These last few weeks have been very eye opening to me on a few levels.
As a dressmaker, who is very proud of her craft and believes there is still much to learn, I have come to the devistating realisation that I am one of only a handful left in the industry in this great city of Brisbane or Qld or even Australia??!!!
I have recently been doing some work for a couple of companies, in Brisbane, whose staff are all fast approaching retirement age.
This being the case, as a 34 year old {still learning all the time dressmaker}
I am feeling the preasure and in a way and the quiet desperation that comes from people in an industry when they find someone of sound capabilities and even better with many working years ahead of them.
Enter Jennifer
I feel that in a way I have appeared to them as a becon of hope, that there maybe SOMEONE to take over from the generation of Dressmakers that are now ready to pass the torch and take some time for themselves.
But I fear I am one in very few and as much as I would love to help everyone and support all the businesses who are still working here in Australia and not moving their workrooms offshore, I want to do my own thing too.
Is there a happy middle ground?
Why are all the young ones coming through our colleges and uni's so fixated on becoming designers?
Do I have society to blame?
I think that society is to blame to a certain degree. There is a huge celebrity fixation out there and the youngens have this fantasy that when they become designers the world will acknowledge and appreciate their talent and style. They are all so obsessed with gaining public recognition and they mesure 'success' by the amount of money they make or stars who wear or purchase their stuff. Not alot of young people understand that success runs far deeper than that, they are far too driven by the almighty dollar.
ReplyDeleteIt does your head in if you think about it too much, just do as you like and be happy and proud of the contribution you make to the world as a person or artist and the joy that your art can bring to others instead of counting the dollars...
Phew! that's my rant over!
Lisa x