Meet Our Designer - Doris

We spoke with Doris, our product designer we have been working with her on a project basis. Displaying a lot of zest in her work, it was a great joy to see her style evolve over time.   

 

 

1. Tell us about yourself.

I am a fresh graduate from LaSalle since April. It is a tough period to graduate because jobs are scarce and sometimes you don’t get what you have applied for but I take every job as a learning opportunity to hone myself into a better person. Apart from my 9 - 6 job as a full-time designer, I work on myself. I illustrate (I have to say, I really love illustrating) and make mails to send to my pen pals. My future ambition is to be a teacher as well as create my own line of stationeries/merchandises and set up my own store.

 

2. You have been working with Klosh on product designs, how's your experience so far? 

Klosh has been the best decision of my life. I am really blessed to work with the team. As it is my dream to create my own line of stationeries and I have been given the opportunity to do so. I have learnt tremendously from them and received a lot of guidance. I was able to get a sense of the trends in the market before I start to design and gather feedbacks after I launched my design. I am given the freedom of expression and most importantly a sense of satisfaction when I see the finished products of my design being sold in store. I’ll always grateful for this opportunity. 

 

3. We love your designs and wish to know what inspires you in your designs?

 

I think what inspires me in my designs are my friends as well as the designs I get exposed to daily. As I study in LaSalle, there are a bunch of outstanding creatives in class. Even outside of class, they create magnificent designs. I get inspired by their works combining with my imagination of the appearance of the product before I start working on it. 

 

4. What do you miss most during circuit breaker and how do you spend your time during this time?

I miss the time spent with my family a lot before the circuit breaker! It was exceedingly rare to hang out with my sister as her job requires her to constantly be on the ball. During the circuit breaker, we enjoyed each other’s company to the fullest to the point whereby she finds me annoying. 

I have learnt how to play the ukulele as well as cooking and baking. Personally, I am glad that this circuit breaker happened. I get to spend more time at home with my family and do things together as a family. We have even created our own Instagram to show people how we cook! We bought canvasses to paint as a family as well as binge-watch movies during weekends with our homemade popcorn and desserts. 

 

5. What are you working on recently?

I am currently working on Teacher’s Day bookmarks, clipboards and postcards. 

 

A sneak peek of Doris’s new design

 

6. According to a recent survey on the top 5 non-essential jobs during Covid-19, Artist came in as no. 1. As a Creative freelancer, were you surprised by the poll results and what is your take on that?

In my opinion, it is not wrong to say that artists are non - essential during COVID-19 because you do not need them to survive. I believe that all occupations play a primary or secondary role which helps maintain the equilibrium of life in check. 

However, I think the public must know that design is all around us. In the form of clothes, our computers, our books etc. Everything you see which are man-made is design! If the circuit breaker is in place and artists weren’t present, entertainment such as films and Netflix will not be present. Grab food will not be present because artists aren’t present to make coding coherent. Most importantly, the statistics that updates people on the amount of COVID cases they don’t appear on Instagram in an excel sheet. Artists help to reiterate the data to make it more understandable for the public. 

To me, artists aren’t just people who paint or draws. They are people who practice and perform creative arts such as filmmaker, designers and so much more. Art has always been a topic of discussion, especially to older generations. The view of artists generally has not been positive with the majority. People would make comments like “you want to starve then you can go be an artist.” or when you tell them you study in an art school they will ask “so do you draw an animal or people?”

Artist or Creatives has not been a well-understood occupation. I personally felt that this survey published by The Sunday Times worsen the situation.  It undervalues artists who constantly put their best feet forward to supply entertainment. 

 

 7. What would you say to those talents who are thinking of joining the creative industry? 

Go for it! It’s an amazing journey with a very high level of satisfaction. If you are a person who has a burning passion for designs, you will enjoy what you do every single day. It may get stressful and overwhelming because you are constantly using your brain juice to think of ways to improve or make a design that can wow people! But push through it because what you get in the end is to see your hard work in place somewhere in the world.

 

Some of the product designed by Doris:

Notebook - All Limitations 

 

      Card Case - Morning Morandi

Wrapping Paper - Leisure

 

Teachers day is coming up, we can’t wait to see the new collections of teacher’s day gift designed by Doris! Stay tuned for the launch.