Once upon a time I was sitting in-front of the TV watching a PBS special when a special guest showed up and the banner on the screen titled him an inventor. This sparked the fire in the back of my brain and I subconsciously followed this path in life. Though anybody who asked me heard I wanted to be a veterinarian or working as a zoo keeper when I got older, my love of animals has never died but it has taken a different route in providing welfare for them. I had always been handy and I grew up with mentors and teachers who encouraged my creativity and use of 3-dimensional crafting skills; and a father who enjoys woodworking and odd-jobs around the house, I ended up being one of the 2 people in my woodshop class who knew how to use a power drill.
I remember paper-mâché and clay being some of my favorite mediums growing up and as I entered high school I fell in love with wheel throwing. The process of throwing on the wheel requires patience and practice, two things I had strong skillsets for. After I graduated high school I attended an art school in my nearest city that had a decent reputation for design, specifically car design but it extended into many other facets of the industry. I started with a degree in product design but what I found is that they teach everyone to become the same designer... They want all of their students to draw in the same style, present their projects with the same graphics layouts and fonts, have the same exact process of defining your customer; this was too strict for me I prefer many unconventional design methods. That is why I switched to the new fashion department.
The fashion department I joined had a focus in accessories; bags, shoes, hats gloves, etc. The first class we learned how to make a high heel, crazy right?! I would have never in a million years expected to be in this type of environment but I have always had a knack for envisioning an opportunity and putting myself in the right space. I really enjoyed the freedom we had in our own creative decisions and what type of products we wanted to make. I could finally make some queer hats and bag inspired by my favorite existing products and influencers rather than power tools and lamps. This was also a fairly new program and it was amazing being able to be a guinea pig for my teachers and creating products to be the platform for this brand new program with some amazing connections and an incoming of young want-to-be fashion designers.
And then the end of the world came... COVID-19. This could not have come at a worse time for me as I had, literally a week before we went into lockdown, signed my contract for an internship on the leather goods team for Ralph Lauren. To say the least I was lost and depressed that all of the work I had done to achieve that for myself was lost because of a worldwide pandemic. Others had lost worse than me and I was lucky that I had family to fall back on and a few friends from school who could relate. Over that summer I took a glass-half-full approach to things and decided that because I believe that everything happens for a reason, I was going to become a self-employed worker and my new goal was to not have a traditional 9-5 for my entire life. This was also around the time where my self-reflection led me to remembering the moment of the PBS special, which really just fueled my fire to get to where I am here in 2021. Launching this website of my handmade products, a few weeks after my college graduation, the weekend before I start a new 9-5 at another classic American leather goods company.
Remember to always believe in yourself and to do what ever the hell makes you happy. There may be road blocks but if you manifest you goals and work really, really hard... I know you will get there.
<3 Bradley
