In high school, I fostered a deep love for drawing and digital art. My mom, being my biggest supporter, framed a handful of my artwork around the house. As a result, the relatives and family friends that visited our place ended up learning about my growing interest in art.
During my freshman year of college, Eleanore Guthrie, a long-time family friend who was a senior college student at the time, asked me if I wanted to sketch designs for a clothing line she planned to create. The idea of putting my art skills to the test in a business setting excited me, so I wholeheartedly jumped on board.
Eleanore enjoyed the snowboarding scene and would spend her weekends on the slopes of Park City, Utah. Interestingly enough, snowboarding led her to delve into the world of fashion — Eleanore would often alter her snowboarding pants to have more of a flare. The comfort yet chic look of snowboarding outerwear inspired her to work on her own designs as a hobby. She finally made the leap to start her own clothing line when she tried shopping for comfortable, knitted shorts and pants but couldn't find anything on the market. She wanted to fill that hole in the market and figured that knitwear would be a good place to start because it could stretch and fit many body types.
I recall one of Eleanore's original visions for Knorts was "feeling like you're wearing clouds."
This experience was my first ever job and the start of my work history! Looking back, I now know it was not only a remote experience but also an early-stage entrepreneurial experience — two things I didn't realize at the time!
I contributed to the The May 2014 Kickstarter campaign by working on designs that were sent to the manufacturer and by creating a logo that was used in a few of the campaign photos. The campaign went on to raise over $2,000!
Though I only worked on Knorts briefly, Eleanore has continuously been a HUGE source of inspiration for me. By watching her manage Knorts throughout all these years, I have learned the importance of hard work and diligence. What Eleanore has accomplished with Knorts has been absolutely amazing, especially when you consider that she didn't go to fashion school or didn't have connections in the fashion industry — her designs have been worn by Kendall Jenner, Lady Gaga, Grimes, SZA, and many other celebrities!
Organization: Knorts Clothing Line
Members: Eleanore Guthrie and others
While Eleanore did hire a number of people to help with various parts of the business (manufacturing of the clothing, website hosting and design, etc.), I just worked directly with her. Eleanore and I attended colleges in two different states (Utah and Illinois, respectively), so all our communication occurred remotely through email, phone calls, and Skype.
My work primarily involved developing detailed sketches of prototype knorts, which served as blueprints for the manufacturer. The manufacturer would then proceed to meticulously hand-knit the designs.
Having pretty much zero experience in the fashion industry, I carefully listened to what Eleanore had in mind for each design and worked to bring those designs to life on paper. I'd often ask Eleanore for reference photos and would also regularly Google different fashion ideas (buttons, patterns, etc.) to get inspiration.
A few months into working on Knorts designs, Eleanore requested that I come up with some logo ideas. While brainstorming logo variations, I felt outside of my comfort zone because I hadn't formally studied graphic design and didn't have much experience with Adobe Illustrator at the time. I worked on many, many iterations of the logo — one of my friends in college saw me working hard on the logo and surprisingly ended up helping me out with a couple of the designs.
This role really drove home the concept that you don't always get things right on the first try. I learned patience and resilience by working on multiple iterations of designs — two values that I still try my best to employ.
Adobe Photoshop — for editing hand-drawn sketches and brainstorming logo ideas
Adobe Illustrator — for vectorizing logos