One Designer's Lament

In the September issue of Gifts & Decorative Accessories, columnists Barney Stacher and Lisa Ashcraft wrote about the graying of our industry and the need to attract young talent. It was also the topic of the editor's letter that month.

One of the responses to these articles came from a young person (33) in the Midwest who is working as a freelance designer of gift product. He has worked for most of the larger seasonal merchandise gift companies, and "designed every shape of product you can imagine." From his perspective, there are a lot of pluses in his line of work (the opportunity to be creative in a versatile field, for example), but also a lot of negatives.

His first complaint is that the gift business pays very little for artwork and designs, compared to the advertising, media, and industrial design industries. Also, the constant need for new product to feed the gift and decorative accessories markets requires a designer to have an extensive knowledge of the industry in order to quickly produce a marketable design. But while manufacturers make much about their "new" product introductions, our correspondent claims that nearly every company he has worked for wants him to design whatever everyone else was doing "yesterday." He says, "When a client says, 'I want something new, fresh,' in most cases they want a design slightly different than a competitor's." He adds, "I'm sure that statement would upset many companies that strive for a truly new and marketable idea. It's just that I haven't had the opportunity to work with them."

He also sees gift designers and artists disappearing from our shores and the business moving — as manufacturing has — to Asia. "Every Asian vendor has an army of Asian artists and artisans at their disposal, making a mere fraction of what the U.S. designer is looking to make," he notes. "And let me tell you, many of these Asian artists are good."

While it would seem that the American designer would have the advantage of being familiar with the U.S. market and its tastes, our correspondent was working in Hong Kong for a prominent manufacturer at the time he wrote to us, and says, "[They] have a better idea of what U.S. buyers are looking for than the buyers themselves. It is now very [easy] for Target, Wal-Mart, Kroger, and every other small and big retailer to do their one-stop shopping over here. I suppose this is the next level of opportunity for any new [American] designer in the industry, but being here is no picnic.

"I've been doing this job for about 11 years," he concludes, "and I tell myself every year that this year will be my last."

Let's hope that this young designer's experiences aren't the industry norm. Otherwise, the hunt for new talent will be even more difficult.