I’m a designer and I love what I do. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. Even before I knew exactly what a designer was, I knew I wanted to make stuff and create things and stand back and say 'I made that'. I even made it onto Tony Hart’s Gallery in 1985 with a picture of an astronaut on the moon made from silver milk bottle tops… ‘Sarah, age 8’ emblazoned next to it. I was already committed to my craft.
My love for design comes from my need to make things, actual physical things. I love to make my kids' birthday cakes, I can’t get enough of flat pack furniture (yes really) and at Christmas nobody else gets a look in. It’s my need to solve a problem combined with the act of making something, followed by the impending ‘I did that’ moment.
Growing up I never really understood careers that didn’t have a tangible end product that you can see and touch; where something is made or created. 'You want to be an accountant?… but what do they make?' and 'customer services… but you can’t stand back at the end of the day and look at what you created!' were just a couple of the questions floating around in my mind. I just couldn't understand why everyone in the whole world didn't want to be a designer.
Then one day the penny dropped. I don’t remember exactly when it dawned on me but like a meteor from the moon I’d once created it hit me and changed my course here on planet Earth. It’s not the ‘making stuff’ bit that’s so important, it’s the ‘I did that’ moment. This is what I call the ‘Pom-Pom Moment’. It’s that instant when the stars align, it all just works, and you literally need to big ten the whole damn room!
A Pom-Pom Moment can happen when a problem is solved, a customer is happy, a client is loving your skills, a hurdle is overcome, or even a life is saved. And the list goes on and on. Who was I to presume only making and creating lovely designs can bring these magical moments? This could, and cannot not be further from the truth.
Let’s all chase our own Pom-Pom Moments, in whatever place we are individually inspired to seek out and find them.