Taryn's Design Diary

It did not work out so well the first time around, but that’s because I didn’t have swatch books! These are fantastic. In fact, I’m experiencing options overload.

I had a same-day flight to and from L.A. yesterday for work and what transpired there drained all my energy. I thought I’d stay in bed all weekend to recuperate from quite the stressful week, but then the package arrived on my doorstep: the swatch books from my manufacturer in Hong Kong! Yay! Forget the bed! It’s gonna be a Taryn Zhang weekend! Samples production Part II commences, officially now!

It’s time to formally put away Try #1 and enter the next phase, Try #2. Actually, the above photos is more of a pictorial of Try #1.5. The real Try #1 was learning to make the handbags by hand, and sewing them myself. That was a bit of a disaster. And yet it was a great learning experience, and now if ever I was put to task, like if a gunman threatened to shoot me unless I sewed him (or her) a purse (in fact, such a gunman would more likely be a woman than a man, though hey, that too is pretty presumptuous of me), well fear not, I can do it. After the real Try #1, hand-sewn handbags, came the above, Try #1.5. 

I managed to stuff all my research notes, sketches, design spec sheets and the first batch of prototypes into 2 bags. Nicely enough, into 2 of the Taryn Zhang prototype bags, the Catalyst in red, and the Overachiever in black. 

And where will these 2 bags go? The back corner of my closet of course, right next to the shoeboxes full of the hand-sewn handbags I made a year ago. I can hear my husband James right now. “See? I told you so.” 

Last summer when I was sewing clutch after clutch at the dining table (that was the only available place in our little condo for me to work), my husband said, “You’re never going to carry any of those. They’re going to be shoved into a box and forever stuck in the back of our closet.” And I said no, of course I’ll use them. He turned out to be right. They’re all now in shoeboxes in the back of my closet. Sometimes he pokes fun at me while we’re dressing up to go to a formal event and he sees me looking over my collection of [store bought] evening bags to pick one to match my outfit. “Why don’t you carry one of those clutches you sewed?” he’ll always offer. 

Oh, but he’s not entirely right. I am using 2 of the first round samples. The Jetsetter in antique rose, which really is great for travel, and the Workaholic in black. See below. 

In My Bag: Intellectuals of smug temperaments should avert their eyes. =) The fascination with what's in another fellow sister's purse is an irrational, superficial girly-girl curiosity. In mine: current open case files; yellow legal notepad; handful of pens; day planner/calendar; design journal/sketchpad; sunglasses; homemade pink purse organizer for compact, lip gloss, tissue pack, and mints; cosmetics organizer bag with all sorts of junk (hair ties, flash drives, brown rice and matcha teabags, hand sanitizer, lotion, Hello Kitty Band-Aids, etc.); and Hello Kitty wristlet wallet.

Oh– note the peeling and scratches on the wall behind the Workaholic. Cat lovers will have no problems identifying where those scratches came from. 

"In case you forgot, I went to law school too, so counselor, I hereby plead the fifth."

Now for Try #2. I got rid of the Duchess, the Modernist, the Kindred Spirit, and the Peripatetic. I’m debating whether I should strike out or try again the Catalyst. Also, I’ve added the Ambitionist, the Executive, and the Financier (or maybe Tycooness; I haven’t settled on a name yet). 

The whole process starts all over again. Tomorrow the swatches should be arriving and I’ll start picking out materials and the color palette. Yay. I’m thinking definitely black, a dark deep red, a gray, a nudish-beige-off-white-cream-neutral-something sort of color, antique rose, and I don’t know what else. Brown is the tough color to decide on. It’s really easy for a brown bag to look bag-lady-ish and uncool, but a good brown bag is also a staple in any woman’s wardrobe. 

Excerpts from design specs of Try #2

The above drawings were rendered in MS Paint. All my designs are either sketched by hand or in MS Paint. 

Overall, not much to update. Try #1 (or #1.5) didn’t work out, so now it’s onto Try #2. Let the good times roll.

My original vision for the Modernist was a clutch just big enough to fit a literary journal or small notebook, and styled in a way that would conform to the dress code of most evening functions. Every girly-girl told me that an evening clutch shouldn’t be that big; it should fit a lip gloss, compact, a smartphone, some currency, and that’s it. Maybe I’m just a packrat, but that is not it for me, and that became crystal clear when I attended one of those formal galas and found myself dreadfully bored, in need of reading material. I had none, because the purse I carried would never have fitted a book.

Enter the Modernist. An evening clutch for the modernist woman, a woman who cannot go anywhere without a paperback or small diary. It’d come in a metallic silver with gold trimming; another in a sheeny black; sheeny red; etc.

For my sample, I ordered one in metallic silver with gold trimming.

Then the first round of prototypes came in and I realized this was not going to work out. I decided to change completely the idea behind the Modernist.

I turned it into a portfolio, now a day clutch of sorts, a modernist interpretation of that old black thing we used to take with us to job interviews, presentations, or conferences. Now the Modernist would fit a writing notepad, like the ones found in portfolios, and have compartments for organized storage of resumes, handouts, and such. The style is chic enough to express a feminine personality, but conservative and “boring” enough to fit into any corporate culture.

Excited, I turned my revision notes and changed measurements in to the manufacturer. They confirmed receipt and started work on it.

One night later, it dawned on me that I completely forgot to tell the manufacturer to modify the colors. I had ordered the original evening clutch Modernist in metallic colors, which would have worked well for its original party-party purposes, but a job interview or conference portfolio Modernist in silver and gold?!?! Exactly. Guess it’d depend what kind of job interview or conference one was going to, but generally the idea of a flashy metallic portfolio is borderline absurd.

SO. Realizing that I have now changed my mind “like a girl changes clothes” (love that song, btw), I nervously approached the manufacturer and asked whether I could change the colors for my sample order on the Modernist. These samples are to be shown to prospective wholesale buyers, and if I’m pitching the Modernist to them as a career portfolio and then whip out a big 9.75″ x 13.5″ disco ball of a thing to show, I won’t be taken seriously.

I wanted to change the sample to a light or medium gray, with black trimming.

The manufacturer, in kinder more professional words, told me, “No more changes!” And the answer was no. By April, I am going to be getting a Modernist portfolio in shiny silver and gold. I have NOOO clue what I am going to do with that thing.

I just e-mailed one final plea to change the colors of the Modernist sample “regardless of material.” I am begging them to use any old business-y colors they have on hand to make the sample — black, brown, navy, a dark subdued red, gray, any boring color at all will do, just not silver and gold. Pray, pray…

Now, off to Lake Tahoe for the weekend. That’s my light at the end of a long, exhausting tunnel of a week. Nothing has been going right these last 5 days in either my day job or this purse business. A quick getaway is long overdue.

Photo Update: James & Sunny, Reno, NV; Lake Tahoe weekend getaway

The TZ promotional postcards to be printed, 6.0″ x 6.0″:

I spent the weekend going over the numbers, calculating financial projections, and when the math started to strain my brain, I designed meself a postcard. (One of the books I’ve been reading recommended postcards as a promotional tool.)

Then I toyed around with Jasc Paint Shop Pro:

The above image gives off a very appealing mood, but it’s a tad too…suggestive, let’s say, to be consistent with the brand’s point of view. Taryn Zhang’s focus is on women in the outer sphere, not women in the inner. Otherwise I’d use the image more prominently on the TZ website; I love the photography (credits: Da Yu). Also, just in time for the holidays. It’s sort of Christmasy, with the Santa red and white poofballs.

The weekend was also spent mapping out tentative storyboards for Alpha Collection promotional videos, redesigning the embroidered labels to go inside each handbag, designing hangtags, dust bags, and discussing with the business partner, my husband, whether it’s worth it to get custom Taryn Zhang zipper heads and buttons. We decided not for the Alpha Collection, but maybe the Beta.

Sigh. Promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep… (in high school I could recite that poem by heart; dorky, huh?)

Happy Holidays!

We now have a logo. Yay!

When I sat down to design the logo, I knew I wanted something that brought to mind the Chinese ink seals, which are carved stamps that were used in ancient times for signatures. When stamped or silk-screened, the intertwining of the T and Z won’t be noticeable, as you see above, but it will (or should) be in the embossed metal logo plates that I have made a part of every handbag from the Alpha Collection. See as follows:

It’s hypocritical of me to talk about how silly handbags look when the brand name appears disproportionately large on the bag and then proceed to smack a 2″ x 2″ metal logo plate on everything I’m producing. However, this is my debut collection and I am launching a new line. It’s important to establish brand recognition right now, so that is why every purse in the Alpha Collection displays the metal (stainless steel) logo plate. In the future, there will be purses with no obvious logos.

Above is the embroidered label that will be stitched into the interior lining of every handbag. It shows off the signature trade colors of Taryn Zhang: brown, black, and pink. I’m thinking about taking off the “International.” It adds no value to this label.

My manufacturer is now in the process of making the copper mold for the embossed plates. I OK-ed the proofs this past weekend and can’t wait to see the actual plates.