OUGD502 - Studio Brief 1 - Reflecting on my summer

Reflecting on your summer, what was the most influential experience and why? Did you make any contacts that you feel are beneficial and may be useful for this year and why? How did you meet and how did you contact them? If you didn't for whatever reasons, was there anything you experienced that made you think about your career?

Over the summer, I took a trip to Bruges in Belgium for a long weekend. Over the days we spent in Bruges, we decided to sight see and experience the culture of the city, as well as experiencing the art work displayed in the museums and tasting the wide variety of drinks on offer. After going on this trip, I thought about travelling next year during the summer, so that we could experience the culture in European countries. Took skiing lessons toward the end of summer also, which gave me the idea to try skiing next year in February/March. As part of my practice, I decided to start up my personal Instagram account to display my own designs. This inspired me to use techniques and styles that are personal to me and reflect on my own interests. This could potentially be beneficial to my practice as it can be used to display work produced during this year, to potential clients.

I also began looking into ways to start up a business for selling my designs, from Instagram. The designs would be printed on clothing and then advertised and networked using my design account on Instagram. Though this may not be a full time job, it may lead to a further understanding of the ways in which to market and network my brand, as well as earning extra cash.

My personal brand is CushtyClothing, which takes inspiration from urban themes and hiphop culture. Many of the designs were created with hiphop enthusiasts in mind.

It was also necessary to use the online wholesale website Teemill.com as it would allow people to purchase the items that were marketed from Instagram.