A little culture on the side

For my last face-t0-face interview, I traveled to the beautiful city of Asheville, NC. I started at the Folk Art Center, which is part of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and located on Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Guild is an educational, non-profit organization founded in 1930 for the purpose of creating a network and market for mountain craftspeople. Today, Guild membership stands at more than 900 artisans selected by a jury for the high quality of design and craftsmanship reflected in their work.

The Folk Art Center exhibits traditional and contemporary crafts of the Appalachian region and sponsors educational demonstrations and programs. While I was there, an area weaver and a woodcrafts man were sharing their talents with demos. The Center also houses the century-old Allanstand Craft Shop, which is one of the nation's top craft retailers and carriers the world of Guild artisans.

[Source: Southern Highland Craft Guild brochure and website.]

My lovely guide (my interviewee), also took me to the historic Grove Park Inn. Not only was this resort and spa one of the most lovely I've ever seen (and like none that I've ever stayed at), but they also are home to an amazing and world-renowned Arts & Crafts gallery, store and studios. I highly recommend a visit for anyone who passes through this area.

Committee Meeting 5

On Tuesday, my committee gathered for the first time since the end of last semester!  I had done my best to keep everyone informed, and meet with them individually, but this was certainly a scary time since I had no idea what kind of feedback I would get- with only 1 month to make any changes.

So we started with my outline...well, really this was just the "Contents" of my thesis.  To my very pleasant surprise, we made very few changes.  The changes we did make involved removing entire sections- wonderful!  While my fear was that there were parts I was missing- and I would be overwhelmed by whatever task it is that they ask me to do next- the reality was that I was already trying to do to much.  I have my committee to thank for helping me stay focused and on the right path.  With their reassurance, there a chance I just might get this thing done ;)

I'm currently focusing on the Literature Review, which is perhaps the most overwhelming section of all.  But I met with Nancy today and we discussed a plan of attack.  My goal is to complete the Literature Review over the next week.  Then I'll take it from there.  Wish me Luck!

Interviews are Complete! (almost)

I've driven over 200 miles in Michigan, 800 in California and over 2200 miles on the East Coast.

I've flown in a diamond from coast to coast and border to boarder across the US.

I've called Mexico, Australia and Korea (twice).

And I've sent thousands of emails to a hundred contacts across the world.

The outcome has been 31 interviews with 46 designers, engineers, sales experts and executives in the automotive textile industry from OEMs and all Tiers.

One of the main reasons I chose this very non-traditional route of gathering information is the same as my reason for choosing this topic: very little has been published regarding automotive textiles and the history of the industry.  We found it necessary that I gather information straight from the source.  I'd like to thank all these industry professionals for sharing their time and historical knowledge with me for this study.  

I'd also like to give credit to the few books that I have found extremely useful and I suggest that if you are interested in this subject, that you refer to these as well:

"Textile Advances in the Automotive Industry"- Edited by Shishoo

"Engineering Textiles: Integrating the Design and Manufacture of Textile Products" - YE ElMogahzy

"Textiles in Automotive Engineering"- Fung and Hardcastle

"Automotive Interior Trim" - Michael Ravnitzky

"Automotive Textiles" - Adrian Wilson

"The Automotive Industry Since 1945" - Lawrence White

"The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry" - Brock Yates

"The End of Detroit: How the Big Three lost their grip on the American car market" - Michieline Maynard

The first three books listed were made available by the Textile Institute.  These and the two listed after are the ONLY publications we've come across in English that speak in detail about automotive textiles: materials, structures, specifications, and the supply chain.  

The final three listed have each addressed the same issue, the fall of Detroit, but were published decades apart (1971, 1983, 2003).  And note that none of these have discussed the current crisis.  Although these text didn't speak about automotive textiles...well...at all, they provided the perfect background for understanding the cycles within the industry and getting "the big picture".  

Combine these 8 texts with the quantity and caliber of interviews conducted and I should have all the ingredients for a successful paper.  But a baker can't just throw everything in 1 pot and hope for cake.  Its time to enter the test kitchen with the goal of finding the prefect recipe for the red velvet of maters' theses.  

Oh yeah...and the countdown: 1 MONTH until the full first draft is due!

Let the Countdown Begin!

Wow...I'm finally writing!

Today I submitted my Abstract, Introduction (all but summary of benefits and limitations), and Methodology chapter first drafts to my professor for review.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no major changes.  

The next step will be to finish organizing all interview feedback into a table that I have created.  The table will help me categorize trends and factors in a logical manner so that once I get to the Results chapter, I will just be translating these categories into paragraph format.  I hope to complete this over the course of the week (by September 20).  

Once this information is organize, I will tackle the Literature Review.  I have read and taken notes on the majority of my references, but there is still much to be done in this section.  I hope to have this chapter first draft written by September 30.

Other than that, only a handful of interviews remain, which means I'm actually going to stay in one place for the next two months.  It bound to be boring compared to the summer of travel and all the interesting interactions I've had, but it will help me focus on my writing- thank goodness.    

Progress is good!

Business Week: The Year's 20 Coolest Concept Cars

More interviews for me this week: 4 Industry Retirees, 1 OEM, 1 Fabric Supplier, 1 Yarn Supplier, and 1 Safety Product Supplier.  What's the most amazing is that every interview has unveiled new information.   Its a very complex industry.  

While I'm off interviewing, I'll let you enjoy this link to "The Year's 20 Coolest Concept Cars".  I was glad to see that they found quite a few of my NAIAS favorites.

We need to get out more: National Geographic picks the World's Greatest Scenic Routes

We need to get out more: National Geographic picks the World's Greatest Scenic Route, Autoblog.com

Another week gone by.  I have completed 7 more interviews this week (including a conference call to Korea and a supplier retiree who spent over 50 years in the industry!).  Since there are not too many other exciting updates, I thought I'd share the link above for your enjoyment.

My suggestion: Try them all!  

I've only done 6- it looks like I have a lot of driving to do!

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