Pilar's Patterns Vol.1|1

Interview by Robert Lewis

Jessica Pilar is a graphic designer and entrepreneur based in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. She was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and lived there until she graduated high school in 1994. Jessica then moved to New York, where she obtained her B.F.A. at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Since then, Jessica has also gone on to obtain her M.F.A. at the Maryland Institute College of Art and has managed to develop her thesis project into a thriving online marketplace.

Were you born in Puerto Rico and came to the US for School?
I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and lived there my entire life until I graduated high school in 1994, when I moved to Rochester, New York to attend R.I.T. Back then, there were no 4-year college programs in the island for graphic design because it was a relatively new program of study, so in order to become a graphic designer I needed to attend school in another country. I am the only member of my family who does not live in Puerto Rico.

When did you decide to pursue a career in Graphic Design? During those days there really weren’t that many outlets for Graphic Artists in the Caribbean?
My favorite subject since elementary school was art class. My mom had the great vision of enrolling me in various different art classes outside of school as well. She once even begged the University of Puerto Rico to let me enroll in one of their pottery classes and I ended up being the only 11 year old among a class of full-grown college students! For a few years, I would also go to an architect’s house once a week after school and she would give me individual art projects ranging from drawing to painting and even some ceramics. So I am very grateful to my mom for fostering what she saw was a passion within me and for driving me back and forth to the many different activities that I wanted to pursue.

Were there any other creative outlets that you were interested in growing up?
Other than fine arts, my true dream career was to be a dancer. I started dancing ballet when I was 6 and joined a performing company of ballroom dancing when I was 14. Once again, my mom really supported my passion for dance and would take us as kids to performances at the theater or the Music Conservatory since we were very little.

So how did you decide between the two? Dancing and Design?
When I reached high school and I was forced to decide what career path to take, my Dad was very concerned about my future financial success if I were to pursue dancing and advised me to keep it as a hobby. I must admit I was pretty heartbroken and it took years for me to understand his opinion. My parents did not come from artistic backgrounds and my Dad was a successful businessman and the only careers within the arts that we were familiar with were painting, dancing, music and architecture. So he assumed that the only career within the arts that would provide financial stability for me would be architecture because it could offer full-time employment in Puerto Rico. The idea that I would become an architect was promoted within my family for several years and I truly thought that if I was an artistic being, that was my only option to study. I looked into it until I realized that it entailed a lot more math and calculations than I was willing and able to handle (I am terrible in math!). After talking to my school’s guidance counselor, she suggested I look into graphic design and she explained what that field was all about. Even then, we assumed that I would only be able to work in an advertising agency if I were a graphic designer. Once I started my undergraduate degree, I began to understand how graphic design could be applied to many different purposes but it wasn’t until graduate school that I had the vision to create my own job description.

What were your experiences after leaving Puerto Rico?
I studied 4 years at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York where I received my B.F.A. In Graphic Design in 1998. After graduation, I moved to Arlington, Virginia—following my college boyfriend (now husband) who chose to move to Washington, D.C. to try a new city—and as good fortune, my sister was also moving there from Puerto Rico to start her undergraduate degree at Georgetown University. I called all the design studios in the D.C. area out of the local phone book and found myself with 10 interviews within a 2-week period. I went to all of them and accepted a position at a small exhibit/graphic design studio. The experience was great and I learned more about the field that first year of work than I had my entire 4 years at college. Over time, I established really solid relationships with my clients and my coworkers and I was promoted to senior designer, where I would oversee new junior designers and teach them along the way.

That sounds like a really good star. Why did you end up leaving that job?
I worked there for 5 years and started feeling a bit stuck. I knew there was no higher position than the one I already had, so my career could not evolve much more if I stayed there. On the other hand, I had no good reason to quit a pleasant, stable job when so many others were looking for employment, so I felt the best way to shift my career would be to take time off from the “real world” and explore what other options were there in the graphic design field.

When did you end up making the decision to go back to school?
I applied to grad school in order to start a business of my own. I didn’t know what kind of business I wanted or what I should sell, but I knew I wanted to be my own boss. Grad school allowed me the time to experiment with different projects and ideas where I was my own client and it gave me the confidence to envision myself as having my own business and follow my own interests.

How did you begin developing the concept behind your future business?
One afternoon in the MFA studio, while showing Jennifer (Cole Phillips) some photos I had taken over a summer trip to Portugal, I commented on how fascinated I was at their use of ceramic tiles on the inside and outside walls of their houses. We started discussing the very intricate patterns created by the tile repetitions of this Moorish-influenced style and she recommended I start exploring some patterns of my own. Almost every week after that she would bring me samples and clippings of companies and brands that were doing their own style of pattern and textile designs. I have all those clippings still saved in a “idea binder”.

So I guess the concept just took off from there?
Well, after I developed a few pattern concepts, Ellen (Lupton) inspired me to develop merchandise and become a seller of products. She has a great business outlook on design and believes in making it available to the masses. I first created sets of patterned notecards to be sold at the Buy*Product sale and after seeing the response from other students, Ellen suggested I develop my thesis project based on the patterns I had already started designing. As my final thesis project, I had printed 5 patterns onto fabric and displayed them as pillows on a couch on the hallway of the Brown Center. Those pillows became my first product for sale.

So what now? How are you moving forward with your business plans, and where do you see it taking you in the future?
I am currently trying to contact different online and retail stores that may be interested in carrying some of my products in hopes that I can get some wholesale accounts going. I plan on participating in some outdoor markets (such as the Eastern Market in DC) in the spring when the weather is a bit warmer.
Thinking long-term, I would love to evolve the business from retail products into licensing my patterns for other companies to use in the development of their own products. That way I would not have to deal with the manufacturing, packaging, shipping and storage of products, but rather concentrate in developing patterns which is what I would rather be doing right now.