Taitoluistelupukuja taidolla : laatu- ja suunnittelukriteerit puvuntekijän työssä

Abstract The aim of this study is to research and describe how the criteria in designing and manufacturing of a figure skating dress are formed and how the aspects of functionality, expressiveness and aesthetics show from dressmaker’s point of view. The study seeks to answer the question: what kind of process the design and manufacture of figure skating costume typically is and how to reach an understanding with the customer about the implementation of the costs of the dress and other details. The aim is to describe the nature of the maker’s work, the challenger and prospects from a perspective of an entrepreneur. There have been only few previous studies of competitive sports covering the fields of arts and skills comparable to figure skating, and those have often focused on mapping the client’s point of view. In this study the focus is on the design process and the voice with maker. The costumer ordered for seasonal competition programs, are few custom-made outfits in the field of sports. Hence, their position is of interest of the increasingly commercial sports business. The study is made by using and thematic interview conducted remotely using the Zoom program for online meetings. The interviewee was a costume designer and maker Titta Kettunen, whose design studio Ateljee Titta Kettunen is currently one of the most popular costume making companies in the Finnish figure skating community. The interview questions were pre-designed to cover perspectives of design principles based on FEA model by Lamb and Kallal (1992). Also, to answer research questions about factors make up the quality and design criteria for figure skating costumes consist of, from the perspective of the costume designer and, on the other hand, what is the design process about. The study aims to describe what emphasis the components receive according to the customers’ needs and wishes and the realities of implementation. Quality is referred to through Garvin’s (1988) classical definitions of quality and the study seeks to describe how different budgets and realities affect the quality of the costumes. Images of varying figure skating outfits selected by the interviewer were used as support and foundation for the interview. The Atlas.ti program was used to save and extract the material, in which the interviewee’s answers were classified by theme. The interview took 1,5 hours. Based on the study; figure skating outfits are valued, and the clients are willing to pay for handcrafted product made in a peasant, themed and individual purposes. There will probably be a demand for costumes now and in the future, if the thematic consistency in the programs remains a special feature of the sport. Costumes live in time and the digitalized world has been reflected in costume technical innovations, but due to the (new) media, costume must withstand a close-up. Costume maker’s professionalism, fluency, reliability, sport and customer knowledge and pricing ability, alongside up-to-date methods and material handling are a key to costume design company’s success now and tomorrow.