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...