DANIEL - PRINT DESIGNER
I recently caught up with Daniel, who is a print designer at Mary Katrantzou. We had time for a quick chat as he had lots of prints to get out the door the day I dropped in. We spoke about how you can design your own prints at home and get them printed onto fabric (yes really!!), what engineered prints are, and I found out that the coffee machine was his favourite tool at work!
What does a print designer do?
I work at Mary Katrantzou as a print designer. My role involves managing the print team, which is a very high pressure job as Mary is most well known for her prints. I work on the creative side, which is working on concepts, researching different stories, building artworks, discussing them with Mary, taking feedback and then updating the files. I also work on the technical side of prints, which includes engineering prints. This is basically matching an artwork across the seams of a garment, to make the artwork appear seamless, so there’s no break in the artwork at all. It's really important that there is strong communication between the print team and pattern cutters in order to properly understand how the pattern works and the garment goes together. Then we can work out how the artwork is best manipulated to the pattern. We will often print them out on paper in full scale. It takes a lot of trial runs in paper before we ever go to fabric. And then even when it goes to fabric it takes three or four runs of toiles in print to get it right. This all means that when a pattern is updated, we need to re-engineer the print files, and when the garment goes to production the print has to be made for each size as the pattern pieces get bigger or smaller when graded.
Why did you want to be a print designer?
My background is in fashion design, working mostly with structure. I've worked across embroidery, print and design. I guess I fell into print because I generally work better in 2D, and I find print is often more creative, being able to actually build out an artwork. I think it's quite a specific skill to hone.
“an engineered print is basically matching an artwork across the seams of a garment, to make the artwork appear seamless.”
How and where did you learn your skill?
I've been drawing and painting since I was a child. I did my BA in fashion design at Manchester, I didn’t touched anything print based at uni. So because I didn't do it at uni, it was all self taught. It wasn't until I came here (Mary's) that I started to learn very specific skills such as print engineering. Working somewhere like this, you learn a lot more than just print. I've learnt how lace is created and developed, I’ve worked on designs and specs for leather intarsia. It's not just print based, you learn a lot of different techniques and specialisms.
How long have you been in the industry and what other brands have you worked for?
I've been in the industry since 2013. I worked in Australia for a year for a brand called Alchemy, they are part of the Asian Couture Federation. Everything they did was by hand, it was very much atelier based, no digital print at all. Then after that I was at Erdem for a little while and then I went to Meng, which is a luxury loungewear brand. They only work in silk satin. So again, it's quite a specific point of view working with only one fabrication, that was print based.
The fashion industry is notoriously hard to get into. How did you get your foot in the door?
For me it was a real struggle I think because I come from quite a normal working class background. Especially up north as well because I studied in Manchester, and I'm from Liverpool. It's very difficult to try and get a break in London in luxury fashion. After I graduated, I spent a year of solely working on my portfolio and it meant sacrificing a lot of things at that time in my life. A lot of my friends were going out all the time, I didn't get to spend time with my partner, and so it was quite difficult but I was just really disciplined with myself and told myself that every night I would stay up until two, three in the morning working on a portfolio. Now I've got a portfolio that I'm really proud of. I think I can pretty much got a job on the basis of my portfolio now because it is so strong.
What is the best thing you were taught when you were starting out?
All the valuable lessons that I learned were self taught. The difficult lessons, like not to give up, not to be deterred by seeing so many of my friends do so well. I think in this industry it's very much your time and if you persevere, you'll get to the place that you want to be.
“You could make a digital print and then you could actually contact a printer and get some fabric printed. I think a lot of people think that people can sew from home, but they don't know that you can contact a printer and send prints to them.”
Do you have any tips for how home sewers could include print in their garments?
You can definitely do print from home, it's not exclusive to fashion brands or professional studios. Like I said before, I am self taught in print for the most part. So in terms of creating artworks, in terms of learning systems like Adobe, I've learned them myself from perseverance and from just sitting there and being interested in the digital side. You could make a digital print and then you could actually contact a printer and get some fabric printed. I think a lot of people think that people can sew from home, but they don't know that you can contact a printer and send prints to them.
What is your favourite tool to use at work?
The coffee machine!
Its Photoshop. I couldn't live without it. I wouldn't have a job without Photoshop!
Do you have a favourite type of print to design?
I like anything that's narrative based, so any print that tells a story. For example a really strong collage print. I'm not so much geometrically minded. So I enjoy being able to build a picture and build a story.
“the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on was The 10 year show at Mary Katrantzou. It was amazing.”
What is the most exciting project you’ve ever worked on?
The 10 year show at Mary Katrantzou (SS19). It was amazing. It was crazy, but it was so amazing to see all these references come back after 10 years of incredible collections. And then I got to work on this collection, which was a 'best of'.
What is the best part of your job?
The team. I think we've got an amazing team who work super, super hard because this is such a tough industry to work in.
What advice would you give someone that would be hoping to follow in your footsteps?
Just keep trying your best. Work as hard as you possibly can because there's always someone working harder than you and who wants it more than you.