OTTO - the business

Following the success of the OTTO launch event at Outlaws Yacht Club, it has had a great response and I feel that all the effort that went into it was worthwhile.

I feel more confident now that this is something that I would like to pursue as a business venture. Other clothing companies such and Hype, Abandon Ship Apparel and Represent started off in similar fashion and thats the kinda of success and potential OTTO has. It will have to be a steady development which will need to have some financial backing and help from others who have more of a business orientated mind.

Rough plan:-

   - 2013/14 - work part time for living costs and spend the rest of my time on the business. Running it mostly online and through popup events and collaborations.

   - 2014/15 - improve quality of the clothing and work on new collections, getting manufactures to create the clothing more than myself having to order and print them all the time. Get clothes into boutiques and shops in Leeds.

   - 2015/16 - leave part time work by the end of the year and focus on the business. Push the clothes out to shops and boutiques in Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Possibly London. Get a proper website.

   - 2016/17 - open flagship store in either Leeds or Manchester (depending on the success up to this point and the state of the economy) with in house screen printing facility.

   - 2017/18 - launch brand campaign to promote the label and reach out to more places across the country.


This is all an ideal plan which can be realised but there is still a lot of things to sort out before any of it can go ahead. With local interest from boutiques such as The Allotment, Bo Carter and Audere Couture there is a lot of hope and potential for the brand.

Modern Designers Studio Placement

Similarly to Creative Concern It was two years ago and I failed to keep in touch with them. However, a can recap the experience nonetheless. It was much different to Creative Concern as the size of the studio, the amount of people I was working with and the kind of work/jobs they were doing were much different. Going from a big studio at the top of a cotton mill with a great view and lots of books and interesting things on the walls to a small white studio with 2 windows and a dog was quite a transition. I didn't fall in love with it like I did at Creative Concern but I appreciate the experience more now as it was a more hard working environment. And I spent less time following people around and observing and more time getting involved with some of their work and doing a lot of research.

I only spent a week at Modern Designers but it was a long week and I wanted a rest at the end. Now I would say it was a good week and it gave me a good taste of whats to come from the industry. If I could have done anything differently, again I would have prepared some questions and tried to get more out of them instead of getting on with the tasks they set me. I suppose that is part of a learning curve and a development of my understanding of how to get the most out of placement or studio visit.

I'll be sending them a thank you soon.

Creative Concern Studio Placement

Although my placement at Creative Concern was two years ago now I feel its a good idea to recap on my experience and how its informed my practice and my views on the design industry.

Firstly, my taste in design and my design approach was much different then to what it is now as well as my skills having come on leaps and bounds. I would be very narrow with my design approach and only  aim for one thing when given a task or a brief to respond to. Now I'm more open and I let as much of my surroundings, findings and experimentation direct my response.

Working in a big studio was really nice because I got to meet a lot of people that all have different roles and experience. Some were more business lead and worked with organising things, and others were the designers that worked on the projects. For a few days they had a programmer/coding freelancer come in to code a website.

By the end of the placement I was pleased to have done it because I learnt a lot about how studios operated. If I could have done it differently I would have asked more questions, got more contacts and kept in touch more after completing the placement. But at that point I didn't think ahead enough to do anything.

I want to get back in touch and thank the studio so I'm going to make them a customised print/gift that they will hopefully appreciate.

Ian Anderson Lecture - Visiting Professional

Ian Andersons lecture, following his workshop, was interesting. His work is nothing like what would catch my eye today. But with that said, he is a very good designer and his ways of thinking are what really gripped me.

It was also interesting that he'd had success with Designers Republic and then it failed and has been revived. Gives young designers like myself a reassurance that you can come back and pick yourself up if something goes wrong. This is one of my main concerns as a professional. I just don't want to be a disappointment.