PROTOTYPE I

Tuesdays are my Uzinduzi (Innovation) days. Either I make a new sketch for a product concept or an altered image of an existing design. Sometimes it's the day I source the components for the prototype.

I found a good use for the blade on my Leatherman tool; to pry apart the gap in the tiny chain links for prototype of the new Maasai beadwork inspired multi-strand necklace I am making. My fingers are sore and I have a nasty paper cut on my right index finger.

Any product designer will tell you making the prototype is blood, sweat and money. It probably comes second in cost to product sampling to a prospective client who is on another continent, which only gets worse if no feedback comes from said prospective client.

I recall when my business partner and I made an awesome clutch bag prototype – the Laheri Clutch – and a lady who had been here conducting a training that my partner attended, loved the prototype which she bought at a pittance saying she would show it to Ralph Lauren. We have never heard from her or Ralph Lauren two years on.

The easiest part of  “protoyp-ing” is sketching. I have a small thick sketchbook of concepts ranging from soapstone candle-holders to sisal handbags to leather bags waiting to be prototyped. Once in a while I pick one and commit time and money into making a prototype.

It’s easier to prototype when you own your own production; it keeps your ideas safe while you work them out. The other way is to outsource the components and do the finishing yourself – the latter is the method I am using for the necklace. 

I will product test it on my two fashionista sisters this evening…