Brooks Interview

Brooks Interview

1.     What do you like about textile design?

I like that it can be used in different applications, and how versatile a pattern can be.

2.     When was the last time you created a pattern?

I made one with you two weeks ago, but before that early this year. I don’t have a lot of time to because I’m teaching all the time.

3.     What is your favorite medium to create a pattern with? Least favorite?
I like the preliminaries such as tracings with paper and pencil. My least favorite medium is definitely acrylic.

4.     When did you realize you wanted to become a teacher? And why?

I was a textile designer and in the fashion industry for 1 year, and left to see how I would do in the interior design industry, worked in that field for a bit but I got a bad reference from my previous boss because I left so I just felt like I wasn’t doing well and not doing what I had liked. I decided that teaching fit the life I had wanted, with art being in my life everyday.

5.     What led you to textile/surface design?

Went to Rhode Island School of Design for a painting major, that I knew wouldn’t be very realistic for employment, then I went over to an illustration major and I realized I didn’t have my own unique technique like other illustrators, so I decided I didn’t belong there. Finally, a friend suggested that I go into a textile/surface design major. I decided to go into that field because I believed that every time I created a pattern, I was reinventing my style as an artist and I liked that.

6.     What was your favorite class at FIT?

I loved color theory. It was one class that I could use the knowledge from that could be used everywhere. It impacted how I viewed color.

7.     What is your biggest accomplishment?

I had shows that I was in, and I won awards. But, I think that my biggest accomplishment is helping my students get into college.

8.     Was there a lot of work for textile/surface design?

Yes, a lot of painting, a lot of research to create good unique ideas. What I would do was leave class go have dinner, work out and then from 6:30 to midnight I would be painting.

9.     What was the best pattern you ever created?

I used wax and luma dyes to make this oriental patchwork with dandelion seeds and maple leaves. I was gold, black and chartreuse. I made it for a women’s clothing print on like a silky jacket. My sister framed it and hung it in her house, and it is still there.



Here is Brook's best pattern. I love it aswell. She did a fabulous job.



10. Do you like weaving?

I had a specialization in weaving in the second two years at FIT. I chose weaving over printing. I have to looms in my house. It has more math than printing but I just loved the yarn choices and placement choices.

11. What was your favorite liberal arts class?

I liked fabric science, and art history (textile/fabric art history), and Shakespeare. I had already had a lot of credits carried over from RISD to FIT, so a majority of my liberal arts classes were out of the way. I liked the design art history classes though.

12. RISD vs. FIT?

At RISD I was able to try different things I would have never been able to try at FIT if I went the first year. At RISD there was not specific major for the first year, so there I got to experiment with what I liked and what I was good at. Such as, a 3D class I didn’t even think I would be good at. I also found a love for stone sculpture that I wouldn’t have found if I went to FIT my freshman year of college. I also took a jewelry design class at FIT because at RISD I had liked it.

13. How much money do you think you have spent on art supplies all together?

Easily $10,000. I buy a lot of supplies that I don’t need. A lot for my students because if they didn’t have them they wouldn’t be able to do a lot of things they do now. My fashion students are always looking for something new to do a rendering with, so I buy supplies for them to use. Such as watercolor crayons, concentrated water color dyes and different kinds of paper.

14. Colored pencils vs. crayons?

I like colored pencils a lot better. Especially watercolor pencils.

15. Who was your favorite teacher in college?

There was no one specific, but I feel like the teachers you learn the most from can be ones that you don’t specifically like.

16. What was your least favorite class?

I really didn’t like this class with teachers that are really traditional. This one class I had to create patterns of roses and no matter how perfect I thought my roses were, my teacher was never satisfied. I just didn’t like that.

17.   What was the craziest pattern you ever created?
It was for a tissue box, I took water color pencil and drew flowers and then for the background I did different brown tones and did rubbings of a paisley stamp.






Here are some samples of Brook's work:



This is a pattern she created that won an award. It was meant to become a rug.





Here is the border of the rug, that won the award,

Obviously Brooks is very talented, and I am very grateful for everything she has taught me. I hope to be as successful as she is one day. 

Weissman Interview

1. How did you get into the fashion industry?
Well my father was the CEO of a company named Gimbles and my mother was the head buyer. I worked for the company for awhile. I then went to college for ergonomics which was me designing objects for people. I ended up working with my friend who owns The Design Library and he hired me as a salesman.

2. Is there a lot of math in your job?
Just regular adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Nothing hard.

3. What kind of clients do you have?
 We have really big clients like Marc Jacobs, Micheal Kors, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Banana Republic, Calvin Klein and many others.

4. What does a typical visit look like?
We either go to the client or they come here. We show them what we think they are looking for. Usually they like every one pattern out of ten that we pick. So we have to pick out hundreds of patterns for them to be inspired buy and pick up.

5. How do you decide on what to pick?
They give us some specifications on what they like, and we pick a bunch out that we think go well with those specifications.

6. What is a typical day for you?
I am either here in the office setting up meetings, filling out paper work and picking out designs, or I am in the city or in another destination seeing my clients and showing them the designs I picked and selling them or renting them out.

7. What kind of person do you have to be to do what you do?
You have to be an open, extroverted person that can talk to people, have small talk and relate to others. You have to be friendly and personal, but also be down to business and get the job done. You have to be a good listener to figure out what exactly your client wants and do the best you can to get them what they want.

8. How do you know what is coming up in trends?
I know what the trends are from my clients. They pick designs that will be for clothes 2 years from now. So if Banana Republic requests stripes and small plaids 2013 menswear, I know that those designs will be in and whats happening in 2013.