Hello folks, I have been super busy in promoting my new collection Patinam. Fellow designers will agree with me when I say that – It is easy to create a collection but hard to sell it.. As I invested quite a bit of money and time in this collection I really need to sell it so as to atleast break even. To that result I did a lot of PR and interacted with a lot of folks – both media and non-media to get my ideas across.
Patinam featured in newspapers
Working in the communication department helped me craft a press release on Patinam which you would have seen as the introductory post on the blog. But a press release alone will not bring buyers or even publicity for that matter. Ofcourse, you need a substantial, unique and timely collection to bank upon but the way you treat (and speak to) everybody who comes across your collection really matters. It does not matter whether they are paying, clients, friends, press or simply curious onlookers. They all are crucial to the development of a business.
Find below the Press Release of Patinam published in a local newspaper “Adyar times” on 27th August 2017 just after the Collection launch
When I presented this collection at the press institute of India, I got to interact with members of the press along with researchers, historians, fashion enthusiasts and onlookers. They were all curious to know how Patinam came to be. So here is the story behind the collection.
How Patinam Came to be
The seed for this collection was planted in my head in the last week of July when I was at home convalescing from a surgery. In the next four weeks my life changed drastically, as I conceptualised Patinam. The fact that I was at home helped me do my research in peace. But within a day, I realised that I neither had the strength to do a historically relevant collection nor would it be easy to sell such a collection. The entire first week I considered and rejected several concepts revolving around the Madras Presidency irritated with the painkillers that were clouding my thinking.
When nothing was working out I decided to do what I do best – just jump into the deep end and trust myself that I will swim out. Knowing that I wanted to use textiles, kemp jewelry and pictures of iconic landmarks of Chennai was enough for me. I started with the sourcing of materials – in this case the textiles and the kemp focals. Then it dawned on me. It was the last week July – the first week of college for my first year students – the orientation week. For the last two years, I had given a talk on Chennai during that week and in the first month helped students understand what it is to be a part of this city. I would often share my how my interaction with the city too changed over the years ever since I moved to Chennai as a student in 2003 and then again looking for work in 2009. It also enriched me as I got to see how they see city (and how that changes) through the four years that they study here.
Viola! Patinam was born. Created based on memories and impressions of the city rather than just historical facts and findings. It became a personal, more human recreation of the city and what it means not just to me but several others like me who come here looking to study or to find a job. Ms. Chitradeepa Anatharaman of the Hindu Metroplus Chennai has done a wonderful job on translating my emotions and the design process into a quarter page feature that was published on Friday the 1st of September 2017. Read the article on Patinam Online here.
It was quite a big honour to be featured in The Hindu. This is my second appearance after the feature in The Hindu Metroplus (Thiruvananthapuram edition) in 2012 for my Chithiram Collection. It was a lot of publicity with people calling, messaging and emailing me and my blog stats really went up. It was wonderful as my blog stats have been crawling ever since I moved to wordpress. Many who red the artcile wanted to know why the collection was titled Patinam when the right translation of Madras city is Pattinam or Patnamm.
Very simple, I did not want a copyright hassle by naming the collection after a city!
Gearing up for Onam
The first week of September also happened to be the Onam week – which is the most important festival for Malayalis all over the world. Chennai being a cosmopolitan city neighbouring Kerala, Onam is celebrated with fanfare here too. Women wear Off white and gold Kasavu sarees, Men dhothis; they draw kolams with flowers and celebrate by eating a traditional meal Sadhya. So the good folks at Indulge (The New Indian Express newspaper) wanted to put together an article on unconventional ways for Chennaites to celebrate Onam. It features the dance necklace of mine along with the sound bite that it is the perfect accessory to dress up a Kasavu saree this Onam. Read on – the Next level Sadhya.
This is my third feature in The new Indian Express paper – first in June 2013 and second in October 2013.
Though these three instances of Patinam featured in newspapers brought me clients, the customers testimonials on blogs and facebook reviews is what made me truly happy. I’ll share them after a round of sharing individual designs. Until then, Find the entire collection here and if you want to buy something, please email me with the style code.
Do tell me in the comments if you write concepts notes and/or press releases for your collections. If you do so, I am curious to know what all do you include in it. If you have not done so far, would you like to know how to write one?
I hope you found it interesting
Cheers
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