My Story
Finding one’s passion in this world is an incomparably difficult task, especially in a world as hurried and overly concerned about money as this world often is. There’s a word I have been wondering about for many years, about its meaning and its pursuit – that is, how does one find one’s ‘Vocation’, a place to dedicate all one’s effort towards.
We can so easily forget, we are so blessed to have – something that many people have never had the opportunity of having – we can choose. I choose to dedicate my time towards my passion, and in so doing towards serving all of you – thank you, I just hope I can create beautiful things for all of you to enjoy.
Chapter 1: Vocation
Hi everyone, my name is Warrick Kin
I am the Couturier and founder of Fermare. For most all my life I have been spending every free hour in the dedication of mastering all forms of the creative arts. As a child I would spend hours drawing and painting, in my teens I discovered music and how beautiful stringing a few notes together can be, and then when I left school, I pursued my studies in Mechanical Engineering in the footsteps of my hero, da Vinci.
I enjoyed my time of studies, especially the creativity I got to use in mechanical design projects. Out of all my classmates, I was the only one spending hours doing beautiful sketches of all my designs in pencil and paper – most probably because you don’t get any additional marks for doing so haha….but I loved sketching.
After having graduated first in my class, I was really overjoyed to have finished, and especially having done so well. The only one regret I had – was that I was not able to spend as much time creating a beautiful painting or playing a beautiful piece of music as I had once had.
I then navigated myself into the real world of, corporate life. I worked as a Business Analyst for a while, which was good, since I got to learn so much about Human Capital, data, and business intelligence. Then after a while, an opportunity came up for me to move to Cape Town and back into the area of my studies, Mechanical Engineering. I then worked hard becoming an accomplished engineer, designing countless multi-million dollar projects. I found decent success, the kind of success you were told to always look for as a child. I bought a car and a home, and ticked off all the boxes you were supposed to – but after all this, I did not have that fulfillment that society had promised in that childhood vision.
My years in corporate life went on like this, round I went in the corporate race – slowly, year by year, my soul being starved of that spark of creativity and passion I once enjoyed when I was young. I found myself almost going in to work, just for my paycheck and for prestige amongst my family and friends – which was the last thing childhood Warrick would have ever wanted. When I was young, I thought that one’s ‘career’ was the most amazing thing ever – and that you only do it because you truly love it; I thought ‘work’ was a gift that everybody gets to choose. I was pretty idealistic looking back on it now; the real truth is, most people don’t get to have a ‘career’, they only get to have ‘jobs’ – something you do just for the payment it brings. I thought I was going to change the world, create new and beautiful things like Da Vinci – but the truth is, the ‘world’ no longer works like that. It is a machine with all the working parts already in place, all you have to do is follows the orders and instructions written down in thick stacks of books of “Rules” and “Standards” and “That’s How Things Have Always Been Done’s”. My kind is a dying breed, meant for a bygone era.
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Halfway into my corporate race, I was almost at the cusp of just giving in to corporate life, and just enjoy the luxuries and comforts it brings despite the monotony and drudgery. And then as usually happens, that “something” – which has been trying to surface this whole time, which corporate life has been trying to suppress, finally found its voice. That is, the idea that life is so much more; that we don’t have to just follow the pre-made plans that society has set for us; the great idea that we can choose our own destiny; and the idea that we can find our true ‘vocation’, the one which resonates with each of our souls uniquely.
Anyways, I have always known what was the spark that lights my heart, I just got a little distracted on the way – my heart is and has always been the heart of an artist. God put me here to create wonderful and beautiful things for people to enjoy. I can make a difference in the world, by bringing back a little bit of joy and wonder into people’s eyes. To give people that childhood feeling, the feeling of excitement and joy we once had as children; when we found the ‘awesomest’ stick branch in the garden, that we used as a sword and magic wand and whatever else we imagined; or the time our parents let us take home that puppy and we could not sleep out of pure excitement; or maybe the time we got a present, a Teddy Bear, which we named Teddy Terumo and loved even until we became old grannies and grandpas.
Thinking back on it, I have no regrets, for my journey led me to finding a passion that I had never even existed in this world – that is fashion. I bought my first needle and thread with the simple goal of altering a suit jacket – you see, my mom phoned me about the sad news of my granny’s passing, and so inevitably I needed a black suit to wear. I had a very old one, which when I tried it on, fitted terribly and had the longest sleeves ever. So I used the simple needle and thread I bought to alter it. I was so happy with myself, even though I did a pretty bad job at it….I was nevertheless so proud, my suit jacket fitted me, and nobody could even notice the untidy stitching. I had a few other work suits that I loved to wear to the office; they needed adjustments also and so this time I decided to buy my very first sewing machine to do it – and the rest is history as they say.
Corporate life led me to finding a love for suits and jackets, and shirts, oh and ties too – so I’m really grateful for that opportunity. Working also afforded me the opportunity to buy clothing that I once wasn’t able to buy, clothing that I could express myself through. When I was a child, I could be pretty passive when it came to fashion, a lot of the times just letting my mom and family guide my choices. Now I had the chance to shop. I had never been into a clothing shop just by myself before – and the first time I did, I spent hours in there. It was so much fun, and the feeling I got when I found something unique and amazing, was just incredible. After getting my feet wet as a Shopping connoisseur, I then stumbled upon a one of a kind leather jacket that I fell in love with. It was so expensive though, so I saved up month by month – and then when I had enough, I finally bought it. That experience was one of utter joy, and was one of those defining moments that led me onto my path of fashion – if I could find so much joy from this, I wished I could give other people that same feeling I felt that day.
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The next several years, I dedicated every free hour reading and studying up everything I could on fashion design and how to create a beautiful garment. For you see, even though I had my own sewing machine, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I had only a very faint notion of what sewing machines did, from seeing one at my grandmother’s house as a child. Self-study and watching videos gave me a foundation, but I desired more – and so I found a local fashion college close to me and enrolled in as many part-time fashion courses as I could.
These classes, which were funnily (and luckily) enough aimed mainly at women and women’s clothing, then opened my eyes to a whole new world of women’s fashion that I did not know existed – I did not know that women’s dresses could be so beautiful. In the Evening Wear course we were allowed to design and make any corseted dress we wanted, and after hearing about a technique called bias-cut dressmaking – I decided to do that as my first ever dress design. I only found out later that I had chosen one of the most difficult types of dresses to choose, and oh how many hours I toiled over that project. That’s pretty much how I discovered bias-cut dressmaking, and how I fell in love with this beautiful technique.
I now knew this was what I was meant to do, so in determination, I spent my days as an engineer saving as much as I could and my nights sewing late into the night. Now through it all, I have finally found it – my Vocation; I truly only hope to do the best I can, to make something beautiful for the world to enjoy.
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With Sincerity and Love
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4 Comments
Jules
Bro, great story. I’m working in consulting at the moment, and we’re recruiting, so I thought of getting hold of you. Now I see that’s unnecessary. It is incredible the paths our lives take us down. I’m really chuffed for you that you found what you’re passionate about. I can relate in some way. Not the dress making, but the creative pursuits… I’m going to try painting when I take leave in May.
Really, I wish you all the best, and when I’m in Cape Town again, I’ll let you know and we can catch up.
Warrick Kin
Hey Jules:) Thanks man, yeah it’s crazy how life leads us down roads we never even imagined!! I never even knew fashion was a career option when I was a kid – and now I’m in love with it haha:) That sounds amazing…..you’ll definitely love painting. I’d love to get back into it one day as well, creativity is awesome right. Anyways, good luck with everyone – and definitely must catch up when you’re in town.
Hils
Saw you at a market earlier and added you on IG. Your short bio sounded interesting so I ended up here, and read this lovely story. You write so beautifully and I love your story! Wow, so amazing! I’m sure I’ll buy something from you soon 🙂 best!
Warrick Kin
Aw thanks so much, that really means the world to me – I really love writing, and I’m so glad you read my story and liked it:) I’d actually really love to write more, the past few months have been so hectic starting up, but I hope soon to make some time to add to my blog hehe!:) Anyways, thanks so much for the encouraging words, and I really hope you had an awesome time at the market!!:D Hope to do more markets, so hopefully will see you around – and totally looking forward to it too!!
Take care:)
Warrick