This project was about connecting with someone and designing something personal and practical for them
Research
The research for this project was extremely reliant on getting to know our gift recipient. I learned about who I would be giving to by meeting her in person and discussing her interests, hobbies, and overall just discovering her personality. She gave me detailed insight into who she was and how I could create something for her as well as offering great advice. Besides that, I read portions of The Gift, by Lewis Hyde, and another article that opened my eyes to what a gift could be in the non-traditional sense. We also thoroughly discussed packaging and how that can drastically alter the presentation of a gift.
Exercises
Best Gift Brainstorming
As a way to start thinking about what a gift should offer to someone else, we brainstormed and shared our favorite gifts that we’ve received and collaboratively created a collection of traits that those gifts all share. I talked about concert tickets I had received and how it was the experience and the people I went with that makes that gift so special to me.
Container Creation
For this exercise we scavenged around Hayes Hall to find objects that we could create containers or essentially packages for. I chose a sugar packet because if this were the gift, I liked the cute metaphor of “adding a little sweetness” to someone’s life. I decided to make a small pouch for it to stay in a bag or purse to organize and or store different condiments for on the go. What started as a container for something random I found turned out to be a pretty practical idea.
Concept Statement
After meeting my mentor and learning so much about her, I felt that the most functional gift would revolve around her love of travel. She had mentioned to me that she would love anything I made for her as long as it was personal and meaningful. I found the quote “People ignore design that ignores people” and I thought this was a great way to think about what I was going to create. If I designed it fully with her in mind, it would be something she would love, and that is always my goal when I am gifting something to someone. My concept was to create an organizational bag to use for cosmetics, chargers, jewelry, art supplies, or anything she felt she needed to put in a smaller bag to be sure everything is neat and ready to travel along with her. For materials, I used a zipper, transfer paper, and found all my fabric at a thrift store in her favorite color, blue. She mentioned she was super interested in upcycling and wanted to get more into sustainable fashion, so I thought this was a wonderful way to incorporate that interest as well. To form the bag, I took all my fabrics and deliberately arranged them to create a patchwork pattern careful not to put the same fabrics too close to one another. I also purposefully placed the white fabric in visible locations because a large part of my design includes two iron-on decals that I created in Illustrator based on her personal graphic aesthetic. This was my way of including her interest in visual communication onto a physical object. In order to create the bag, I used a sewing machine to ensure that the stitches were strong, and the bag would be as well-crafted as possible. After putting all my patchwork pieces together into one sheet of fabric I cut two pieces out of it and two pieces in the same shape out of a grey canvas to use as the lining of the bag. I inserted the zipper in between these two layers and then flipped it right side out to reveal the bag with clean seams. To finish off, I hand stitched the opening in the lining and ironed on the two patches which I had printed onto transfer paper. I think my mentor will get so much use out of this and that was my main goal for the gift.
Iterations
My two main ideas were either a travel journal or a cosmetic bag. Ultimately, I decided to go with the bag because the designing of the journal was very reminiscent of our previous sketchbook project, and I wanted to experiment with something new. I created a mind map to organize all my notes about her and then started sketching out my ideas.
Production
To ensure the template I made would work properly I started by using test fabric to make the bag without the zipper or lining. I also did this to practice my sewing machine skills since it had been a while since I used one. After confirming it was the right shape and size, I sewed all the pieces of blue fabric together in a patch work formation, and ironed out the seams. Following that I lined up the, zipper, lining, and outer fabric, and pinned them along the seams where they needed to be sewn. When that was completed, I flipped the bag right side out and hand stitched the hole in the lining to finish off. I was able to print my Illustrator designs at the resource center in the Ohio State Union super easily and after doing so I tested the iron-on patches on a scrap of the same fabric that they would be applied to. Concluding that this worked how I wanted it to, I was able to apply the patches to the actual bag. For the presentation aspect, I didn’t want to conceal the bag since it is a container itself. Instead, I created a gift tag that resembles a tag you would put on your luggage out of colored cardstock and wrote a message to my mentor on the back of it and her name on the front.
Final
I am very happy with the final result of my bag. The best part was giving the gift to my mentor, she was so impressed and grateful for the thought I had put into it. It was extremely fulfilling seeing her recieve it since I had kept the concept a surprise. I loved that I got to sew since it was one of my favorite hobbies when I was younger. This project inspired me to get back into it since I truly had so much fun with it. I also learned pretty quickly that some fabrics don’t interact well when trying to be sewn to each other based on how stretchy they are or the thickness of them. I would have loved to make the bag slightly larger but I was limited to the zipper size. I still think it is incredibly practical and functional regardless of size and that is something she had mentioned would be important to her. This project reminded me of the ultimate goal of catering to the interests and preferences of who you are designing for and how that comes first and foremost before my own aesthetic ideas.
View the final project at Gifting: Final