New Pomeroy Reed Diffuser with Jewelry                                                                                      

Usually when I am working on something new for the collections, size and value typically drive the direction along with fashion considerations of course.  By size and value I’m referring to the price/value ratio that inevitably comes into play when a customer is viewing new items for the first time.  Invariably she will compare price, quality, scale, etc. of other items she is buying, and decide whether she should add one of Pomeroy’s items to her assortment .  Recently, over the course of the last several years, I have been able to inject a fourth consideration into the mix; something I call “the cute factor”.

When shopping for shoes, I’ve noticed invariably that the store will put smaller sizes on display.  Why? Because the smaller features are irresistible and the larger a shoe becomes in size,  the less attractive.  The same phenomenon happens when I am working on a new drawing.  My normal procedure is to do a tiny sketch in the upper right hand corner of my drawing pad until I like whats going on and then enlarge it below.  Well, even these “enlarged” drawings on the pad might still be one quarter or even one tenth of the size of the final item; so when the sample is actually made it often needs revisions because the increased scale of the item changes its perception drastically, meaning that if it is a wrought iron piece, what looked well proportioned small, may suddenly look like an oddly shaped alien that only an artist like Gieger could appreciate (The Swiss artist that created the original Alien for the movie).  Small scale allows the opportunity to create something “cute”. “Cuteness” on its own is sufficient to make something highly salable.  Some years ago I began adding jewelry to various fragrance diffusers and lighting trays.  Adding jewelry has added a new dimension to this category while increasing the perceived value and at the same time allowed us to migrate to a collection which included very feminine and “cute” looks. 

Shipping is such a large cost component in any new development these days, that the mere thought of a collection of “small”, cute, decorative, and functional items for the home was exhilarating for me. Not only did these shiny “bejeweled” reed diffusers bring a fun new direction in design possibilities but they allowed us to expand on the concept of value; that is, if we are able to save on freight then we could add components to the item to create more value. After all, the customer will still expect the item to compare appropriately (cost to value) to other items of a similar function or size when considering whether or not to add it their assortment. 

The next step in evolution of scale is to take this concept of something cute and translate it to a larger items.  This is comparable to watching your small princess grow up to be a young elegant lady.  (I have one of those in my house, and witnessed this transformation for myself over the past 20 years).  As with children this is easier said than done.  Sometimes the raw material does not cooperate; or indeed is simply not appropriate to enlarge and maintain  its integrity.  Jewelry for instance can be enlarged to a point, but beyond a certain size simply becomes a weapon and no longer cute.  Sometimes the reverse is true.  Rattan for instance needs objects of a certain size, otherwise the material simply cannot be used as it too course and cumbersome to work into small shapes. 

When increasing the size of my  original thumbnail sized sketch, it becomes of paramount importance to increase detail and reconsider the size and scale of that detail; because what was just a small distance in between embellishments or design elements is now a sahara desert-sized wasteland, or worse yet the design details that looked so “cute” small, have now become mechanical creatures from a movie like “Transformers”.  And sometimes the very concept itself becomes unworkable and must be scrapped altogether.

The bottom line for me, as a designer, is to remember what looks good small does not always work enlarged no matter how much I may want it to.  As design, for me, is an emotional experience, I  must always stay vigilant to the change in moving from a petite, playful, bejeweled princess, to something larger lest she morph into something other than the young, elegant, well mannered young lady I have living in my house.   

Words To Live By

Too Much of a Good Thing

Texture and Pattern in Harmony

When I was in graduate school in Switzerland, I had a teacher who reminded me that as a designer, you might find the perfect solution for a problem; but it might be a solution for a different problem.  That is, you discover something which is successful visually,  but does not work for the project you have in front of you. 

Well, you have to go back to the drawing board so to speak and somehow put that experience out of your mind; which is very difficult, because for a while your mind will return to the scene of the crime and keep coming up with similar solutions until you work yourself away from that original thought.  Its hard to leave something that works well even if it is the “wrong” solution for the problem.  The best strategy I have found is  to make note of this new look or solution for another project which I can start as soon as I finish the one I’m currently trying to solve; in this way I can get my mind off of that new design, and move on to another solution for the problem at hand.

In my collection I always aspire to create a rich contrast of materials as well as sizes, colors and finishes.  This being said, the Pomeroy customer is not a gift shop, gourmet store, furniture store,  garden center, or a home store, they are all of these, which makes creating a variety of themes and directions essential to remaining vital to our customer.  Not to mention the fact,  that only original design will do.   I cannot simply go to China and pick things that might or might not fit into the collection.  That is not really in the Pomeroy DNA.

We are constantly creating new shapes in iron, glass, ceramics , etc. to set us apart from the throng of showrooms offering “market goods” .  The exciting thing about this business are the possibilities that lurk just beneath the surface at the factory level.  Every technique, color and shape usually can be combined and altered to fit into a collection and bring a new breath of fresh air to a coastal collection; or a rustic country collection.  These are often accidents waiting to happen; good accidents that is.  

A new trend which seems to have legs at the moment is jute in all its forms; wrapping, weaving, and handles for lanterns, and luminarias.  As this technique has already proliferated every factory by now, the challenge for Pomeroy, as always, is to create something unique which will stand out against all of the goods already being proposed in the marketplace.  Do we wrap, or weave or both around glass vessels, iron vessels, ceramic vessels, and do we have rope handles as well, or is this too much of a good thing.  Each idea creates with it a myriad of questions and problems.  There are times when I will say, “you cannot have too much texture and pattern”, but then I see someone wearing plaids and stripes together (in a bad way) and I remember the axiom, “you CAN have too much of a good thing”.  That is when I remember my Swiss training and begin again, adding detail, texture, and pattern until the next bit is simply too much and I know that I should stop.  Every texture, pattern, and design detail, like jute is workable on its own.  Literally everything can be used successfully if approached cautiously.  It’s always simply a matter of working the problem with creativity and playfulness, while remembering to be disciplined about when too much is really too much, and having the discipline to stop when you need to stop.  

After all, “less CAN be more”.

Design and Distraction

Todd Being Distracted In Vietnam

Looking at design as an occupation, it’s pretty easy to view it as simply a job like any other; I mean, you have an idea,  or a request from a customer for a new item and based on the parameters of the job, you dutifully go about gathering necessary information to understand what the item will be used for, in what context, and what you as the designer, can add to make it other than just one more thing that looks and works like so many other items already on the market.  Exactly; not that complicated on the surface but there is of course that gnarly bit about creating something really new.  

While creating something new is always satisfying in itself, it’s not always an easy place to find. The road is not a straight one, and there are no signs for guidance.   A lot of the process of design is researching the various needs which must be fulfilled; which can be done by someone who is organized, and detailed.  Ideally the designer will imbue all of those qualities, but alas, often they will not.  Design by definition requires a certain whimsy in the process, so it is unusual that the linear thinking person and one able to consider the beauty of whimsy come together in the same body. 

When I start out sketching a new item, I usually make some very small sketches with not a lot of detail.  If I’m lucky this process gives me a general direction for the structure or look of the item.  I cannot profess to know how other designers work; some I suspect are like laboratory technicians; organized, clean, and methodical in their approach.  Others I know are disorganized (to be generous); creating order from chaos as it were, but always with a huge conglomeration of stuff around all half- finished.  I would put myself in the middle.  I have a large number of things piled on my desk, which I am afraid to clean and organize for fear that I will lose something.  On the other hand my drawing pad is sacrosanct.  I somehow manage to keep this always in the same location and any drawings which are located there have not yet been sent off to be sampled; a process which I have had in place for 20 years in spite of the fact that I am easily distracted. 

Distraction is one of those qualities that is rarely seen as such.  I was distracted in school, considered a “day dreamer” by my teachers.  My mind always wandered as if lost in a forest.   Only later did I realize that this could be a good thing; if I was able to control it, but for the record, it was pretty hard to control.  If harnessed properly, distraction can be a wonderful tool for the designer; however, if not kept in check it can really play havoc and create lots of confusion, not to mention half-finished projects.  Distraction allows me to bounce from idea to idea like a hummingbird feeding on flowers.  The key is to keep your overall direction for the project, in the back of your mind so you come to a conclusion.  All of the creativity in the world will be for naught if the designer does not arrive at a conclusion.  There are times during this process that you discover something really interesting but it would be better suited for another item or even a different category of goods.  If possible make a note, or some bread crumbs,  then get back to what you were working on before you end up in the Australian outback and can’t remember how you go there.   To be successful the designer must be part hummingbird; gathering ideas and possibilities and part project architect; ruthlessly discarding ideas or concepts which do not fulfill the requirements of the project. 

So when starting out on a new project, I always have a loose guide in my mind as to the purpose of the item or range of product; whether it is serve ware, lighting, fountains, or decorative such as ceramics and pillows.  This allows me to court distraction without courting disaster; allowing the creative process to take whatever path it might;  knowing that I always have a guide, or at least can follow the bread crumbs home, in case I get lost.