![]() You know how some people are Photoshop people and some Illustrator people? I'm all about vector art, so Illustrator is a good friend.įor 3D drawing I am just now (finally) learning TouchCAD. I also use Adobe Illustrator a lot: PAD exports nicely in to Illustrator, so in refining small parts (or making graphics that include a pattern piece), I'm hopping between PAD and Illustrator quite a bit. PAD System also makes the marker-making software we use to make all the production markers - I used to make all the markers myself, but now Nik, my Production Engineer, does that. Inspires maniacal accuracy, which is oddly really satisfying. Easy to mirror shapes, add seam allowances, modify marking notches, measure seam lengths. Once I mastered it, I was able to do everything I want to do, everything 2D that is. I work predominately in PAD System's 2D pattern drafting software. Our AccuPlot 320 is a very wide format (>70" wide) pen plotter - truly a work horse. Sort of old school, but I cut out the paper pattern pieces and then trace them on to whatever fabric I'm using to make the sample. When it's convenient, I plug an Apple 20" screen into the MBP: it inspires accuracy and is easy on my eyes.Īn external keyboard with ten-key is nice for CAD.įor printing/plotting I use the Gerber AccuPlot 320 that's also used in the factory to make markers. It's all vector stuff, so tons of memory or speed isn't all that helpful. ![]() I use a 13" MacBook Pro for all my 2D and 3D drawing. I like how something that's hand-drawn can become vector art but still hold on to its organic curves - it helps if we don't want a design to look too "CAD". I still use it occasionally to input some odd shape I've come up with on the fly, or some old design from my archives I'm revisiting. When I first moved from making patterns by hand to digital designing, I used a GTCO CalComp Roll-Up III digitizer to input all my existing designs. One of the things I appreciate most about our company is that a lot of the design process is happening in the factory - there's a beautiful co-evolution between design and manufacturing that you don't get when the design process is physically removed from the build process. These days when I am sewing prototypes, I either am in the factory using whatever sewing machine is available or I'm in my studio using my new Seiko. That specific Consew I started with is now over 30 years old and still sees daily service in my factory: Tao uses it to do three-fold bias binding. Seiko was the OEM for Consew, so it's the same as the old Consew machine. Basically a machine made for heavy work like sewing leather and upholstery - an incredibly flexible tool (if you buy a new one today it's reputed to be not so great - buy a Seiko STH-8BLD instead. The sewing tool I used for over two decades was a Consew 206RB, with a compound walking foot. One of my most obvious tools is a sewing machine (Ivan Illich would call it a tool, not a machine - I like that). I love using Bic's writes-in-four-colors pens: each color can represent whatever it needs to at the time: lining/exterior, new/old, this/that. Sketching and note taking: my favorite sketchpads are from the Mirage Paperco.įor some reason I'm drawn to square sketchbooks instead of rectangular ones: sometimes turning an idea 90 degrees suddenly makes it work. When I'm being a CEO I'm working when I'm being a designer I'm having fun. we design and manufacture travel bags, backpacks, laptop cases. I'm Tom Bihn, CEO and chief designer at TOM BIHN INC. ![]()
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