Repeating herself is all in a day’s work
Dianne le Roux is a product manager and designer at Da Gama Textiles. She tells Margaret Harris that her portfolio of paintings helped her get taken on by the fabric company, where she has since worked for over 30 years
I create and develop new designs and ranges for Da Gama and a wide range of customers, including Coricraft furniture manufacturer, decor experts Pres Les, Hertex, Romo South Africa, and household names such as Biggie Best and Skinny laMinx, to name a few.
Why did you choose to become a textile designer?
I was working in a bank and I didn’t enjoy it.
I wasn’t keen on working with figures and money.
I was more artistically inclined. I had studied art as a subject at school and after school. I was doing a fine art diploma, but ran out of money.
A friend of mine was working at Da Gama Textiles as a textile designer and I asked her to ask her boss if he’d give me a job.
He called me in for an interview and I was given a job on the strength of my portfolio. I had done a lot of paintings, mainly florals. That was 32 years ago.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
When I was really young I wanted to be a teacher. I suppose many little girls think they want to be teachers.
It is very rewarding to convert a customer’s idea to fabric
Then I started drawing and teachers said to me I should study botany because I was good at drawing flowers. Funnily enough, my daughter excelled at botany at university.
But I have always enjoyed art, since primary school. I used to love drawing during the school holidays.
I picked flowers in the garden, put them in a vase and drew still lifes.
Also, since I was a little girl I have loved beautiful fabrics. I remember finding a lovely piece of cloth when I was in Sub A (Grade 1) and being so enchanted with it. I turned it into a dress for my doll. I still collect fabrics.
Where does your inspiration for new designs come from?
From whatever is hip and happening around me in everyday life and from visiting shops and trade fairs overseas. Also, from what is happening here culturally. You pick up what people want and sense what people are looking for in terms of design.
Take me through the process of coming up with a new textile design.
I prefer painting a design from scratch, using gouache and a paint brush. Designs are either hand-painted or created on computer according to our customers’ specific requirements, then sent to our computer-aided design studio for colour separations to be done.
Then the design is engraved into the number of screens required for that design, depending on the number of colours.
Once on screen, a small trial of the design called a “strike off” is printed to check the engraving mark, which is to make sure the engraving is correct, and to get the colours correct.
Thereafter, if approved, it goes into bulk printing.
What would you do if you could not do this work?
I love my job. It evolves constantly; it never stays the same.
But if I really had to do something different, I would start a small business with the help of local crafters to create sustainable employment and uplift people. I would use a variety of carefully selected media, materials and techniques to create a distinct aesthetic infused with personality and elements of our heritage and which has longevity.
We would make beautiful, handcrafted items, such as hand-painted scatter cushions with buttons and crocheted flowers. It would have to be something labour-intensive that would help to create jobs. I see so many creative people who don’t have jobs and this would create employment.
What part of your job would you like to outsource to someone else?
Paperwork and filing.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
It is very rewarding to create new ideas or convert a customer’s idea from paper to fabric.
Getting positive feedback from customers is my “fix” or “adrenaline”.
This is what keeps me motivated and inspired.
Ultimately, good design should not only affect the lives of our customers and their clients, but the printer and designer too, inspiring them and making them proud.