JohnBarton Posted March 8, 2010 Report Posted March 8, 2010 What do you do when you want to change the world but you are stuck? I currently have a style of case that I am working on and I have done 20 new versions of the interior and yesterday I scrapped all of them and am undecided as to which direction to go. I have committed to the project and committed the cardinal sin of cutting the leather and doing custom inlays on it - real ostrich, the expensive kind, before making the (supposed to be no brainer) interior. Now I am really stuck and don't know which way to go. I don't know if I should just go the conventional route which is what I was wanting to get away from because I feel that it's inefficient and taking the easy way out, or should I keep pursuing my vision of how to build this case even though the project is way overdue? The customer has shown incredible patience and I of course bragged about how I would do it so much better than the competition. :-) So now I don't want to have to eat crow and build it to be essentially similar to the competition (not a copy as everyone does it this way, including me on our lower end production models). Help? Quote
Ambassador abn Posted March 8, 2010 Ambassador Report Posted March 8, 2010 John, I've found it's sometimes easier to make gradual improvements over time than to "start from scratch" with a radical new design -- just for the sake of being creative. As an example, I decided two months ago to redo my wallet design. There were elements I wasn't happy with, and decided I'd like to start from a blank slate. Man, I must have mocked up a half-dozen prototype interiors in paper and leather before I gave up on "blank slate." I actually went back to the basic design I'd been using for five years and identified 6 or 7 things I'd like to do differently. I recently finished the first prototype, and I liked the result. For me, it was better to improve upon a construction method I was comfortable with than to go a completely different route just because I'd seen another artisan do it that way. If your project is "way overdue," it might be time to get into delivery mode. Is there a way to split the difference -- i.e., to be somewhat innovative with your "conventional" interior? Unless you have a real breakthrough, you may have to look for compromises that will get this project rolling... Good luck! I think we've all been there at some point! Regards, -Alex Quote
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