It’s break time. Sit back, relax, grab a brew and follow Candice Wren through a typical day in her life. Over to you Candice.

Morning and Getting Up

Candice Wren is a bespoke pashmina label. As my background is in textile design I can help design and then print you the perfect pashmina for that special occasion or just for a treat for yourself. I also design and print limited edition t-shirts and quirky brooches and corsages. And so this is my usual working day.

First thing in the morning once I have woken myself up, combed my hair and drank my morning cup of tea I make my way to my studio. I start work around 9.00am. I am fortunate enough that my commute to work doesn’t cost me a penny and is just several steps down the garden path! In my studio I do what I like to call my hands on work, which is where I could be preparing a screen ready for silk screen printing or I could be mixing inks, pressing or stitching vintage fabrics and of course I could be printing.

Just lately I have had lots of shows on, and so I have been printing many different pashminas and t-shirt designs for clients and for exhibitions.

I have also been busy spending my Saturday mornings sourcing rare vintage materials and unusual magpie finds of buttons and beautiful beads for my bespoke range of pashminas. Sometimes I head to Portobello Road for treasures and other times I drive to villages where jumble sales are held by small communities such as the Scouts or in aid of the building where the jumble is held. All funds usually go towards things that need fixing in the building or upgrading such as the kitchen or new flooring.

One of my best selling pashminas is the appliqué perfume bottle design which is also the most time consuming pashmina to create.

With the fabrics I have sourced I wash them, unpick the seams and press them so that they are ready to be cut and stitched directly onto the pashmina. In the picture below you can see the finished article. I have also made this design after a wedding, using pieces of fabrics from the wedding – a beautiful napkin (a clean one of course), the bow from the bride’s garter and even the bridesmaids’ dresses. Yes, I really was allowed to cut one of the bridesmaid’s dresses! The fabrics were stitched onto an ivory pashmina and printed with a mute brown. This was for the bride to keep and wear, reminding her of her special day.

In the Afternoon

Afternoons are always different for me, sometimes I have a full day of printing and making, other times I have to sit down and run through my emails; or I could be packing pashminas ready for taking them to the Post Office. I also deliver by hand. I am based in Chelmsford in Essex so it’s a train and then a couple of hops on the tube if the shop so happens to be in London.

Each Day is Different

The thing I love most about my working lifestyle and being an independent designer is that every day is different from the last. I could be in my studio printing out an order or a one off pashmina for a bride or I could be on the road restocking shops with my pashminas and other products such as my quirky t-shirts.

Recently I attended the grand Bill Gibbs exhibition at London Bridge Fashion and Textile Museum where I stock to the gift shop. Twiggy Lawson opened the exhibition and I was lucky enough to get the chance to meet and greet her with a special pashmina. It was an amazing night and I felt very proud to be a designer.

The lesson I learnt on this particular evening was that it is a lot of hard work starting off as a designer, but I wouldn’t change it for the world! People like myself do what we do because we are passionate and in love with the idea of producing beautiful products for others to enjoy.

I would say to anyone starting off their own fashion label or trying to get a new product out there, keep at it, it’s not an easy ride but you will get there in the end just keep chasing your dream and it will come to you.

Lots of love

Candice Wren

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For more information on Candice Wren and her beautiful pashminas, go to www.candicewren.co.uk.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm and is filed under A Day in the Life of. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.