Today we’d like to introduce you to Manami Moriyama.
Manami, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised in Japan. I moved to NY to study and pursue my career in fashion. I studied fashion & technical design in FIT, and started my first fashion internship at Marc Jacobs while my senior year. I continued working there for about 5 years as technical designer, then I moved to R13. I work as full-time technical designer for RTW categories, and I also started making collage of my outfit and daily life this year as my journal.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
After I graduated from FIT, didn’t have a full time job right away because the company didn’t have any open full time position. I spent the summer after graduation interning at a local independent designer, while I looked for full time job. After the summer, I did get a full time position. Internship during summer worked in my favor at the end because I ended up learning more on-site knowledge, I was able to contribute more as an intern at a intimate environment, and at the end, I was ready when the full time position became available.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a technical designer at NY based clothing brand. Technical designer takes initial sketch / design and make it into an actual products. We work on the construction of garments to make sure it’s functional and doable through many wears while achieving the aesthetic goal of the design, and make sure the garment fits well to the body. I work with factories to make mock-ups and samples for review before starting production. I fit garments on live model to make sure all details on the garment works. I also take detailed measurements of garments to make sure it meets our required spec, then I grade the measurements to different sizes.
What I love most about my job is that I get to see the progress of design and fit before it’s finalized. I go through so many trials and samples before it’s finalized. Sometimes it doesn’t work the way I want, but working with my team, I always find a solution.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I believe I’m very open at work and my coworkers know me well outside of work as well. However, I don’t think they know that I used to play volleyball competitively for a long time. I left my family when I was 13 to live with my teammate to focus on the practice. I quit playing after high school, but I really enjoyed playing and made so many valued friends through sportsmanship.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mm__manami/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manami-moriyama/
Image Credits
Manami Moriyama
