Roots Studio
Roots Studio is a social enterprise that digitises the artwork of rural indigenous artist from India and China, and brings them to the western art licensing market. The artists are paid directly from sales made, and must approve the end use of their designs. This means they can prevent their village’s artistic legacy from being printed on something like a swimsuit or underwear.
My role at Roots Studio as the Senior Designer from 2015 to 2018:
Manage a team of two textile designers in Mumbai,
Oversee the production of samples and products,
Source sales leads
Prepare and present sales pitches to clients
Design & build tradeshow booths for Premiere Vision Paris
- Represent the brand at PV Paris
The position was an exhilarating whirlwind. I flew back and forth between Berlin and New York, for sales meetings, and trade shows. I coordinated with media outlets to deliver design assets that were published by WGSN forecasting, and the Premiere Vision Paris September trade show trend guide.
Prepping Roots Studio for its debut at Premiere Vision Paris in the fall of 2018 was a huge undertaking. In only three months we rebranded, designed 600 new digital patterns and printed over 900 pattern swatches which were labelled with hand-screen printed hang tags, and categorised by seasonal trend.
These efforts laid the groundwork for future collaborations with Prana, Cotopaxi, Outdoor Research, and REI, among others.
My collaboration with Roots Studio came to an end on friendly terms in 2018 due to funding issues.
