The Walkit Story - Part 3 — Cecilia Simonyi

(This is the third part of the story of the Walkit sketching bags. Here you can read the first part and the second part.)

“Then days passed by, and I suddenly realized that my newborn babies are there, in the hospital, and no one is feeding them. How come I have forgotten feeding them, if I am their mother?? Who is to feed them then, to nurture them, if not me?” (a dream in May 2019)

Many years after getting to know Urban Sketchers, sewing my own first sketching bag, proving it functional to myself and making a decision to create more of it… There I was, in January 2019, with all the enthusiasm, zest and vigour to finally DO it. My plan was to introduce the sketching bags at the Amsterdam USK Symposium in August.

Do you want to know what happened to all the enthusiasm, zest and vigour? Read on.

There are two layers to this process.

One is about the actual steps leading to the product being born. This - I think - may be very useful to anyone stepping on the road of product development. I tried to be as accurate in recalling the bits and pieces as I could.

The other one is the inner journey accompanying the process. This is of course a very personal account, but I am certain it also holds elements of common interest.

So those two threads are interwoven in telling the story.

Jan-Feb 2019 : iteration

Iteration (noun) : the repetition of a process or utterance. Repetition of a (...) procedure applied to the result of a previous application, typically as a means of obtaining successively closer approximation to the solution of a problem.

I had my own bag for years, but I was its single user. That’s a bit too narrow a user experience to build on. I sketch in my own way, using a quite lean set of tools - ink, some watercolour. But sketchers use a large variety of tools, and I wanted the bag to be versatile enough to provide space for a wide range.

In January 2019 I wrote to 10 sketchers for whom sketching was an everyday or almost everyday activity. Another criteria I was looking at was their variety in style and in use of sketching tools. And on a less objective ground I invited people based on my love of their sketching style, and my friendship with some of them.

I asked them to test a prototype of Walkit sketching bags by using it for a few weeks, and let me know their observations and suggestions.

Upon their assent I sent 10 sketching bags, each a bit different in style, colour, material, size, pockets, out to the four winds: to Riona Kuthe in Germany, Barbara Luel in Belgium, Liz Steel in Australia, Paul Wang in Singapore, Eduardo Bajzek in Brazil, Tina Koyama and Suhita Shirodkar in the US, Ian Fennely in the UK, Marina Grechanik in Israel, and Inma Serrano in Spain.

I am forever grateful for their feedback given to me via a questionnaire and online discussions - lots of good remarks, observations, angles, ideas and suggestions have flown in. I also received support from them in many other ways: some of them shared with me her/his experiences, learnings and advice of their personal journeys in depth which was incredibly helpful and encouraging, and fun as well.

By the end of February I had loads of information to work with in designing a bag which would indeed serve the needs of sketchers. I was grateful, happy and excited. A heartfelt thank you, to all dear ten of you.

March-April 2019 : prototyping

The next stage was to pour all the information into a design. This was the point when challenges started.

I cannot design on paper and in my mind. I can imagine with my mind but I can design only with my hands. When I search for a physical solution to something, it is my hands which I can rely on, it is my hands which know and feel and eventually find the way. Much of this process is unconscious.

The problem was when the complexity of the object grew over my sewing skills. I am quite skilled with my hands, whatever needs to be done, but I am not a trained seamstress. I asked a fellow-parent and friend, Kriszti, to help me. She is a textile artist, designing and sewing costumes and scenery for theatres, a talented and creative woman, and the mother of two.

At this point I had all the necessary information (in my head), but it was Kriszti who had the necessary hands (sewing skills), and the two had to be merged somehow. I made a drawing of the bag I imagined, in which I synthesised all the feedback from the testers, and showed it to her. She contemplated it for a while and told me that it looked great but (with some exaggeration) it would take days to sew it. It is too complicated for an object intended to be produced in series. I drew another one and another one… but we didn’t get much closer.

I felt helpless. It was the first time the solution was not in my hands! I had to rely on someone else’s hands! How do you ask someone to be your brain and your hand and be just as passionate and fanatic about that thing as you, the owner of the idea? Impossible.

I again learned a lot - patience first of all, and trust, and that sometimes a kind gesture takes things a much longer way than any rationale or reasoning.

Kriszti always worked at night as she had two young kids and a full time day job. I spent many nights with her in her workshop room, and I deeply enjoyed the extremity of those hours,

the whole world quiet around us while we meandered above samples of linen, colours of thread, and shapes and angles of the bags.

I am ever so grateful to Kriszti for sharing my excitement for this exploration, for putting the best of her abilities and vigour into it. For the energy she managed to somehow squeeze out of her very busy life for my project. For sharing many tiny secrets of working with textile. For materializing my dream. For the deep human bond we formed while chatting long into the nights, for the good coffees she made me, and for her family I got to love a lot during these months: her two blond girls, crazy artist husband, and Mamusz (Slipper) the dog. Thanks a lot, Kriszti.

May 2019 : time of doubts

Two months later I finally had a kind-of-final prototype in my hand. The original idea and all the feedback has been distilled into material. So what next?

At one point Kriszti had to return to her own projects. She did not have time to take on the production of Walkit bags, so I needed to find someone else to sew the first batch for me. This was much harder than I thought, I tried seamstresses one after another but none worked out. Most of them would not take such a small assignment seriously. They would be late by weeks, would do very poor jobs, or do something totally different than what I asked for.

The days till the Amsterdam USK Symposium were diminishing fast, and there was still much to do. Beyond the issue of not having a reliable seamstress there were many other areas to take care of.

A webshop had to be made, a business plan written, a price calculated, marketing thought of...

Sourcing of materials, decisions on small details of the design…

Designing patterns, figuring out technologies of printing them…

The complexity of it was unfolding day after day.

Every step taken, every task done opened my eyes to another ten to complete.

It slowly arrived to me what the birthing and nurturing of a product meant.

There were moments when it all felt hopeless. To be a single mother, having to earn a living as a freelance artist while entering a product development process which eats up a lot of resources before it starts giving back any… There were times I felt I was not able to. I was going to fail. One day everything was going to collapse on me.

One of my recurring nightmares was that one day I would wake up and see the Walkit bags out in the market, done by someone else. Someone much more able than me.

/The first pattern I designed: “Summer meadow”/

End of May: “In the darkest of nights” - a turning point

At one point amongst these doubts I had a dream. I often dream and I consider dreams a source of deeper wisdom, but in the rush of the everydays only a few stay with me. This one did.

I dreamt I was pregnant with four babies at the same time. In my dream I realised that this was too many to carry out and give birth to, so I asked someone to carry out two of the babies for me (seems an absolutely rational act in a dream). Then the babies were born, all four of them. I was standing by the tiny hospital beds looking at the four newborns, realizing with confusion that only two of them were wearing my family name (written on labels attached to their beds). I didn’t understand, because I knew they were MY babies, despite the fact that someone else had carried them out for me!

Days passed by in the dream, and I suddenly realized that those babies are all there, in the hospital, and no one is feeding them. How come I have forgotten feeding them - I am asking myself in the dream - when I am their mother?? Who is to feed them, to nurture them, if not me?

That was it.

A very powerful mirror.

Am I taking responsibility for my ideas? Do I carry them out? Do I proudly give them my name, do I undertake them in front of the wide world? That this is me, this is what I give to the world? Do I believe that what I am and what I create can really serve others? And do I care for those things conceived within me, carried out, given birth to, do I feed them, do I nurture them, do I give them what they need for growth? Do I turn up every day with commitment to them?

At this point it somehow fell to me: my responsibility is only to do what is within my reach, but to the best of my abilities. That’s my part. If I do that, then universal powers can add their bit. But for the universe to be able to lend a hand I need to keep going, need to be in motion, regardless of the chances of success.

It was a turning point. From that moment onwards I had no doubts. I just knew that I was going to do this no matter what.

/Leather rolls in a hidden little shop in Budapest/

June-July : salvation army

And help did come, and angels did arrive. One by one. Actually, in quite a crowd.

Eszter and Lőrinc, the makers of the Tinta bags were an incredible help all along. All the experience they gathered while building their own small brand they generously shared with me, including resources and contacts of supply and craftsmen. Thanks so much, Lőrinc and Eszter.

Nóri Hunyadi has built my first beautiful webshop, “cilithings”. She also took many gorgeous photos of the bags. She handled all my special requests with a lot of patience and kindness, and did it for a symbolic price as a fellow warrior. Her encouraging example as a single mother and small business owner has been a true inspiration to me. Bless you, Nóri.

The technology for printing the patterns comes from my fellow illustrator Gabi Makhult, I learnt it from her. Her creativity is always a huge boost and inspiration for me. Gabi, may we create many more times together.

The gorgeous photos for my webshop were made by Andrea Soós, a dear friend.

My ever present support was Gyula, my brother, and his partner, Sneh, both of them always available to consult in any aspects of product development, social media, data analysis, vipassana, relationship issues, and any ups and downs of hope and courage.

And the gratitude list ends - as always - with my child, for grounding me each evening by a goodnight story and cuddle, and with my ex-husband, leaving surprise food packages on my doorstep, and both of them for putting up with me in my worst moments.

Can you ever give up when you have such a team of angels around you?

/Sketching workshop with Eduardo Bajzek in Budakeszi/

My children's art group was also a great inspiration. After having had a real sketching workshop with Eduardo Bajzek in October 2018, the energy lasted through the following months. We have often gone sketching in the neighbourhood, and in the spring of 2019 each child has sawn her/his own sketching bag. I was absolutely taken by their creations.

/Look at those sketching bags - aren’t they awesome??/

We also had great fun with a Walkit photoshoot on our family holiday in June. My brother, Gyula was taking photos and all the volunteering family members were models for the shoot. The venue was a beautiful estate of a friend with a huge lavender field, a lake and an orchard. We all loved the shooting, and the photos preserve some precious moments, such as the pregnancy of my beautiful sister, Agnes, or the beloved and since passed dog, Szumó, of my younger brother, Kristóf.

/Agnes - and the Balaton prototype/ — /Agnes - and the *Balaton* prototype/

/Szumó and Kristóf - and a Basic sketching bag, an early prototype which finally did not make it to the shop/ — /Szumó and Kristóf - and a *Basic* sketching bag, an early prototype which finally did not make it to the shop/

August 2019 : Amsterdam USK Symposium

With all the efforts and angels, three weeks before the Symposium the situation looked like this:

After many tries and failures I still found no seamstress and had no stock of bags to sell at all.

I had no table at the art market of the Symposium, I wrote to the organisers way too late to have one.

I had no ticket to Amsterdam and no accommodation.

How to win the game from here?

Telling you in the fourth and final part of The Walkit Story.