Singapore Fashion Week 2016: Unravelling the threads behind the Signature Type Cover

 |   Singapore News Center

When Rachael Bell received a call from her ex-colleague asking if she’d like to explore an opportunity designing consumer technology products, she was puzzled.

“­My background was in fashion through and through,” she explained. “I had no knowledge of hardware or software design, and was more adept with a sewing machine than a keyboard, so why would a technology company want to talk to me?”

But bewilderment soon gave way to intrigue, and after some contemplation, Rachael jumped in head-first into Nokia in 2009.

There, she played an integral role in the design of the Finnish company’s numerous phones, including the acclaimed playful polycarbonate Windows Phones beginning from the Lumia 800.

“I’ve always been passionate about the Scandinavian approach to design, where form follows function and it’s just so beautiful and minimalistic,” Rachael enthuses. “These are very much the same design principles that I apply to my own work.”

Even though she entered the technology industry with no background in product or industrial design, Rachael adapted quickly and is today a senior color and materials designer at Microsoft.

The latest feather in her cap: the luxurious Signature Type Cover.

Crafting personality and individuality

Meticulously crafted with Alcantara – a luxury fabric sourced exclusively from Italy and used in high-end fashion, automotive and interiors – the Signature Type Cover exudes sophistication and luxury.

But the product was never designed for the mass market from the get-go, Rachael confided.

“We designers are selfish types, and at the end of the day we just want to design products that we love to use ourselves,” she laughed.

Indeed, the Signature Type Cover started out as Rachael’s personal pet project. And because it was designed for her personal use, Rachael’s character and individuality were written all over the end-product.

The fact that Alcantara was chosen as the main fabric material was the main giveaway that the Signature Type Cover contained Rachael’s DNA.

“Coming from a tailoring background, I’ve always been drawn to stable materials that you can put structure to, such as leather and man-made materials like Alcantara,” she said.

Like beautiful suede, Alcantara darkens with time and evolves naturally to fit itself into the user’s lifestyle and individuality. At the same time, it is incredibly strong and robust, with all the technical performance of a man-engineered material.

“There’s a conventional notion in the tech industry that ‘premium’ equates to ‘leather,’” Rachael said. “But while leather is a beautiful material, what we really wanted to achieve was a new and challenging level of finesse.”

Alcantara proved to be the perfect material that ticks all the boxes – premium and soft, yet strong and durable.

Its unmistakeable two-tone grey mélange also ages and changes colour over time based on the owner’s usage habits, resulting in a truly personal accessory.

YouTube Video

“Why should a PC be impersonal, or just a little boring black box?” Rachael questions. “We pour our entire lives into our devices and we carry them with us every day, so shouldn’t they be more expressive and personal?”

Fabric is a natural choice for this expression, says Rachael, as it balances the metal and glass construction of Surface Pro 4, and provides a soft and comforting layer that is as familiar as the clothes we put on every day.

As a result of Alcantara’s unique qualities, no two Signature Type Covers are the same.

“It really is a flawless complement for your investment in a premium and powerful device like Surface Pro 4. It perfectly encapsulates your digital habits and lifestyle, and distinguishes your individuality from everyone else,” she said.

In no time, Rachael’s own Signature Type Cover began to turn heads and colleagues started to request that she make one for them, too.

As more and more Signature Type Covers were produced and the team poured more of its heart and soul into its creation, it became a real possibility for Rachael to put the product onto Microsoft’s roadmap and bring it to market.

“We started talking about creating videos to document the journey and how the material and the cover is created and produced, and then we just gradually did it!” she gushed.

What allowed the Signature Type Cover to really fill its own shoes was the breathable timeline Rachael’s team enjoyed.

Surface Pro 4 had already been launched to consumers, so the team weren’t tied to any particular launch schedule or deadline.

“We were beating our own drums because we didn’t have to abide by the normal rules of a tech product launch,” Rachael said happily. “We could just go out there and bring the Signature Type Cover to Design Week and similar events, and tell our story to a crowd that’s really passionate about and really understands the level of craftsmanship that went into the product.”

Shifting gears from fashion to technology

 Despite the migration from fashion to technology, Rachael’s creative workflow remains principled and unchanged.

“When I tailor a jacket, I first make an initial sample, then I rework it and recut the patterns until I get the final outcome I want,” she said. “It’s the same at Microsoft – I source for and apply the materials, I try to understand what’s working and what’s not, and then I retailor the approach and make another sample until it’s final.”

The process might be the same, but the environment she’s working in now vastly differs from her fashion industry days.

Two of the biggest challenges were automation and replicability.

“When I was working in a luxury label like Alexander McQueen, for example, automation and replicability were not really big concerns,” she said. “I did not use a lot of technology in my work back then, and didn’t even have an email address until the late 2000s!”

Things at Microsoft, however, were different.

“It’s a whole new way of thinking. We had to ensure that each product we design can be created in the same efficient and cost-effective way over and over – so that a user in Singapore can have the exact same experience has someone in London. That’s pretty amazing,” she said.

The sheer scale of Microsoft’s global operations also awed Rachael. She had to wrestle with new understandings of business logistics, scalability on every level, and manage the high expectations of her team.

“I love the team I work with, and the way they’re constantly challenging and inspiring me to grow,” she said. “The high level of quality that we hold ourselves to is just unbelievable.”

Besides her team, Rachael also draws inspiration from her travels – no matter where she goes, she marvels at the local people and culture and how she can take them all in and fuse it with her design sensibilities.

“Travel is inherently inspiring. Whether I’m in Europe, Asia, or the US, it’s fascinating to just be able to observe the cultural dynamics of how people dress, how people act, and how and what they eat,” she said.

 At the end of the day, Rachael is driven by a simple mantra in her work: there are no wrong answers in design.

As technology increasingly finds itself at an intersection with fashion, the style of a device is prized just as much as the silicon that powers it. Form is just as important as function.

“We’re kind of learning as we go along, and feeding our curiosity with constant experimentation and reinvention,” she said. “No one really knows where fashion and technology will head next, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next year or two.”

In fact, the next big breakthrough may just come from someone just like Rachael – a designer with a blend of skills and experience that brings something a little different to the cutting room floor.

Tags: , , ,