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BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

It was about 3 months ago that I found out the pre-production samples of the Lawrence needed to be remade from scratch. They'd all been made an inch too small across the chest. 

Wearing the Lawrence myself and seeing it on others, there were some changes I wanted to make. So I went back to the drawing board to a degree.

I've redesigned the fit across the back and shoulders and am having a new calico toile stitched up. A toile is a mockup made with cheaper fabric that gives us the opportunity to test out the changes. After that's finalised, the patterns and measurements will all need to be recalculated before I get the samples made again.

But as of right now, just sourcing the fabrics and getting them to the factory is taking next level project management. The gabardine outer comes from France, the lining comes from Poland, the ribbed cuffing comes from Germany and the buttons are made in England. 

With organic cotton prices on the rise, shipping services still catching up with increased demand since the start of the pandemic and a shortage of lorry drivers causing havoc at the petrol pumps, getting everything together to remake the samples is taking up most of my time. 

I did find a moment to catch up with Conor O'Donnell, aka The British Motorbiker, to record the first of a series of podcasts. I'll be speaking to inspiring people from our community of builders, makers, creatives and designers and pulling out their stories. I'm aiming to have Conor's episode finished up next week so watch out for that.

In the meantime, to learn more about Conor, click the button below to go through to his Instagram account.

THE ORIGINAL

There are so many clips of Aaron James Draplin that I could share. There are many more recent videos but this seven year old, two-part series by Vans feels the most authentic.

I'm so inspired by his genuine and obvious love of design. Just look at the way he's almost lost for words when he goes to a thrift store and sees the packaging design on a set of 70's table mats.

In our current world of personal branding, it's all too easy to try and follow a set formula but doing that also means to dehumanise and to cover over our quirks. Draplin clearly never subscribed to that.