Mirjam Rouden Internship pt. 2

I have had a very mixed bag of thoughts and emotions while completing this internship while I still have some time left, and I seek to enter new business and opportunities overall I have to say this was I an under whelming experience for me. It was a very slow most of the time I however got to the company prepare for Premier vision Paris 2016, and the work did get very intense around this time. The saving grace of the whole experience was the designers that worked there being in such a small space, I got to meet some really great people very well. I can only hope my next internship is a good one.

Mirjam Rouden Internship - Summer 2016 Pt. 1

After successfully finishing my degree I was lucky enough to find an internship with a printed textile design studio located in east London, Bethanal Green. I had originally planned to stay for 3 months but, after a week I had decided that is internship is certainly not right for me. The studio itself is located right under a railway bridge, which means that you can hear the trains running over the studio all throughout the day. This is a full time internship which meant that I was required to be there from 10-6 pm everyday. With paid travel expenses up to £10 a day, (which I needed a receipt to get the money beck) I admit that this did sound pretty reasonable, until I arrived on the first day. As quoted the task I would carry out where as follows:-

- Illustration for print design
- Studio preparation for screen printing
- Fabric washing & final product preparation
- Digital print composition (if CAD skills)
- Screen printing (if suitable)
- Help to keep the studio tidy

Now notice how I highlighted, the first line? Well for last 2 weeks that is all I have been doing...From 10 -6 pm everyday. The theme of the illustration was floral designs, using images from a small collection of books to draw and paint from. I should mention that I am not the most brilliant fine artist around and I don't care much for detailed drawings and now I realize how much I don't like drawing. I struggled with those paintings and in the end the 'overseer' designer that was there decided it was best for me to do very simple floral patterns which made me feel a little more comfortable.

Now I should mention that the studio was filled to the brim with lots of textile fabrics, prints and long rolls pilled high on shelves. And I haven't got a chance to interact with any of the textiles around me. I have to say that has to be the worst part, for the last 3 years I have been training a refining my skills as a hand weaver and dyer, and I love working with fabrics and it was horrible not being able to interact with them. Not to mention the lack of direction I was getting, on my first day I arrived and had a quick interview with the owner and one other designer a was then quickly seated around a table with 12 other interns which was a little shocking because the space was far too small to hold that many people. I later then realized that we weren't allowed to speak to each other, headphones were allowed, both I learned from observation and I had silently ask was time lunch was as I wasn't told that either.

I didn't feel like I was learning anything and I wasn't receiving much direction, i.e why am I drawing?, what is it for? Is this design being used in a collection? Are all questions I had to ask but got little inkling to how this internship was supposed to be layed out. I understood that I was cheap labor and the designs were to made and used for almost free in the company collection, but I knew I was being exploited, and I am disappointed that I didn't even learn anything from the time that I have spent there, and I have no intention of staying there any longer than July. I am now desperately trying to find other places for more experience but, I would never recommend this internship to anyone who didn't absolutely love to draw and paint all day. The only task I was given was to cut up some fabric to be mounted on card, in the 2 weeks I have been there...