We've tracked our progress over the years. We've tracked the things we've done and our overall approach to life/design/spirituality, etc. Life has it's simple pleasures, it's actions/events that don't have any real consequence on the world or the people around you. That's why you undertake them. We channel our energies doing these small things/parts that tend to not have any weight on the whole and that's how we approach life/work, clothing production, etc.
You might wonder why we're writing about this?
It's because of a certain graduation we have experienced in the last year or so. Some may notice that the quality of work through our blog/our garments/our store curation, etc has been fine tuned. We are understanding who we are and where we'd like to take this/these businesses to. The comparison between the work we have done before as opposed to what we do now is vast. Sometimes "design" can be construed as creation for the sake of creation. When you don't have a grasp on things, that's usually the case.
There now seems to be more meaning in the small parts while considering the impact on the whole. I think Wikipedia calls this a "Holistic" approach to design/life, etc. Check and feel free to agree/disagree through the comments section.
How did we come to all of these more meaningful observations?
1) This came about the other day when we were going through our product line. The end results that we have received in our office in the form of garments have experienced significant growth in terms of quality since the date of the products initial conception. I have reserved a special post for this that will be useful to a lot of you guys in the clothing business. I don't mind sharing some of our trade secrets and things to look out for if it'll benefit you readers. For example, we have paid attention to all the small parts of the garment to create an appealing whole, even if it doesn't appeal to the greater masses. It's due diligence on our part, but more on that later.
2) The store has been our canvas to show all the things we find interesting, worthy of a mention under the umbrella that is culture. If it wasn't executed as well before, it will get better in the future as part of the "graduation". We've progressed in the form of window display competitions, pre-orders, useful production posts, more effective store interiors (the 2nd floor is just as beautiful as the bottom floor). All of this has been done with regard to our overall business direction. We might throw some parties soon as well. Again, more on that later.
To explain: The process of all this was part of a greater process called "Reductionism". We've been reading up on it and trying to apply. It's when we reduce everything to it's small parts and study it's effect on the greater whole. When you come to reduce everything and strip away the unnecessaries, you come out understanding things in greater depth. We've been implementing this concept into clothing production, store curation/direction and life in general. It's a stronger approach.
In terms of clothing production, by breaking down all of a garments details and studying them in depth, you will find that certain things can be improved through better technical understanding. When they are improved/adjusted, the garment on the whole has more life, personality and value (intrinsic and extrinsic/monetary).
If this is all too complicated, we'll go through it in the next post with relation to one of our favorite garments; The Icicles.
Till next time, enjoy the store curation, the second floor and the beautiful clothing. Here's to quality!
ssm
