“If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not pushing yourself to grow…”

– SABINE MOZHAEV

Tell us a little about your experiences since. Where have you worked? Where do you work now?

I landed an internship at HUB Interiors around 6 months into my first year with a portfolio purely made of hand sketches. I worked there for nearly 2 years and coupled with my studies at TAFE I learned very quickly how the industry works, how to use all software required and which direction I wanted to take my career. I then began working for myself, initially drafting and 3D modelling for other design professionals, but soon after I began taking on my own projects. I am currently designing a residential master suite, a commercial podcast studio, and a gym rehabilitation/recovery centre!

How did you get your first design job or solo exhibition?

My internship opportunity sparked from word of mouth, but it was my portfolio of hand sketches and my ability to speak confidently and ask questions that got me the job. After the internship when working for myself, all jobs came from word of mouth and via social media. I have a strong social media presence where I share my design process and have done since the beginning of my diploma, and this is where I get a lot of enquiries and traffic to my website enquiry form.

What advice would you give to current Art & Design students studying at NM TAFE right now?

Document your design process as much as possible! It's MORE important to show the working out and to show why you made the design decisions that you made, than it is to just show a pretty picture of your design at the end. Clients will trust you immensely if they can clearly see that you are capable of problem solving for individual scenarios, and that you come up with ideas yourself and don't just copy designs from Pinterest.

Social media is the new way to market - share your process to the world! Don't overthink it, it doesn't need to be perfect. If you want to see my example, have a look at @sabineinteriors on Instagram. It's not pretty and perfect, everything is raw and real with flaws - and it works!

If you don't want to share on social media, at the very least have your process documented in your portfolio and consider making a website! Think of the content you'll add to it whilst you are still studying, so it's less overwhelming to make your portfolio/website when the time comes.

What can Perth and Western Australia do to support graduating diverse range of Art & Design students more?

Advertise more internships to students. This is an industry that really requires you to learn on the job, there is only so much TAFE can teach in a classroom. In saying this, students need to put effort in as well and show initiative to try and get this experience. No one wants an intern who needs everything spelled out for them — an internship with the right student should provide equal value to the student and to the workplace.

What do you think are the most important qualities in an emerging designer or artist?

Develop the confidence to make mistakes and ask questions. If you're not making mistakes, you're not pushing yourself to grow. There is so much to learn and it's all constantly changing. Turn off your ego and absorb as much as you possibly can from as many people as you can in the industry and at TAFE. Show that you are eager to learn and eager to provide value.

Proper communication and documentation is essential - you need to be organised and be able to come back to every conversation, instruction, document, and idea that you had in the process, as you never know how things will pan out later in the design process and what information you'll wish you had down the track. If you haven't already, start organising your documents on OneDrive ASAP!

Please list some awesome new developments happening right now in the Art & Design industry that you are excited by.

Continue getting suppliers in to show students new products. I learned SO much from this and have maintained professional relationships with a lot of these suppliers!

Not using two separate programs for 2D and 3D modelling. AutoCAD is still a widely used program, but it would be very helpful for students to learn Layout along with Sketchup to be able to create 2Ds and 3Ds in the same program and save time.