DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: This was a case of me deliberately creating an item to suit a client’s requirements, an item that would conserve light in dark areas, particularly as this client needed much light for her sculpting activities, an item that would require little fuss or attention and that would nevertheless be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
: My main objective has been to satisfy the client but I would also say myself at the same time for if it had to serve the practical purpose of gently filtering light it also had to be particularly original and aesthetic with warm, soothing colours
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: I hope for the moment, at a local level, to make more of this type of product for my clients, on a made-to-measure basis and likewise with other creations of mine. I think it”s more the desire to have my style and logo recognised. I certainly wouldn’t be indifferent to the prospect of having this design or any other creations of mine marketed at a national and/or international level.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: I would say it took me about a month to come up with the idea for this particular design.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
: My design is not being produced by another company. I am, however, open to business proposals.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: I would say they are customers looking for an original, aesthetic, practical and financially attractive product.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
: Compared to traditional window dressing, this set is original and particularly aesthetic with its leaf shapes made of unusual material, imitating real leaves with their colourful, see-through, cobwebbed, veined effect. It offers the more practical advantage of preserving minimum privacy with total or partial window covering, or of hiding an unattractive view, while still filtering light through/around material. Unlike many window treatment items, it doesn’t require any installation of window treatment hardware because it’s easily applied to a surface via self-adhesive backings. In terms of creation there is minimum production time involved and maintenance is limited to the item being handwashed from time to time.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
: …..”Autumn” because of the soothing, warming orange and brown colours often associated with this season and “leaves” because of the leaf shapes.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
: Essential elements in the making of this design were a sketchbook and pencil, my sewing machine, tools such as needles, scissors and of course the raw materials (fabric, thread, self-adhesive tape).
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: I would say the most unique aspect of my design is its aesthetic shape and the play on light, which can be far more easily appreciated when seen in reality.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
: I'm the sole creator of this design.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: The only real technology involved in the making of this design was limited to the usage of a sewing machine combined with manual work.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
: The research carried out on product design was very much limited to the idea of conserving light in dark areas, particularly as this client needed much light for her sculpting activities ; of creating an item that would require little fuss or attention and that would nevertheless be aesthetically pleasing to the eye ; and finally, of defining a reasonable price in function of production time and product originality.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: My main concern was to find a light, fragile, rigid fabric to maintain the leaf shapes on a window and to find a way of creating slight veins. The situation was soon resolved by placing a see-through, cobwebbed looking fabric on both sides of a rigid net-like material with slight pinching and machine sewing along predefined lines.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: I live in an area where people do not seem to be particularly susceptible to window treatment, unlike in my country of origin (Great Britain), and even after different promotional measures within the framework of my one-person business to attract potential clients, I felt that the results were rather mediocre. My final reaction already last year was to go further afield to really discover if there were other people out there who could possibly appreciate my work. So, I decided that the best way of going about this was to try entering an international design competition, and in this instance, the “A Design Award”. I was pleasantly surprised in the 2010 – 2011 A’ Design Award Competition when I received the encouraging results : runner-up with the design “De-escalating Shades” . I decided to have another attempt at the A’ Design Award Competition 2011 – 2012 and was voted in as a winner with the design “Ribbons, Strips and Diamonds” and runner-up with the design “Autumn Leaves”.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
: Whether it be this particular design or any other design that I may have created, I always feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment on completing a product. Creation often involves countless hours of work, passion, hard thinking and labour as if going through the process of giving birth. Each time, I feel I better myself in sewing and design techniques, becoming more and more of a perfectionist, becoming more and more attentive to the smallest details.