on to base her aesthetic around in the future. Looking at her past collections, I decided to research the history of weaving, embroidery, fringing and ruffles. I firstly researched on the internet then made a Central St. Martins library visit to back up my findings.

 Furthermore, Lulu wanted me to research designers that used each of the processes strongly in their designs as part of their aesthetic and look up how each of them promoted themselves on social media. Lulu felt that she wasn't using social media to her full advance to gain potential customers.

I learnt a lot doing this research report; about the history of the processes, and how designers promoted themselves, especially on instagram. I think I learnt most about what makes for a good instagram and how having a strong aesthetic is very important when promoting yourself visually. I put the report in a powerpoint format backing it up with imagery.

   

Website Changes

Lulu's husband has his own business called 'like digital media'. It is a business that creates websites for other businesses. Lowik and I went to his office at The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, to learn how to change somethings around on Lulu's website; including uploading her latest collection and taking off and adding sale items. This was a useful learning experience for me because I have have no experience in how to work a website. I didn't learn how to do every much but I understood the basic concept. I think this would be very useful to me in the future when I have my own website. I made some friends at 'like digital media' that maybe good contacts to have in the future.   

Sample/ Charity Sale

The design assistant, Lowik, and I, had to prepare the garments that needed to be sold at a Charity and Sample Sale, both happening in the same week. This involved steaming and putting the garments in the right order according to the price list that was given to us. I changed the price on the price tags to the final sale price shown on the price list. Now that I am more confident with handling the garments and more familiar with Lulu's collections. This was a quick and easy task for me. We managed to get the garments carefully packed up and ready to go in a morning. 

Trade Show: Meet The Manufacturer

Lulu asked her design assistant, Lowik, and I to go to the trade show to meet manufacturers on Wednesday 25 May on Brick Lane. Our task was to talk to as many manufacturers as possible. To explain to them about her brand, particularly, how she was currently rebranding herself to become a Couture designer. Our task was to form relationships with certain manufacturers who could help Lulu when she becomes a Couture designer.

Lowik's english is not strong and he found it difficult to communicate with the manufacturers, and asked me to talk to the them on behalf of Lulu Liu. At first, I was hesitant and not confident as I have never been in the position to talk to people in industry in a professional environment. However, after speaking to the first few manufacturers, I quickly gained confidence and enjoyed finding out about what all the different company's did. Specifically, I asked what the company's did, their USP, what their price range was, where they are based, whether they can manufacture one off pieces or only mass produce. Furthermore, I told the manufacturers about Lulu's Company to see if there is anyway they could help us, and exchanged business cards with. The range of different kinds of manufacturers was much larger than I expected; knitwear, one off pieces, only mass production, only leather pieces, digital print, company's that could help with a range of services such as pattern cutting, designing etc as well as manufacturing, specifically weather-proof pieces or pieces that are to do with physically demanding jobs such as; firemen, policemen etc and manufacturers that deal with unusual pattern cutting. All the company's were so interesting to learn about and I asked on behalf of myself as well because there were some company's that offered help to students with pattern cutting and manufacturing for a discounted price which might be useful for my third year collection.

The found the whole experience very valuable, I gained confidence with talking to people in industry and collected many contacts that may be useful to Lulu and I in the future.

    

The Owl And The Lion

Lulu asked me to research Lions and Owls on Pinterest. She said she wanted illustrations for some prints. The concept was a love story between a fierce looking male owl and a lioness. A fierce looking passion must be in the expression of the faces and especially the eyes. She showed me some images/illustrations of owls and lions so I can get a feel of what she was looking for. She told me to research and then do some illustrations for her. I thought it was an interesting concept and wondered why she had picked it but Lulu didn't explain why she had chosen it or what it was being used for.

I hadn't sketched in a while so I did some practice ones to get back into it and so see if Lulu liked my style because my drawing style is quite sketchy.

I really enjoyed doing this task as I enjoy designing and sketching. Nora, the other design intern, also had the same task as me. Nora's work seemed more like proper illustrations and not sketchy at all and Lulu seemed really impressed with her drawing style. Although I was proud of my work, Nora's looked more professional and more likely to be on a print.

 

Finding Finishings

Nora, a design intern, was in charge of designing the Lulu black collection and I was to help her complete the task. Lulu had fully briefed her on the concept etc and gave her a deadline to illustrate 200 designs of which Lulu would then pick 25 to 30 pieces to be made. Nora expressed that it was difficult and time consuming. She had to think about the concept, the fabric, finishings, the cost when designing. This is where my fabric samples and illustrations off of net-a-porter came in handy. Most of all, Nora was struggling with the finishings, in particular, she wasn't sure how she wanted to do the ruffles edge. She asked me to go to department stores such as Liberty's and Harrods and take pictures of the finishing of ruffles.

I spent the day finding and taking pictures of as many ruffles as I could in order to give Nora the widest range of possibilities. I didn't find this challenging. Especially in liberty's, ruffles seemed to be a popular choice in designs. I managed to get a lot of images for Nora and the pictures below are some examples of my findings.
 

The Goal By Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Lulu wanted to learn more about business so read 'The Goal' By Eliyahu M. Goldratt. She had highlighted the key parts of the book as asked me to type up everything she had highlighted. 

 'The Goal' is written in the style of a novel. It is about a plant manager, Alex Rogo, whose factory has 90 days before it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. To prevent this, Alex must rapidly improve performance. A chance meeting with a past colleague, Jonah, helps him to see things differently and helps him to see what needs to be done. The book contains important messages for managers in industry as well as explains the 'Theory of Constraints', which has been developed by Eliyahu Goldratt.

 'The Goal' seemed to be an easy read and was very interesting. I didn't understand all of it as I only read the parts that Lulu highlighted, but it is a book which I will read as it will be useful in applying it to my own business in the future.