Wearing the hats.

Hello I have been away from blogging for a while. I hope everyone is enjoying the autumn!

During my career I have been very lucky and blessed to have the opportunity to hold the 3 different roles in design commercialization.
I have worn  the different hats needed to understand the commercialization process.
Although I have hold some experiences more time than others, I wanted to share my view with you about the 3 main roles :the buyer, the designer &the agent.

In this post I will focus in the the buyer:

In the very beginning I I worked  as a textile designer,one of my teachers hired me right after college to work in a leader Textile company in Mexico.
I was  doing color ways and designs by hand  along with preparing color cards according to the trends my manager was bringing from Paris & Milan.
To me this was so chic and so exciting; every time that she went to buy designs, magazines and samples I actually felt like a children waiting for X'mas presents, I always looked forward for her to come back and show us all the treasures brought from the "magical land".

With the time this became a little obsession to me, I put into my head that one day I will visit the show and be the one doing the buying the "presents".
After this job I worked in another companies I had the chance to travel to Europe on a personal trip thanks to my daddy and to see the "magical land"
Still no textile show was in my horizon, after few steps I worked with a company that actually provided me the opportunity to attend my first show as a buyer. 

I was doing textile designs for children's, and I had enough seniority to be trusted to go to the world get designs, samples and magazines for them.Woooohooo !!!I think I didn't sleep for weeks before my trip and when I arrived and I saw all the amount of people and all the amount of designs presented there that I was so excited and overwhelmed with joy that words can not described.

At the beginning I wanted of course sit with studio and see their collections and ask as many questions as words I could articulate, since the moment I stepped in the show, I knew one day I will exhibit there (and my dream come true!)

Anyhow with the time and season after season visiting the shows to buy designs  I learned to be a very active and focused buyer. I couldn't afford to spend too much time admiring the amazing designs that were presented.
After a long plain trip, jet lag, hours of walking in the shops to buy samples and inspiration, late dinners, the time I could actually spend admiring designs became very limited.
So I  focused in going directly to my favorite studios, to the ones I was at the time familiar with, that we have successful designs  from and that actually feel connected.

When buying a design you have to think not only in that design but in the potential of that particular piece to use it as inspiration and multiply it into a collection with the in house design team in the company I worked for.

I had to think not only in the trend but also in the market that I was buying for, I had to keep in mind our best sellers and also our own customers requests.
And all of this had to be done while you are watching hundreds of designs not only from one studio but form different ones, so with the time I learned to appreciate that the studio I was buying from, knew well our style and requirements.
I always appreciate courtesy and even the fact it was developing a good personal relationship with them.
I loved when I haven't had the need to go trough tons and tons of designs with the same look but a collections with a good range yet homogeneous themes.
I definitely was not happy to see same motifs repited and repited again in different designs, this can lead to your competitor having the same motif  in a different compositions , that was and is a big NO NO in the industry.

As a buyer I always appreciate the studio taking time for our company rather than to try to provide service to several customers at the time, specially if the space is limited. I always appreciated flexibility but I what I loved the most
was to see when the person in the studio love their own collection , when this was presented with passion and care, when a person is proud to present their work, is one of the things that keep me going back to that studio to do business with.

I hope this part of the experience gives you a little view of what is being of the other side of the table, I think in any successful business relationship, you have to have empathy with the other person and to do your best to understand the opposite role, this can definitely lead you to a win win situation which should be the purpose of any business.

Vintage Indigo Paris Brochure from 2000

Vintage Indigo Map from 2000

Stay tuned for the following post.

The one... great inspiration for the weekend!

I want to share this video with you, just the kind of words I love to hear to get that extra push.
Get inspired & Happy weekend.

Indigo- The 3rd day!

The third day is  a very slow day, people come in later than the other 2 days, everything is more relaxed and casual, lots of walkers and yes you still can get some sales, but expectations for this day shouldn't be that high.
People take more time to really observe the booths, you can provide a better attention if a customer is interested in the collection and definitely is a good day to engage in conversation with other studios.
Most of the people is open to conversation, some of them come to you just to say hello and even to give you a little compliment.
I love this side of the show, I think although we are competitors, we can also share a nice and friendly conversation at the end "sun shines for everyone". 

At 5:45pm of last day everybody is running around stripping out stands and leaving to prepare for their next show. 

Removing our pretty decorations out.

A very lonley place!

Indigo : The second day

The second day is normally less stressful, still customers are walking around and stopping by at the stand, but is way more relaxed that the first day.
I immediately ran to see the Indigo Influences area, where you can see every studio work in the screens in a video that is running all day long.
You can not see this video before the show and first day is too busy in the stand to even think in going out of it.
To get your work in this area you have to submit designs according the Indigo macro trends a moth before the show. You never know exactly which of the submitted work is going to be selected by the Indigo team to be displayed in that area.
For this season I have submitted around 20 designs from my own designs and from my guest designers. 

I was extremely happy to see  3 of my designs running in the screen representing Believe Creative studio for Macro trends.
I also was extremely happy to see also  a design created for Believe Creative Studio collection by  Bethan Janine Westran, one of our fabulous guest designers  being printed and displayed as a representation of the Enchanted and Mysterious Macro-Trend.

Indigo Influences - Trend Area

Second day is also student day. Designs students over the world come to the show to gain some insight on the trends and the activities in this market. I love to get approached by enthusiastic souls making all sort of questions, being extremely curious and interested on how something is developed but it has unfortunately another side: some of the students came in groups gather around the stand to have a great conversation between each other about all the topics imaginable, except design, they are really interested in getting your business cards, goodies and candies;  "students happenings"  around the booth are definitely not good for business.
I have seen customers walking away from the stands because of this reason. It is a sensitive topic, because in one end I want to inspire the younger generations and I want to communicate my passion for this work but  in the other end this is sometimes just not good if you are expecting to still attract  new customers in the second day of the show.

This year the second day was very special because I became 40! so yes I was a very happy seller.

Happy 40th!

Lovely cards and a lovely present a "Swedish dala horse"

Indigo-Part2 : The crazy and exciting first day of the show

Indigo is divided in 3 days, each one is completely different from the other which and I will describe them over the following post. 

This season Indigo-Paris  was visited by over 14,000 visitors from around the world. With 194 studios exhibiting their collections. 

The first day is totally busy, since the opening of the show you see lots of people walking in the isles.The energy is great, everybody is "shiny". Is wonderful too see also the great work most of the studios put to decorate their stands. 

You can see that some of the visitors have already appointments set up with the studios, you see people walking around, most of them with a plan in mind,some of the buyers even carry a list of the studios to visit as well.
To me this day is very exciting, I happily wait, smile and do my best to provide answers and to show the collection at their customer pace.

Is kind of hard job, even though you wish to explain every bit of a single design, you have also to try to put yourself  on the other side of the table to understand the buyer. Luckily I have the opportunity  back in the day to be in that side and I know how challenging and  tiring can be to watch hundreds and hundreds of designs during the show.
In my opinion as a seller you have to be fast when showing the collection, be open to engage in conversation and open to explain or answer any question asked by the customer, but you have to try to read the body language of the buyer and understand if they need you to slow down, if they want to spend more time in a particular  design or if they just want  you to finish as fast as possible.

At the end of the first day I was completely exhausted, is lots of emotions and energy going on, I was very tired of working on the collection, the trip, building the stand… oh gosh I am getting the chills just to remember how tired I was.

The first day                                                     Image from Indigo website.

The first day                                                     Image from Indigo website