Posing pensively for us at her desk (and in a Spartan helmet no less) is Erica. Erica is the Assistant Visual Display Designer, which means she gets to help design
the displays that go in all the Free People stores.
It also means that her desk has many interesting objects to look at,
both related to her display work as well as personal items.
This is Erica's favorite area of her desk.
The two young ladies pictured are her best friends hamming it up
on vacation in Daytona Beach. Happy times.
This is my favorite area of Erica's desk.
When asked of the shoes she tells us:
"a wealthy older woman was giving away piles of clothes and such and
apparently didn't realize what a great find these shoes were!"
The shoes are sadly too fragile to be worn. But great to look at!
And the radio? Made of PAPER! It was picked up in Hong Kong.
Paper objects like these are made for funerals, to be burnt up as a means of
allowing the dead to take the objects with them to the afterlife.
Tune in next time for another fun look at an employee desk!
I was actually on the hunt for an English Bulldog, but came upon Rosie and loved her immediately! I wanted a female dog I could name Rosie Ruby, and when I saw her, she looked like a Rosie Ruby to me. She is my first dog and she is a handful! But she's very sweet and good protection since I live alone.
Name: Rosie Ruby
Nick names: Rosie Monster, Rosie Posie, The Beast, Poop face!
Breed: American Bulldog
Likes: Everyone, squeaky toys, digging up the flowers in my yard, taking over the whole bed, and a good belly rub.
Dislikes: People with there hoods up. Boxes, mannequins, and ceiling fans are scary!!
Favorite friends: Indi, Brownie, Baxter and Keegan
Last week was Mill Week. Once a year we invite all of our fabric mills to visit the office so they can get a better sense of what FP is all about, meet with the designers and production team, and take a look at what we are working on. One of our vendors brought a donut tape dispenser, and our designers kind of loved it. Our vendor said she would send one from China, but when the knits team opened the box, she had sent a whole bunch!
So the knits team had a fake donut party. They are easily amused.
A few people asked how they can buy the FP tutus from the photo I posted. We do not have them for sale, but Luren from the display team has some tips.
To make these tutus, Luren used camisoles from past FP collections and petticoats she found on the internet. But you can make your own!
It's easy to make a tutu: just find a color range of tulle and netting at your local fabric store and a thick band of elastic. If you have a sewing machine you can sew tiers of tulle onto the elastic band in a pleat-y way, folding an inch of the tulle under itself and sewing that inch, then folding more tulle under and sewing that inch so you're making pleat after pleat after pleat right on the elastic band.
You can make several tiers of pleated tulle on a thick elastic band. Then you can add little bands of pleated tulle onto the bottom of the layers of tulle for extra bulk. We layered bright colors under pastel colors so that when you saw the tutus from below you got a special surprise pop of color.
Then we sewed them to Free People camisoles. The effect of this can be achieved with your homemade tutu or any tutu you can find at a thrift store or a dance shop. Most dance shops carry the donut style tutu (really big and thick around the waist) and the more relaxed skirt-y tutu. You can just pin the tutu to the bottom of the camisole all around and then use a needle and thread to whip stitch them together.
So, no one in the home office dresses alike or wears the same outfit-ever. However, one thing we all can agree on is how much we love the We The Free line.
We noticed how popular the sweatshirts and tees were in the home office so we started to document everyone rocking their WTF.
Some thoughts from the home office:
“It feels good. It looks good….I never want to take it off!”
“If you are rushing in the morning and you don’t know what to wear..you can throw on your We The Free and you are good to go!”
“The pockets on the pullover sweatshirt rule…. I’ve never felt this way about a sweatshirt before. For reals.”
“It’s great to wear everyday. Its super comfy and I get lots of compliments when I wear it...”
Meet Indiana Jones. Indie is a sweet boy who plays nicely with all of the other Free People dogs and comes to work almost every day.
Indie belongs to Erin, who is the Associate Designer for Prints and Colors. This means that Erin and Indie work on the print artwork for all Free People apparel. They also help to choose and name the colors for each item for every season. So if you love the print on your favorite Free People dress or shirt, chances are Indie and Erin had something to do with it.
Name: Indiana Jones
Nickname: Indie, Monster, Dr. Jones
Breed: Catahoula Leopard mix (seriously, it’s a real dog. If you don't believe me, look up the state dog of Louisiana)
Likes: Running, running, and running.
Dislikes: People who step on his tail, people who take his trashcan, and mailmen (of course)
Favorite friends: He has an awful lot of friends, but I think his favorites are probably Rosie (an American Bull Dog), Keegan (a Black Lab), Dave (Manager of Free People Direct) and Mary Ellen (Senior Designer for Color and Prints.)
How did you meet Indie: We rescued him from a shelter in Philadelphia. I just wanted to pet him, because he looked so cute and I ended up taking him home :)
Anything else you want to share: Indie loves working at FP! Sometimes when we leave at night he won't get in the car! He just keeps running back to the front doors!
Courtney and Lizzy made some beautiful marbled papers for our "trend walls." As the designers are developing a trend, they designate a wall in the hallway where they post all kinds of inspirational images, artwork, magazine tears, trims, etc. You'll have to wait a few months to see what comes of the trend with the marbled colors... The painting sure looks like fun though!
Here are some of the supplies and tips:
Paper was from Pearl Paint
Big white tub was from Ikea
The marbling kit was from Pearl too.
Innovative Marbling Suminagashi Dye Ink Set:
6 colors, in 12 ml. tubes and it comes with instructions!!
The girls put a little baby oil (does not come in the set) in the water too, just to make it more interesting. Wherever the oil is, the paper will remain white.
Check out the comments from an expert marbler for some more tips...
*How long have you worked at Free People? Close to 2 years
*Tell me about your job: I draw on the walls at the new Free People stores during the openings, mostly in the fitting rooms. I design the seasonal visual display that goes to all the stores with my team, which means looking everywhere for inspiration, shopping in thrift stores, trying things out here in our studio, and seeing through production of anything that we make overseas. And I work on the designs for the packaging (the fabric shopping bags you get when you buy clothes at a Free People store).
*What do you like best about working at FP? I get a lot of creative freedom and responsibility, which is exciting because we get to be the face of the retail side of the brand--the part that people see when they're wandering down the street or shopping in the mall. We get to make really inspirational, special setups in the store that get people using their imaginations and staying in the stores to look at everything we did to make it special, and that gets them to look at the amazing clothes!
Tell me about your dog. I LOVE ALL DOGS. But I can't have my own because I travel all the time for work and to explore the world. So I get to love all the dogs around the Navy Yard, without getting to spoil just one with all my attention. But IDA lives in my house, so she's my most favorite!
What do you do when not at work? I design textiles, run a gallery and a gallery store which sells artist-made products with some friends, tie-dye old clothes in my yard, cook, grow vegetables in my garden, draw, travel, and I just wrote a book about screenprinting at home called Print Liberation .
What do you like best about Philly? I love Philadelphia. It's a really easy place to do your own thing. You're not in the world spotlight like you are in cities like NYC and LA so the pressure is off and people get to dig their heels in the ground and do what they feel passionate about. Which means people are more real and more straightforward. It's cheap, so your life isn't on the line if you screw up. People are hardworking and inspired.
Check out this amazing beagle birthday cake that Jill (the Training Manager at the Customer Service Call Center) received for her birthday. It was actually made by her husband Pablo, who works in the South Carolina fulfillment center where all Free People orders are shipped from. Pretty impressive. The design was likely inspired by Pablo and Jill’s dog Baylee, who they found roaming around the woods near the South Carolina facility. The beagle and doghouse are made of marshmallows!
I know you've met some of the home office pets in the past (see here and here) but it's been a while. There are some new faces and they want some attention!
Jack was a rescue dog from Morris Animal Shelter in Philadelphia. Word was that he was poisoned at the age of 4 months and left to die. Poor Jack was put on hold and rejected 4 times by different families for being “too hyper.” Jack eventually found a home with Kelly, our Wholesale customer service rep. She knew he was the dog for her when she took him out to the shelter yard to play and he promptly nipped her on her behind.
Jack now lives in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia with Kelly and her family and likes to come to work on a regular basis.
Name: Jack the dog
Nickname: Just Jack, Jackalope, Jack-a-saurus Rex, Bins, Jackson
Breed: Terrier/Boxer/something very soft
Likes: Girls and raw meat. Flashlights shone on the ceiling
Dislikes: Feral cats and robbers
Favorite friends: Free People Direct girls and Indie pup (one of the other FP office dogs)… Lauren from Wholesale is his real girlfriend
Kelly says: He is the greatest puppers ever. I *heart* him
Here is one more mix CD from the Urban Outfitters Home Office Swap. This was made by Meredith, the Allocation Analyst for the Free People stores! (If you're wondering what that means, Meredith figures out how many units of each size and color of a style get shipped to each store. She analyzes all kinds of info like what was sold the year before, how similar styles are selling currently, etc)
A note from Meredith:
"It's called I'm With Cupid. Geddit...
I was talking with a friend this week with whom I often exchange mix cds and was asked how I usually pick my songs. I think most of the time I pick a song because it's the music that's emotive to me, not necessarily the sentiment. But when it comes to finding songs for Valentines I see-saw the other way around, and each of these songs kind of pull on my heartstrings. One of my favourite things about love songs is how one time you listen to them and think "AH! This is how I feel and isn't so wonderful!" and then a week later return to it thinking "LOVE! THE MISERY!" "
The Moth & Aimee Mann
It Could Be Sweet & Portishead
Soul Food & Martina Topley-Bird
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) & Nina Simone
Your Love Gets Sweeter & Finley Quaye
Apple of my eye & Ed Harcourt
(There Is) No Greater Love & Amy Winehouse
Sweet Song & Blur
All Or Nothing & Pauline Taylor
You Know So Well & Sondre Lerche
Hills & Thao Nguyen
You Do Something To Me & Paul Weller
Tomorrow on the Runway & Innocence Mission
To Be Around You (Part 1+2) & Obi
Chicago (Acoustic) & Sufjan Stevens
Munich - (Editor's Cover) & Corinne Bailey Rae
I've got you & New Buffalo
What If We Do & Mia Doi Todd
When I'm Thinking About You & The Sundays
Here is Heather's mix for the Urban Outfitters Home Office Vday mix CD swap. She is the Free People Direct Operations Manager. Message from Heather...
"Here’s my play list for the Valentines CD Exchange. One requirement for inclusion was that all songs had to be “old enough to drink” so all of the tracks are at least 21 years old. (Actually I am only *pretty* sure this is true-so I could get busted by music nerds.) I wanted to include all of my favorite types of music, so I included classic reggae, soul, ska, country, punk etc. The tracks are all related to love in some way, whether it is unrequited love, anti-love, weird horror love, cheeky love, misbegotten love, magical love… etc. etc"
Ten Commandments (From: Man To Woman): Prince Buster
Tramp: Otis Redding & Carla Thomas
Papa Don't Take No Mess: James Brown
Big Eight: Judge Dread
Tears of a Clown: The English Beat
Cocaine Blues (Live): Johnny Cash
Rebel Rebel: David Bowie
Pirate Love: Johnny Thunders
Hand in Glove: The Smiths (featuring Sandie Shaw)
Magic Man: Heart
Looking at You: MC5
Skulls: The Misfits
Smother Love: Crass
Steppin' Stone: Minor Threat
Storm in My House: Minutemen
Rocket Queen: Guns N' Roses
Urban Outfitters organized a Valentine Mix CD Swap here among home office employees across the three brands (Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People). Over the next two weeks, I'm going to feature some of the mixes made by people in the FP home office.
This is the first mix made by Kelly. She works in the Wholesale Customer Service Department. Her mix is called B-Mine, love songs by artists with the letter B. Here's her playlist...
Heaven is a place on earth Belinda Carlisle
Boys Britney Spears
Crimson and clover Blondie
Venus as a boy Bjork
Two of us Beatles
I want you Bob Dylan
I send my love to you Bonnie Prince Billy
Promise Butch Walker
Change of heart Beck
Shot through the heart Bon Jovi
Cradle of love Billy Idol
Orgasm addict Buzzcocks
Who was in my room Butthole Surfers
Girls Beastie Boys
Just a friend Biz Markie
Don't phunk with my heart Black Eyed Peas
We received a lot of comments about the wall of shoes behind the "twins" so I thought we'd give you a closer look. These are just old shoes from thrift shops attacked by our display team with glitter and craft supplies.
There were a bunch of people in the home office yesterday that were wearing very similar outfits. Everybody found their twin and posed for a little photoshoot.
Today the Free People design team received the sales samples for the end of summer and fall. This is the first time the designers see their creations as they will look when you see them at the store. This is after a long process of hand made samples, drawings, fittings and revisions. Still ahead there will be meetings with even more revisions and changes to get down to the most amazing pieces for the final line. Hope you like them just as much as our designers do when they hit the stores!
I'm sure you all have Halloween candy on your minds, but there is a different kind of candy spirit going on here. The Free People elves have been working hard to prepare for our holiday store displays. Here are some pictures of the progress of the gingerbread houses being made here in the office. Lots of girls from diffferent departments have stopped by and are helping out the display team since everyone is swamped in holiday spirit! Take a peek at the festive beautiful houses, and the candy that abounds as supplies.
The accessories designers have been the number one culprits in stealing candy. Since they're accessories designers, the display team told them it would be like them coming over and eating their sequins, sparkle trims and Ipod holders. They still have a sweet tooth though.
More to come as the holdiay displays get installed in the stores!
The accessories girls sent me these funny pictures. Believe it or not, these were used to make samples of accessories coming to a store near you. Enormous bags of glitter and a Mama Cass dress. They used the dress to line ipod cozies!
One of our designers picked up these amazing dyes in Morocco. The purple one is from a particular stone found in the Atlas Mountains, and the blue one is true indigo. Beats RIT dye! The colors are so vivid...
I posted the video of our first Urban Outfitters Inc. art installation a little while back (check it out here).
The latest artist exhibiting in Building 543 (the Urban Inc. common building hosting our restaurant, book shop, gym, etc) is also a Free People girl. Luren works on our display team and is an amazing artist in her free time.
This installation was originally titled "One Wall is an Edge." It addresses the idea of creating a nomadic but holistic environment for yourself to move in. The yurt is a nomadic shelter, meant to be put up in a few hours, made hospitable, lived in, and deconstructed to move to a different place. The painted backdrop completes the illusion of creating a new environment for the yurt dweller. This is a fantasy place for being far away while grounded in a common routine. It is an escape to an exoticized space, yet it is made of common materials around us all the time: plastic, PVC, zip ties, canvas and wood. Decontextualized from its usual location on the planes of Central Asia, the yurt and its landscape act as an object of escapism and as a space for contemplation and surprise.
A little about Luren... She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with the department of Textile Design. She has been working within the scale of environment creation through interior design and textile design, as well as installation. Her interests in the decorative arts lie mainly in the intersection of the surreal and the conventional. She is currently living and working in Philadelphia with Free People making artwork for new stores and designing seasonal displays.
So we received this anonymous comment on one of the August catalog postings...
"I think you guys should do a write up in the blog on how to tie scarves! There are so many new beautiful scarves in stock now and there put on the models in such a neat way, I would love to know how its done."
What a great idea! Some girls from our creative team made this little video for you, with one of our web stylists showin how it's done. Enjoy!
I managed to get a hold of some more pictures of our new showroom to share with you. The visual/display team adorned the walls with tons of artwork, similar to the way they do the fitting rooms in all the Free People stores.
The way they work is they gather inspiration and ideas and make some sketches. The designs are all roughly planned out before they attack a wall. But then the scale is enlarged and each piece is hand drawn or painted, so each one comes out a little bit special. Here are some photos of the finished pieces!
The Free People display team is in the process of decorating our new New York showroom. The showroom is where we sell to all the other stores that sell Free People. We display all of our upcoming collections there and the girls in the showroom work with the buyers of each store to choose the best styles for their particular customers and locations.
So here's a few shots of the supplies and process. I'll try to get some photos for you of the finished showroom too!
Just wanted to share a few photos I snapped in the display team's workshop. Doesn't that first picture look like the most girly hardware store you've ever seen? So out of all this madness comes our beautiful displays. Our fall store displays are being installed now, so I'll get you some photos and the inside scoop later this week!
We get a million girls asking how we cast our models. Well here it is, from our team that holds the castings...
about every 2 or 3 months, we at free people host a model casting to check out new faces for our upcoming web and catalog shoots. we start by contacting modeling agencies - usually based in new york - and ask them to send girls to our showroom.
then, for anywhere from 4 to 6 hours on a given day, we'll sit and meet with whoever visits.
the girls (and once in a while, guys) bring their comp cards for us to view...these cards usually show 4 or 5 photos, along with the models' measurements, contact info for the agency who represents them, etc.
and then we'll flip through their portfolios...
it gives us a chance to see their versatility, how they've been styled in the past, what magazines they've appeared in...
and then we'll snap a few pix of our own, which we usually take back to philadelphia and look at with our bosses before deciding who we want to hire!
we get a lot of emails from folks who want to model for us...
we love your enthusiasm to work with free people! but, please know that we use only models from those agencies who we've contacted.
if you're interested in modeling, feel free to contact a local agency; or, look some up in the bigger cities - new york, los angeles, miami - and they can help you get started!
Urban Outfitters Inc. has a building called 543 in the Navy Yard that is the center of employee life. This building is shared by the three brands and is also open to the public. 543 houses our restaurant/cafeteria, gym, yoga studio, coffee shop, and magazine shop among other things. Since it is a space the employees visit so often, we thought it would be a great place to set up an art gallery to display the artwork or collections of the employees. Our company is filled with creative people and we want to showcase all of their hidden talents...
So to kick it off, Free People employee Kris Chau set up a show of her art work with her best friend Brielle. You might recognize Chau's style from a few illustrations that have been posted on the blog. Check out the video of Kris and Brielle and the gallery opening, and Kris Chau's website!!
Meet Kit Yee. She works for one of the factories we work with in Hong Kong and visited our office last week...
It was an awesome opportunity to get to know each other, and to work
hand-in-hand with our designers and production team.
She saw a lot of Philadelphia during her stay, including a visit to Franklin Fountain on Market St. She loved the egg cream!
Here's a little message Kit Yee sent us...
6/23 3pm: I am on the flight CO099 way back to home
6/24 8pm: 15 hrs later, I am in HK international airport
Can¹t believe 5 days is just like a flash, remember all the nice and cool
people I met in Free People office, the tasty ice cream I have had, the cool
hair cut, and the surprise birthday party for Carrie!! (correct me if I
spell your name wrong. TKS!)
Haha! Seems I just have fun in Philly though I did. I need to mention
something about my hard work here!
This is really my pleasure to have chance work with all FP people in Philly.
Thanks everybody for providing me such memorable experience and especially
Lorie, Doub and my boss Andy and Joey help to arrange this wonderful trip
for me!
Hope to have chance to see you all in HK!
Last week, the Free People display team, the merchandisers, and the retail teams were all busy setting up our new store in Greenwich, Connecticut! You should definitely go visit the store and see how it came out, but here are some "behind the scenes" of the preparation.
The above photos are of the finished art in the fitting rooms. The display team hand paints, draws, stencils something unique in each room. Don't they look amazing???
And here we have the transportation of the giant yarn balls. Looks like a comfy ride...
This is the first Free People store to have this cool new cash-wrap. (Don't mind the mess, remember this was from setting up the store) The little windows are filled with treasures found in Hong Kong. Some have flowers, stationary, and other crazy sparkly Chinese decorations. One of our sweater designers, Amy, lives in Hong Kong and she found all of these incredible bits for us. She said she sourced them in these tiny hole-in-the-wall shops and alley ways. She had lots of fun finding them and it was so different from working on the sweaters. Thanks to Amy, the cash-wrap looks awesome! Go check out the store for yourself!
Lots of people ask about the history of Free People, how the brand was started, about the relationship with Urban Outfitters, etc. Well, now we have posted our story on our website for all to read. Check it out here!
We had a baby shower last week for our Planner (she figures out how much we need to buy of each style, what stores to send which styles, she manages all the numbers). All of her coworkers from the buying and web teams made her these adorable onesies! They have heat transfer graphics and are hand dyed. So cute, right!
Our web team was working on a photoshoot with new product for our website, so I made a visit and took some random photos. Here we see hair & makeup...
I'm sure you've noticed our latest backgrounds that look like photographs, and sometimes they look so real you'd think they shot on location. Well here's a photo of just the backdrop. Our creative assistant discovered how to make these in Illustrator. She tiles out a photo and then prints each piece on a regular color printer. Then you put all the sheets together like a puzzle. Looks awesome right? Check out them out on our website.
Another background, a personal afghan belonging to one of the girls on our display team.
And just a silly candid of our photographer (part of the Cracker Farm team) and the two FP girls that make all the webshoots happen...
Our accessories designer has just returned from a month of travelling in India and Hong Kong. She brought back all of these amazing trims and ribbons to use for inspiration. They all looked so great together, so her team made this cool display and hung them on the wall in their office. Don't you just love the huge pompoms?
I was deleting photos on my camera and found these shots I took at a trend meeting last year. This is when the designers were first starting to think about the India and Africa trends that have been our past two design concepts. Everyone on the design team brought in inspiration that related to the themes. Some brought fabrics, some vintage garments, magazine tears, accessories picked up on travels... Someone even brought in some paintings they did while in school! This is just the start of the long development processs they go through when working out new concepts. Thought you'd like to see a little peek!
So there were seriously eight different FP employees in the home office yesterday wearing blue and white stripes. How ridiculous is that? And yes, we have an FP man! He merchandises the stores!
And about the swap...
There are just under 200 people signed up! woohoo! Thanks to all you bloggers that spread the word! So I'm gonna match up partners and email you info. There are about 10 people that didn't leave me your email address! If your name is listed, (I left out your last name for security or whatever) please comment with your email. I won't post the comments... This is gonna be fun.
Laura P
Cody F (male swapper! woohoo! he did the vday swap and the poor guy received a necklace, so this time I'll let his partner know he's an FP man...)
suzi b
Jessica G
Crystal-Ann K
Rachelle C
Natalie S
Claire B
Patrina F
Reethi J
Helen H
Heather R
This is the desk of Heather. She is the Free People Direct Operations Supervisor. She works in the home office and oversees the distribution center and customer service concerns that require the above and beyond. She likes to keep her stuffed creatures in a jar.
Most of these little Mexican icons were gifts bought at the Eyes Gallery on South Street in Philly. The last piece on the right was a college art project titled "Good Girls & Bad Girls".
And Heather's in a scooter club. I use to wonder why she came into work in the morning wearing a helmet...
I promised to share a couple of books that were really inspiring to the creative team while working on April's catalog. The first is called "Zara's Tales" , a memoir about Peter Beard's adventures in Africa and dedicated to his daughter, Zara. Beard's beautiful photography and drawings are scattered throughout.
The second is called "The Jouney is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon". Dan was an accomplished photo journalist by the age of 22 and was also a fantastic artist, combining collage techniques with his amazing photographs. This book was compiled from several scrap books he kept and his family assembled after his tragic death at 22, when Dan Eldon was working in extremely dangerous conditions in Mogadishu. A truly inspiring man of passion and talent. I recommend you check out this website "An Electronic Revolution" inspired by his life and work.
This is Kate's desk. Kate is the Web Production Manager. That means she makes the website go. She is the keeper of all things website related. One of Kate's favorite objects on her desk is this Hawaii "snowglobe" that doubles as a calendar. This is not to remind her of a fabulous time she had on vacation. She actually received it as a gift from a friend that got it at an Urban Outfitters sample sale.
Kate also loves this mug. Her college roommate moved out and forgot to bring it along. Who's the #1 Jerk now???
Thought I'd give you guys the inside scoop...Free People is looking for creative talent for intimates design and accessories. Wanna work for Free People? Apply online here.
P.S. Keep in mind we are based in Philadelphia.
The new store display was designed around 3 different materials: a mix of bamboo, cotton rope, and grass mats. The grass mats are from India and made of strips of bamboo. The patterns were inspired by fabrics our Visual Director bought in Tanzinia on a safari and some fabrics the accessories team designed with. The display team reinterpreted the prints into these big crazy versions and hand painted the mats.
The rope was ordered in bulk (72,000 feet!) and half was hand dyed by the display team in their workspace. You should see the floor now, it's turned green from all the dyeing! They got smart and had the other half professionally dyed by a company in Philly.
They had the bamboo delivered from India, and when it arrived it was totally covered in mold! The display team hand bleached and scrubbed every piece. These girls work hard for their displays...
And they get thirsty while they work, so don't mind the mess. But their work totally pays off, right? It looks so beautiful.
Cassie is 12 years old and a huge fan of Free People. Lucky for her, she also happens to be the cousin of our Art Director, Doub, who welcomed her to spend a day with the FP design team. Check out how talented she is! Using bits of things around the office for inspiration, her ideas started flowing. These are just a few... Doub better watch out, Cassie might take over!
I mentioned how friends and gifts seemed to be major themes for the FP crew when it comes to their workspace. These objects are favorites of Elsa, the Free People Direct Assistant Image Coordinator. That means she works on the creative team for the website, coordinating the photographers, the models, the photos, etc.
The picture above is a gift from a Free People employee. Elsa uses it to store her business cards. The dog is chalkware, a common object in the 1930's given away as prizes at the circus and carnivals.
She also keeps these goggles that were a gift brought back from Tibet. They were supposedly used for climbing mountains.
And the best part is, they fold up into this amazing little leather case!
This week's employee desk is that of Ana, our Design Manager. She helps to oversee the entire design team and the direction of each collection. Ana likes to surround herself with photos of her children. She says, when you work crazy hours like she does, it's important to keep her family close.
Two of our Free People designers were just in India vistiting one of our factories. Our friends at the factory prepared a special Holi celebration for them, as they were leaving the country on the day of Holi. This is known as the "festival of colors" celebrating the start of Spring as well as marking ancient religious events. As they dance, they cover each other in colored powders, symbolically letting go of their differences while they wash each other in this color. So check out the video, it looks like the girls had an incredible experience!
On a side note, you'll see a lot more info about India in the next week. Who's ready for the new FP catalog?
So this is the desk of our lovely accessories intern, Callie. Notice any theme in her photos? She seems to be stuck on the color orange, right down to her fingernails. She believes it's because she was sick and was thinking of vitamin C. Look out, Callie's orange crochet might end up on some piece of Free People accessory wonder.
I thought it might be fun to give a little "sneak peek" inside the Free People home office by showing you some of the workspaces of our employees. Everyone has made their spaces so personalized, and in visiting many of the desks around the office, I definitely noticed a trend. So many people surround themselves with gifts from friends. The friends we make here at work are cherished relationships. So you'll definitely see lots of silly presents...
So this is Maura's desk and she is the creative assistant. She likes to surround herself with things that make her happy at work.
One of her favorite thing is one of those wobbly bugs a coworker brought back as a gift from Mexico.
And she has lots of Free People artwork gone awry. She works closely with our graphic designer, and ends up accumulating some of the mishaps. Does this look familiar from this Holiday??
There was a very strong scent in the halls of the home office the other day. It smelled of the lovely scent of a Free People store, but times 1000!
Ever wonder what that lovely scent is? The display team makes these little sachets out of muslin. The scent is a pot pourri of dried flowers and herbs. They are tucked away in hidden corners of the stores. It was time to replace them in some of the stores, so the girls had tons of the pot pourri and were hand tying each little bundle. So now you know...
Wanted to point out how great these illustrations are. One of our designers/ incredible illustrators drew these babes to express our Pool Party trend. We used them internally for wholesale lookbooks, and then our web team worked them into the website as well. The look so very Pool Party against the vintage floral prints. My favorite is the girl on her side with her tiny belly. Check em out on the web here.
A reader commented and pointed us to the strange similarity between Food & Wine's latest issue and a photo we posted about the Free People lunch club. It's really kind of bizarre. I can't believe she made the connection! Check out her blog.
