Designer Q&A with Ana Maria Escobar, Oroton Creative Director

Can you tell us a bit about your career and how you became Oroton’s Creative Director?
I studied a bachelor of Industrial Design in Colombia, South America, and following this fashion and textile design at UTS. On the day of my graduation I was already part of the design team at OROTON as and assistant designer…I love accessories and always thought they were the perfect combination of my two degrees. I call them “objects of fashion”.

What’s a normal day like for you?
I start early as I love having some time in the morning reading e mails and getting ready for the day….Depending on the day of the week I’m either designing, visiting stores, choosing colours or working with the team in our new season. I’m very hand on, so I do everything from opening boxes of new season samples, to discussed best and slow sellers, to working on creative windows for our stores.

What is the process for creating a new bag? Does it start with an inspiration and how long from design to production?
It definitely starts with inspiration, colour and the theme of the season. Current season trends also play a key role like studs, or patent etc. A bag has many stages, from functional detail to quality control, to how the leather will be cut. We work with natural materials so its really important we do a lot of testing before getting our bags made.
Normally our bags take 6 months from design to being in-store so we are currently finishing our SS10 collection.

How did the idea to open up the design studio come about?
We are always thinking about our customer and about ways we can make them part of our process. Our customers love to know how our bags are made and were they come from.  Every bag we design we keep a sample of. Some bags make it to the store but some remain in our studio so we can develop them further or save them for future collections.
So we all put our thinking caps on and came up with The Studio idea. It’s a way that our customers can access limited edition product that has a story. Our customers have definitely responded well to it with some bags selling out in under 24 hours. They love to knowing their bags are one of a kind and we are happy for them to own or be part of our creative journey.

Some of the bags are one off creations – what is the story behind some of these?
We have lots of bags in the studio, like the alvar ruffle, our current best seller for Summer 09. We had this bag made in all different colours and of course we couldn’t have them all in our stores.  We never made the tan and Oleander…so they were sitting in my studio We popped them online and they sold out within 2 days!
Also the mesh barrel bag – I had this bag made in snake print leather as a prototype for our 70th anniversary. We could only choose one for our stores which was a version made in plain calf leather. So the snake print sample remained on my shelf. Needless to say it didn’t take long before it disappeared from The Studio.

How do you think online shopping has impacted Oroton?
A lot, it’s amazing what a web site can do.  It allows us to connect with our customers one to one and determine what they like or don’t like, how they react to what we show them or invite them to enjoy. Also the design team love sharing more of the design process with customers, our theme of the season inspiration, campaigns, behind the scenes footage from photo shoots etc. It’s a whole new world were we can have talk to the customer and react fast to what they want to see and discover how much they love our brand.

What are you key three pieces for this summer?
Mesh, every girl has to have a touch of mesh for this season (like the posy bag).  The fiori cross body mini bag – I love this bag, it’s so chic and fresh, and comes in beautiful colours. And the Roche wallet in a bright beautiful colour, it’s always great to add some fun to your accessories.

What’s next for Oroton in 2010?
So much to tell but I can’t…….there’s lots happening, a new beautiful collection with amazing pieces, Knitwear, shoes, jewellery…..also an amazing campaign we just shot today in New York. I’m loving it…

What are you hoping for under the tree this Christmas?
Lots of love and time with my family…( and of course lots and lots of new accessories) …