MoCo Spotlight: Five Questions With

Michele Brinkman

I'll start this post with asking, "Have you ever heard of a carpet designer?" If you haven't, don't feel bad. I had never heard of one either, that was until six weeks ago. My husband and I were strolling down the streets of downtown Mobile during Art Walk when we ran into a fellow photographer. He introduced us to his friend Michele Brinkman. The journalist in me came to life and I began to ask questions in an effort to get to know her. I asked what she did for work. She responded, "I'm a carpet designer." I had been casually thumbing through some of her photographs she had on display, but now she had my full attention. "A carpet designer?" I asked. "What on earth is a carpet designer?" Michele laughed and gave me her 30 second elevator speech. Of course I quickly told her that I just had to feature her on MoCo Spotlight. If I was dumbfounded I imagined that others would be as well. Let's see what Michele had to say.

MoCo: After we met a few weeks ago I walked away from our conversation thinking, "I suppose someone has to design the carpets so why wouldn't there by carpet designers?" So, I guess you know what my first question is going to be? How did you become a carpet designer?

Carpet Designer, Michele Brinkman

Michele: The job actually found me. I was working for the Mitchell Cancer Institute and was about to become unemployed when a coworker told me about a customer service job with my current employer. I wasn't very interested at first but I finally applied and was hired. During my initial interview, 4.5 years ago, I made it known that I would be interested in working in the Design Department. It took me several internal moves to finally get there. I went from working in customer service to rug and tile production planning to rug design and finally to product development.

MoCo: Will you please share with us what a carpet designer does and what skills are necessary to be successful?

Michele: I design carpets for commercial customers using auto CAD (computer aided drafting) software. Depending on the customers requirements, budget and square yardage, custom carpets can be made. In order to design a custom carpet there is a 1000 sq yd minimum order. If a customer has a sketch, some wallpaper or a particular pattern they are working with we can turn it into a carpet. Now to answer you second question in order to be a successful carpet designer one would need to have a talent for the arts, and good design skills.

MoCo: This is so interesting. How long would it take to get a custom carpet from start to finish?

Brinkman displays some of her designs

Michele: Well that's a hard one to answer as a lot of it depends on the customers decisions. We create a sample of the design to present to the customer. The customer may request revisions and that process can go on for a while.

MoCo: Will you explain the process from start to finish?

Michele: It all begins when we take the clients concept and create a 2D drawing and assign affects to it.

MoCo: What does it mean to assign affects to it?

Michele: To assign effects means to tell the machine the height of the pile and whether to tip shear or bury the loops. After assigning the effects a sample is made to send to the client for approval or revisions. After the client approves the sample we create a mock-up from pictures of a room that's been mapped out to show the client what the carpet will look like on their floors. To the casual observer it's a complex process.

MoCo: I have to agree with you, it's definitely a complex process. Wow! Every time I look at carpet now I'll be forced to view it in a different light and wonder what were the assigned effects? Thank you so much for spending a little bit of your time with us today and for sharing your expertise with our friends in Mobile County.

MoCo is always on the lookout for the next good story. Hit me up if you know someone who should be Spotlighted on MoCo.

Until Next Time - Go Out and Do Something Awesome!