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Course request: De Havilland bag part 0

Hey Phillip...what are the chances you'd consider producing a pattern design course? I suspect I'm not the only one who would be thrilled to see your tips, tricks and techniques to go from a concept in your mind to a functional pattern.

The De Havilland bag would be cool but really any non-flat design (that requires working things out in 3 dimensions) would be amazing.

5 comments

5 Comments

piperdally

Mar 10, 2020

Fashionary published a book of bag designs, but I don't know how to transfer the designs to a pattern accurately. @Fadi mentioned using CAD. Another leathercrafter I know uses Illustrator. Which is the best design program to use in our context as craftspeople first, designers second?

Leathercraft Masterclass

Feb 02, 2020

@chris Hello Chris,

Thank you for your request.

Coming up with a design and going from idea, to brief, to drawing, to pattern, before prototyping, would very difficult to teach as a step by step video course.

The De Havilland took several months in between filming other courses for example and the Bloomsbury attache started 2 years prior.

Putting this into an hour long video would probably create more confusion than inspiration.

There are places you can learn design and pattern making such as the London College of Fashion. They have a short course for £595:

https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/accessories-footwear-and-jewellery/short-courses/accessories/bag-design-lcf#

The full course on bag design is a little under £10,000 however (£22,000 for international students).

Philip

chris

Feb 02, 2020

Replying to

Thanks for the perspective Philip. It's reassuring actually to hear you say how long some of your projects have been in development. I'm imagining that makers who have succeeded in building a primarily custom order business (to which I aspire) have developed reusable component patterns (basic bag structure, accessory attachment options, handles, etc).

The LCF course looks awesome. I'm inspired to look for similar options where I'm at in the US. There's a college of art and design 90 minutes away...might get lucky.

Thanks!

Leathercraft Masterclass

Feb 03, 2020

Replying to

@chris Thank you Chris.

Yes that would be a good idea, there might be something available and 90 mins is still convenient!

I would also look into having a pattern designed to your specifications. I have never gone this route but I'm sure there are professional services out there that provide this if you give them a design brief.

I enjoy the design process, but it can take A LOT of your time. If I were to switch my business back to making full time, I would not rule this out.

Some people look down on this but I've yet to see a luxury brand ask their craftsmen to design leather goods too.

No one points at a Dunhill or Hermes craftsman and calls them out for not designing the bags they make.

Getting a professional design along with a pattern by someone who only specialises in that one area could help you create a superior product.

I probably wouldn't use Fiverr, but to give you an idea:

LINK

Cristian h-less

Feb 02, 2020

Hi Chris! That's precisely what I've asked Philip too, some time ago!

In my opinion, that's the no. 1 skill of any respectable leather craftsman. You may have the technical skills, but if you can't translate your imagination into reality, that's almost useless....