'Van Jonsson Design' is six years old - free e-books available

It’s usually after things have happened I reflect back and think “actually what I achieved should have been celebrated more” (by me). Like being the first independent brand above a ‘DD’ cup to be stocked by Topshop, to have been sponsored to work as a Lingerie Designer in Melbourne Australia.

And whilst I was putting my youngest son to bed I realised that in somewhere in the midst of lockdown, my business had turned six years old. The reason I missed it was because ironically I’ve been head down working! So I’m celebrating my giving the whole set of ebooks away for free.

Six years ago I decided to not only design for the bigger companies but to concentrate on helping people who wanted to start their own brand but who had no idea where to begin. By writing blogs, books and providing consultancy and the technical support, I have worked for and seen ideas flourish in lingerie brands all over world including Australia, South Africa, America, Europe and the UK.

Six years ago I was doing this all as a side job, then I went for an interview for a job in London where it was a two hour commute both ways and no Flexi hours were available . At time I’d been back in England for 15 months was also juggling getting my masters with a 3 month old. On that commute I realised I didn’t want to just work for the ‘big dogs’ I wanted to help people who had brilliant lingerie ideas, whether that be solving problems, taking an eco stance or simply designing beautiful lingerie for women to look and feel good. I wanted to be involved more, rather than just pushing design after design through an overseas factory trying to get the cheapest price on everything.

ON my way to an interview six years ago

It hasn’t always been easy juggling kids and work and I haven’t been able to go as fast or produce all I would like or take on all the projects I would like, but I get there.

There have been times when I’ve been running on such little sleep that I’ve tidied my desk and thought to myself I can’t do this, I can’t balance everything.

So if you’re in that state now , setting up a lingerie label, I can assure you it gets easier, you find a rhythm that works for you, and when life changes you change up that rhythm as well.

You begin to realise that nothing is balanced, so you don’t strive for it. Some days you will be business focused and knee deep in paperwork and patterns and others you will be knee deep in nappies; with sleeping babies on you that refuse to sleep anywhere else.

So to celebrate this madness of six years I’m giving away a copy of all the e-books

How to become a Lingerie Designer - Ever wanted to start your own lingerie label? But don't know where to start? This book will guide you through chapter by chapter. Just because you have no idea where to start doesn’t mean that you don’t have a brilliant idea or lingerie label you want to launch.

The Anatomy of the bra - The bra can be a complicated thing to design and make, discover how a bra works and all it's components that you need to make a bra, is broken down section-by-section.

How to tech, spec and grade a bra and brief - There aren't many technical books about designing lingerie or producing a range to get it manufactured by a factory.

All rolled into one, How to tech, spec and grade a bra and brief, comprising of the three books, How to spec a bra and brief, How to write a bra and brief tech pack, and How to grade a bra and brief. Taking you through with the same design and shapes through out each section.

How to sketch a bra and brief - Did you ever have an idea of wanting to sketch a bra or brief but your hand doesn’t match what you want your brain to do?

With twelve templates of bras and briefs, examples are given in a hand sketch format or a Computer Aided Drawing and also the template, giving you the chance to draw your designs directly onto the image.

Head over to Instagram (vanjonssondesign) and leave me a comment of the type of lingerie brand you are wanting to set up and I’ll pick one randomly. That or feel free to send me some cake or wine!