The
DDB's Student Design Day-goers were all ears at
Pollack's Inspiration, Imagination, Interpretation presentation, led by
Rachel Doriss, Pollack VP of Design. Sparking inspiration and examining how choices of material, construction, pattern and color are resolved, Rachel explained how a physically functional and aesthetically pleasing fabric is created.
"While I was still a student at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), we were taken on a field trip to New York City, and one of our destinations was the D&D Building," Rachel said. "From that very first time, I've always loved this building, but it also pushed me to wonder how we design fabric. Ever since, I've been searching out artistic creativity and using that to help me imagine and design beautiful fabrics.
"When it comes to design, any kind, you have to find what it is that inspires you. My inspiration comes from everywhere and everything: traveling the world, my son, construction sites, city blocks, the way wind blows the sand on a beach; it's everywhere. Inspiration and creativity is simply about combining what you see on the outside and what you already have on the inside."
Rachel explained that for herself and others on the Pollack design team, they often find and revisit places and things that inspire them so that they are always ready to create, design, and make. Sharing the process of her trade, Rachel used slides of her favorite photographs and images that became sketches, then digital designs, and finally the fabric made based on the initial stages.
"While studying at RISD, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew what I loved doing,” she said. “Eventually, I learned that there was a job for exactly what I loved doing, and once you can put a name on the exact job you want to spend your life doing, the only thing to do next is to pursue it!"
