| Morena Guzman-McKeever
Alpharetta, Georgia
I play with toys all day. My job is to design the fabrics for plush toys, bouncers, swings, play yards, and play gyms. The company I work for is called Kids II. The corporate headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia. I have a lot of fun designing because I have to experiment with colors and textures. My cubicle is surrounded with images from magazines, catalogs, fabric samples, textile shows, and design publications of every class. I am constantly doing patterns, and I need a lot of visual stimulation, so I place colors and textures in the area around my computer screen. On my desk, there is an area for the catalogs and materials that I am always tracking from China with color samples and chips of colors that we need to match. Patterns are born from trend and color research; from there, I sketch by hand and produce a lot of drawing without color for the designers to select for every collection. My favorite thing in the studio is designing to make babies happy. Before we pick a pattern we do an extensive selection and conceptualization. Designing for a toy company is a very fast-paced job. I will be having more than sixty patterns in production for next year.
| |
Morena Guzman-McKeever, Pink collection, 2006; cotton/suede; computer-pattern design. Photo: Morena Guzman-McKeever. |
Website: www.kidsii.com |
