Took place eleven years ago, after I graduated as a designer/teacher from The Couture department at The College of Arts and Crafts here in Odense, Denmark.
One of my former teachers called me to suggest to contact the "famous" danish designer, Isabell Kristensen in London, who needed assistance.
I was ready for a big adventure and quite excited. I asked one of my fellow students to join me and off we went.
But, to my disappointment, the experience was not very successful. We were two out of 7 danish people, most of them apprentices.
Another danish designer were in charge, Maria, an English dressmaker was delegating the work of the people, beside what she had to do herself. She was nice, but quite frustrated because of that.
There was no real organization, so things were quite chaotic. No one didn´t really know what to do, so we had to figure it out ourselves. A real agenda for customers didn´t exist, so we had to make one up.
The owner didn´t seem really engaged, I only saw her twice during two weeks. She was just putting pressure on people by taking in orders, without any consideration for the actual schedule. This wasn´t accommodating at all, for the working climate.
All in all, I could see where it was heading and decided not to waste my time and went back to Denmark two weeks later.
My colleague stayed for a few more months. Because of an up-coming fashion-show in Monaco. She was working night and day, but was not payed at the end.
Six months later, she went back to get her salary, just to be rejected by the accountant, who claimed there was no more money left in the company.
She wondered why the owner could do what she was doing and was told it was only possible because of backers. As far as I know, the company still exists today.
Just to say! -Be aware and take care out there! Things are not always what they seem.
Have any of you readers had a similar experience? Please comment and share your thoughts.
