Why did you choose Textile design?
Honestly, while choosing textile design I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but once I enrolled and started classes I found it very interesting. Ever since I don’t think I have ever second guessed it, I instantly knew that this is actually what I wanted to do.
Did you know that you wanted to go into a design field?
No, I didn’t. When I was little, I was all over the place. I had different phases where each week I wanted to have a different career. But I always like to create things, and I liked art. I was always doing something with my hands. So I knew that was what I liked to do, but I didn’t know It was something that I wanted to do.
What about Thomas Jefferson University drew you in?
I found out about Jefferson through my guidance counselor at my high school. I took a tour and I fell in love with the campus. I remember I visited the school three times just because I found it to be so beautiful.
How did you get your internship with Urban Outfitters?
A friend of mine worked at Urban, and she told me that the head of the knit room was looking for an intern. I found it to be a really great opportunity, I applied and they told me to put my portfolio together and go for an interview. It was during my sophomore year, I didn’t really have a lot of stuff, I had just taught myself how to crochet. So I took pictures of everything that I made, took some samples of my knit class projects and very nervously went in for the interview. But they really liked my work and I got the position.
What were your responsibilities during the internship?
Aside from making sure that the knit room was alway tidy and clean, either my boss or designers would ask me to knit swatches for them, and if they liked the swatches they would ask for yardage of the same swatch. So basically I was knitting all day long.
Where there any challenges that you faced during your internship?
Some of the challenges were communicating with the clients, when different designers came in, they knew what they wanted but they couldn’t relate it to me. Because the designers where based on fashion, a lot of them didn’t know enough about knitting and how the machines worked. It was difficult at the time but it taught me how to communicate better with people coming from different backgrounds.
What did you learn during your internship?
I learned so much in that year, sometimes I’m surprised how I still remember it all. And it was nice because it was different from what I had learned here in my knitting classes. I learned a lot more of the technical things, such as: how to fix my mistakes rather than starting over again. I also learned, when it comes to designing the textile, aside from how it looks to think about end-use and how the textile is going to look on a person.
