After graduating from BA (Hons) Textiles Design last summer, I decided to do something a little different. Instead of jumping straight into a job in the UK, I spent three months in Cape Town gaining work experience – and having a lot of fun along the way.
In my final year at AUB, I did a project on South Africa. My family is from there, so I visited a lot growing up and was always really inspired by the culture and beautiful landscapes. Throughout this project, I researched South African textile and design brands, which opened my eyes to the opportunities Cape Town had to offer. It also planted a seed in my mind that maybe my post-graduation path didn’t have to follow the traditional route.
After finishing university, I was applying to design jobs in the UK while working in my dad’s sandwich shop. I was lucky to have a few interviews and show my work at New Designers, but the creative job market can be tough, especially as a graduate. Feeling a bit stuck, I decided to think outside the box and reached out to some of the South African companies I had researched during my degree.
One weave company invited me to their London office, and they agreed for me to intern with them in Cape Town – I was over the moon and quickly booked my flights. However, the night before I was due to fly, I received an email saying they no longer needed me. It was a huge blow and suddenly I had no plan at all. Despite the uncertainty, I decided to go anyway as I had family I could stay with while I figured things out. The unknown was terrifying, but looking back, I am so pleased I took this risk.
My aunt is an artist, so once I arrived, I attended every art event I could, talking to people and handing out my business card. This was super daunting but having experience presenting my work at AUB and graduate shows really helped. Through this, I secured a role as a gallery assistant, helping with exhibitions, installations, social media and speaking to visitors. Even though it wasn’t directly related to textiles, I loved it and learned so much.
After about a month in Cape Town, it came up in conversation with my aunt that her friend owned a mascot company. We went to visit because I was so intrigued and her friend asked me if I wanted to stay the rest of the day and help make prop chickens. Obviously, I said yes! Then they just kept asking me to come back each day! This led to me working part-time at the art gallery and then part-time at the mascot factory. Each role being completely different, but I really enjoyed both in different ways. A real highlight of my time at the mascot factory was helping on making the fruit and vegetable band for the supermarket, Food Lovers Market. The team was so lovely, and the animatronics were so funny to work on.
During my final month, I visited textiles factories, including screen-printing and weaving mills, which was inspiring and would be very rare in the UK. Throughout all of this, I continued applying for jobs back home and was invited to interview for a role at Groves, a haberdashery and craft wholesaler that supplies to John Lewis, Hobbycraft and Liberty. The interview took place just three days after I returned to the UK, and I’m now working there as a Product Development Assistant!
This experience taught me that sometimes it’s better to do something different, to be open-minded and say yes to everything as who knows? – it could lead you to making a life-sized piano-playing strawberry!
