Last week !!!

7 weeks down .



7 weeks in total, i went so quickly and i enjoyed every minute of it. I don't want it to be over i belong in London and i belong in the print room. I have learnt a lot from interning , it was a great experience. Compared to others their experience seemed a little difficult but i guess i got really lucky. It has changed my opinion on freelance work. Before i had always wanted to be an in-house designer, but the more i think about it the more i think maybe i could do it. I love the printing process and i also love the business side .
 Being freelance is a little scary so maybe part time might be an option along side a part time in-house designer. Balancing the two could be difficult but i have realised that textiles isn't easy and if your not willing to work hard and long hours you are in the wrong business. Lauren is devoted to   textiles which is really inspiring and i wish Lauren McCalmont textile designs would carry on. As i would love to go back. I think working in a small company could be better suited for me as you seem to have more involvement. Lara seems to be devoted to the company and i feel if i was to work closely with someone like Lauren i would enjoy my job more and get more from it. Like Lauren said she only interned with small companies as she found she gained more from them. As i still have so much more to learn maybe working for a freelance company and being freelance myself could be a new direction for me.
Maybe after a few years in industry, a freelance company under the name of Jemma Binsley may a-pier. Lauren's were she is today because of her connections and amazing talent  hopefully one day that will be me too

Lara Gorlach

Lara Gorlach - Printing assistant to Lauren McCalmont


Just a few facts

Went to Bright university and studied textile design. After finishing uni moved straight to London to gain work experience and then a job. After 4-5 internships including Nicole Farhi landed a internship with Lauren after a few months interning Lauren took her on as a part time printing assistant. Currently Lara has worked with Lauren for a year and hopes to move on to become a freelance designer. As well as working for Lauren she also works as a bartender so she can afford the rent. But as Lauren is now moving to L.A. Lara is taking on the print studio as her own and wishes to start up her own company.

Some of Lauren's designs for Asos

Week 6

Week 6

The was a quite week , Lara was coming in later in the afternoon. I still had to finish of overlocking the samples for Amanda Kelly . There were around 20-30 samples to be completed and they seems to be taking me forever. Most of the samples were old designs lauren hadn't sold to buyers, once they were finished they had header put on them with the name engraved on them. Which i hope to get my hands on for next years collection in third year. Today i also found out lauren moving to L.A.  to become a textiles designer for Nasty Girl. A few weeks before we went to L.A. to gather more buyers but it seems she also went for a job interview too. The company Nasty Girl was founded by Sophia Ampruso , the company initially started as a vintage shop on ebay and later expanded into both new and old. Lauren will be the head print designer there , so her company will be no more.
On wednesday i helped Lara finish off the printing for the jumpers for Asos. As Lauren had decided she wanted prints on both sides of the garment , me and Lara were designing more check prints again using masking tape. I had never thought about using masking tape as a way of screen printing. I always used it to cover up any unwanted holes but this is something i will need to try soon.Very quick and easy and looks fantastic !

                                                                        Print ideas

Week 5

Closed for business as lauren was going to L.A. and Lara was going on holiday

Hackney wick, Britannia building + Lauren's Studio

Lauren and Annie

                                                        Lauren McCalmont and Annie

Profile on Lauren McCalmont

 Profile

Originally from Glasgow and studied a degree in fashion/textiles at Glasgow art college. Whilst showing her work at new designs , she want around london looking for somewhere to live. After finding a place, she interned for 6 months and worked at urban outfitters and as a bartender to afford to live.She went on to intern and gain a place at Central St Matins on their fashion degree. But specialised in textiles, much of her work was featured on St Martins fashion show as she collaborated with the fashion students and designed their prints.After 18 months at St Martins she gained a lot of recognition and names under her belt. With her style being experiential and adventures she eventually started up her own business as a freelance textiles designer. Now 8 years on she has two art studios in Hackney and living in Dolston, the company is a success. Working with her agent and Asos (with own exclusive collection) the best is yet to come !

   

Number 4

 

Number 4


For the first time since i'v interned i got the chance to work directly with Lauren. As Lara was away on holiday and Becky had finished out her internship it was just me and her. I was very excited to learn directly from her. We had lots to do as we were 2 men down, Asos had sent Lauren some jumpers to print on that were ironically from H&M. As well as this we had to finish of printing the slogan t-shirts with beach designs on them. For the slogan designs we were using a heart design Becky had done the week before, i wasn't sure if any of mine was used in the end but hopefully they were. We started by printing a maxi dress and then a shirt which was done in the matter of an hour. Next were the jumpers , there were around 6 to print in various styles and bright colours. The idea Lauren had was to mask off the screens and make check designs. Thin and thick lines were used with the bright colours used from the previous project with the animal prints. Bright pink went onto bright blue and my favourite was a pale int green with a pale white foil onto , really simple but something i would defiantly buy.I was surprised how quickly the printing was over and by the end of the day i was overlocking old samples Lauren hadn't sold with a bright pink thread. By around 5 i was sent to Asos with some old design Lauren had done , i do love going there.
The next was me just finishing of the overlocking for the old samples and i got the chance to ask Lauren some questions.

Me - How many internships did you do before coming freelance?

Lauren - Around 3 - one for a small printing company in  London for around 2 months. Another in Milan for a small textile designer who worked directly with the manufactories and I got to learn about the process of designing for mass production. The last was for another small textile company in south London, that i felt wasn't what i want to do as the hours were long and their schedules were to tight and the pay was low , (minimum wage) so i became freelance for the company and started looking for a studio and thats how Lauren McCalmont began.  I would advise working for small textile companies as i find you tend to get more from them and you can work directly with the designers.All of which paid


Me - How did you gain your internship ?

Lauren - For people looking to intern i would say the portfolio is very important


Me - Did you always want to be freelance ?

Lauren - I never really thought about it, it just happened that way.

Me- How do you sell you designs ?

Lauren - Usually i was to sell a design i would sell the art work and the sample separately for copy write reasons. When it comes to selling much of my stuff goes to my agent Amanda Kelly who also helps out with my contacts and clients . Also i gained a lot from doing my masters degree at Central St Martins.One of my main buyer is Asos and a lot of my briefs come from them.

Week 3 !

Week 3

Yet another buy week at Lauren McCalmont and yet again sent straight out on an errand for Lauren. I do love going on errands as it means i can learn more about London soon to be new home (hopefully). I got the chance to go to Holborn where Lauren's bank was based to drop off a parcel to her accountant. It was a quick trip and i was back in the studio within an hour of so, by the time i got back  Becky was designing animal prints for Lauren's new collection. Different to her other bright animal print collection from the other week.
 This time we had to look into new collections from vogue magazine the new spring/summer collections had been released and lauren was Mui Mui as inspiration. By the time i got back Becky had done quite a few different designs using paint. So i had a task in front of me to get so interesting designs done. Lauren at this point had to go home as there was problems with the internet again so i was left in the studio for the rest of the day to come up this designs.
Again this week it was only two days but i got the chance to experiment with tie dye. So i pleated and tied 6 different fabric samples and dip dyed the samples in black. After the samples had taken to the colour and went on to finish off the animal designs from yesterday.This time i was given the designer Max Mara and Prada as inspiration. By the end of the day there was a huge pile of designs ready for Lauren next week.

Asos head office

Week Number 2

Week Number 2

My second week as an intern for Lauren McCalmont and a very busy week. Lauren had taken on more work this week so we were all kept on our toes. On Monday me and Becky were helping Lara with printing samples for Victoria Beckham and Asos. The Victoria Beckham prints are for her spring/ summer 2014 collection based around denim. The samples were only on A4 and on the fabric provided by Victoria, most of which were finished by lunch. The Asos print was on navy jersey also provided by Asos , were were asked to do repeat circle prints with metallic foil on 2 metres of fabric. During this point Lauren was interviewing a possible new intern by the name of Alice. Alice was from Germany and was in England to do an internship in textiles. I was asked by Lara to heat press the foiling and Alice helped , the heat press although made it a little difficult as it was A3 so heat pressing took up the rest of the day.
The next day i arrived at 10 as usual and was sent straight to Asos's head office in Camden, to drop off the jersey from yesterday. This was my first time to Camden and Asos so i was very excited and nervous of getting lost. Which obviously happened , it took me 2 hours to find the office as i went in the wrong direction twice. Eventually i find it , it was a large  large! building with two black cats at the entrance. The office was based on the 4th floor where i walked straight into the reception and handed over the bag containing the sample.I was in and out within 10 minutes .On my way back Lauren asked me to detour to Dolston market to collect mens sized t-shirts in various colours for a project. Lauren had been briefed the day before by an internet company to design slogen beach t-shirts. So when i got back i got handed paint and a spray canister and designed slogans and prints until the end of the day. Unfortunately we were only doing two days a week this week as Lauren and Lara were both busy which meant we would be supper busy next week.

A Nervous First week (4th February)

                                                                                                                    Week 1 February 2013



A very nervous first week as an intern for Lauren McCalmont, but a successful one at that. The woman i was interning for Lauren, is a freelance designer from Glasgow and master degree fashion/textile graduate from Central St Martins. Having been freelance for 8 years now, Lauren is pretty well equipped and knowledgable in textile design.
Her current location is in Hackney, in two large art studios in a converted factory , also containing a variety of different artist studios.The studios are on the bottom floor and are next to each other. one is many for Lauren's office working dealing with phone calls ( when the phone works) and answering emails (also when the internet works) and filing her previous works. The studio is always cold due to no heating or hot water, but is perfect for its duties. Two large tables in the middle of the room are used primarily for drying fabric and surfaces to draw print designs on. Also there are rails upon rails of Lauren's collections for buyers and her own collection for her agent Amanda Kelly (who sells many in trade shows). As well as a large rail on the balcony above the door with old and new acetates with prints on. Lauren sells her acetate design separate to her textile samples, many of which aren't always sold.
The second studio is the printing room, where Lauren's assistant Lara is based. Lara a graduate from Brighton University, assists Lauren with the printing and has been with lauren for a year . She first started out as intern like me , but Lauren liked her so much she was taken on and now works for her part time. Within the second studio there is a large printing table with printing supplies stocked underneath. At the back of the studio is a screen exposer covered by a thin curtain and held by two plastic chairs. Next to it is a tumble dryer and washing machine nether of which work and a electric dryer used to dry the screens A3 and A2. Health and safety is questionable within the studio but thankfully im safe so far.
As well as me the intern, Becky is one also. She started 2 weeks before me and a recent textiles graduate from Nottingham University. She only plans to stay with lauren for six weeks as she has another internship for an interior freelance designer. Lauren McCalmont is her first internship and has many lined up in order to gain a job. Altogether there are 4 of us in the studio,which is a lot smaller than what i thought but great for opportunities in printing.
This week i got that chance to dye cashmere in large batches. Unfortunately theres not hot water so i used the two kettles in the studios to boil water to fill a plastic container. This process i had to do 3 times for 3 different colours, grey, green and orange. Also i go the chance to help Lara print samples for one of Lauren's clients. Unfortunately lauren was away on a business meeting so we had to try and follow her written instructions. Which were pretty hard to read, but it involved using screens developed last week with animal designs no and print using bright contrasting colours like cotton candy pink and inky blue. Which i didn't think would work but looked great with flocking and foiling on top.
Due to Lauren not taking on much work we only did 2 to 3 days a week Monday to Wednesday. On my last day of the week we did a massive studio move as much of Lauren's stuff hadn't moved or organised since her move to the studio a year ago so it did take all day , but in the end it looked a lot more organised and was now perfect for Lauren to arrange meetings in her own studio which was to happen later on in the day.
Overall in my first week i found Lauren McCalmont a great place to start my textile career. Despite the company being small there is still much to learn and with the company being small there is a great opportunity to learn as much as i can.