As a full time leather artisan in Crafune, I was able to learn and gain a lot of knowledge and skills.

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Conducting Workshops for all ages

Passionate in the art of leather crafting, it had become a daily goal of mine to engage customers in a unique leather crafting experience, regardless of their age. It brings me delight when customers are able to bring home their handmade leather goods - not only a product, but a memory that can last a lifetime. Being able to teach children leather crafting through our junior workshops (where children design their own pouches) has been my greatest pleasure as I could step out of the daily momentum and bring their designs to life!

 

I have also helped with the liaising, planning of the flow and hosting of virtual, onsite and offsite leather crafting workshops for corporate clients from major corporations such as BMW, Sony, Dyson, McDonald's, MOE, Grab and more!​

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Design and Innovation

As a leather artisan with a background in product design, I am also tasked to design and develop new in-house workshops by analysing market trends, doing user research and looking out for gaps in the leathercrafting workshop industry. Through steps and processes of prototyping and refinement, we are able to come up with designs that are not only manageable for a beginner, and can be completed within a day, but also aesthetically pleasing. 

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One of the workshop products that I designed was the Kimi Phone Bag Workshop. The idea of the design came to me when I saw that many of the customers who were coming in were wearing phone cases with cords, which dawned on me that in a progressively cashless society like Singapore, people do not need to carry bulky purses or slings, they just need one that can put their phone in and 1 or 2 cards. Furthermore, I was receiving many requests from customers to learn saddle stitching, but they wanted to make a bag, which at that time we did not have the option. Hence, adding the saddle stitching element to Kimi Phone Bag was a consideration, while keeping in mind the property of the leather and the duration of the workshop (which was to be under 4 hours). Through many stages of prototyping, refining and getting feedback from the team and customers, Kimi Phone Bag was formed in Dec 2021 and has generated over $7k in sales within the first 6 months of launch, and becoming the top-selling bag in the Knotty collection. 

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Colour and branding was also an important aspect as it affects more than just the products but how the brand appears too! I was tasked to design the packaging and name cards according to the identity of the brand.

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As a designer, it is important to practise empathy and effective communication to understand clients' needs, to bring their ideas to life (while considering limitations of the property of leather and other factors). This allows me to create bespoke designs for products and workshops that could last them a lifetime. These skills have also come in handy when fellow hobbyists come in to purchase tools and materials with only the idea they have in mind, as I could guide them to purchase what they really need and should use to achieve their desired designs!

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Design Engineering and DFMA 

Using industrial grade machinery, I was also able to mass produce leather goods within the shop. For bigger projects which we are unable to do in-house, I will use AutoCAD software to create new leather products, while considering ease of manufacturability of products and limitations of leather. Material tests on leather and interlinings will also be conducted, to better use them.​

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Marketing

I assisted in the collaboration with partners from various online travel agencies (i.e. Klook, Ctrip, Pelago), e-commerce platforms and other organisations to run events and promotions, designing EDMS and collaterals for their marketing campaigns. I also helped with managing the Shopify webpage, with product photography and copywriting of some content. I created informative and interactive newsletters about collaborative workshops and sent them out to clients via MailChimp.

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Other Duties

I would, too, assist in the sales, procurement and inventory of leather, tools, products, accessories and materials. I would assist in Point of Sales for physical store, as well as sending out invoices and quotations to clients and suppliers.