Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Will White. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Will, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

As a self taught designer, my journey has been an interesting one. The one thing I can credit to all I’ve learned over the years is a desire TO learn. Every task, project, etc. that I’ve taken on has been a result of me saying “yes” to something that felt larger than myself. The major obstacles there were always having no idea where to start. Although a formal education might have been a huge accelerating factor to my own growth, I would have to say that being able to learn along the way from all types of different people, tutorials, and even trial and error, has been a formative part of my design journey.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For the past 18 years I have been a fashion designer and illustrator that has been majority self taught. From custom book bag prototypes, to gowns, to outerwear, and even my own wife’s wedding dress, I’ve taken on a lot of different projects all with the aim of being able to give it my own fresh touch. I’m truly inspired by everything around me, from Art to music to film, I just love downloading new ideas and seeing how I can push my work further. Originally born in NYC, raised in New Jersey, and now living in Charlotte, I’ve truly seen a lot at the ripe age of 37 and one common thread has been that when it comes to style, you have the opportunity to become whoever you want at the drop of a hat…literally. I like to say that I reside more at the crossroads of visual art and high fashion. While visual artists use paint, brushes, and canvas, I create my brand of art with textiles, threads, and a lot of imagination. As I continue on my own journey as a business owner, husband, and father, one thing that’s clear is that I truly love being able to make art in the form of fashion and I only hope to be able to continue dreaming up bigger and greater things as I go through life one design at a time. I’m available to help any and everyone achieve fashion fantasy they may have dreamed up and put my very specific ethos into the final presentation of it. If I were to describe myself in short, it would be “larger than life” because clothes are meant to be fun, they’re meant to express the version of yourself you’d like to be and there’s no need to be boring while you do it.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

For the entirety of my career, I’ve done pretty minimal marketing. The common thread that’s helped me attract new clientele has been doing good work for my existing clientele. Word of mouth is a truly powerful tool and you really have to treat each project like it needs to be your best one. Although you can’t please everyone, you have to make sure that you’ve set a standard for yourself. The amount of integrity you need to have as a business owner will often color people’s willingness to want to hire you.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

During the pandemic the need for people to get custom looks dropped drastically (for good reason). That was when I took to making custom masks out of Ankara print fabrics by hand. I knew even though there wasn’t a need for what I had been doing, there’s always a NEED, you just have to figure out what it is and how you can service it. I still found a way to pour creativity and design into my masks with my mix of print and color composition and still managed to keep the lights on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ThatWillWhite.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ThatWillWhite
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thatwillwhite?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits
@webb_robb @organicimagery3 @dmfotografic @homebasefilms