I think about my job and what I do all the time, and I know my job inside out, and sometimes I am confused when skaters, parents and coaches don’t understand what I do. I know I share a lot of pictures, close-ups of my work on Social Media, but I don’t regularly tell you all what it is that I do, or what my job is, therefore it should come as no surprise when I am asked what I would consider to be strange questions!
I am a designer, which essentially means I have ideas! It seems so obvious to me that’s it’s actually really hard to describe. The drawing/design that I send to you is the result of hours and hours of research and drawing. The Shapes, colours, styles, textures which I put into a design are the result of research and listening to music, watching choreography. For me, the term “Design” is the ability to translate movement and music into a piece of art that you can wear!
Sometimes when I start out on a new design I only have to hear the music once and I have ideas busting into my head, and sometimes the ideas are not as easy to access. There’s no formula for this, everyone is unique, therefore the approach is different for each person. I always do research, even if I think I already know what rock and roll is for example, because when you place a new set of parameters on a subject you get very different results, and often end up learning a lot about a musical style and genre in the process. The design idea is always much more likely to suit the person I am designing for rather than a generic design which is confined by paradigms which have gone unchallenged! One of my favourite ways to design is to play the music I am designing for, and play YouTube videos of skating which I feel suits the music. So I turn down the YouTube sound, play the music I am designing for, and sit and play on my iPad until inspiration flows out onto the screen! Sometimes inspiration for a design will appear when I least expect it, for instance, I was watching an opera on a rare night off and I found my mind wandering and as I was letting the music wash over me I realised that I’d been focusing on the leading ladies costume, I can’t tell you what was so striking but I suddenly found that I was INSPIRED! I think I had subconsciously adapted her costume into a skating costume, and from that initial idea a whole host of new designs blossomed into my head, and I literally could not wait to leave the auditorium so that I could turn my iPad on and put them down on paper (so to speak)!
I love that I am continually learning, discovering new things through music, about history, culture and life. Whenever I have a new client who brings a new challenge I am thrilled when I find myself on a new course, discovering new ways to achieve results, it’s just the best job in the world, I am so passionate about what I do, and whilst it’s just Lycra and sparkles, it means the world to me and I want to create the costume that will make you feel the same about it!
Sparkle Ice 