I have been acquainted with Designing Daryl for some time, first becoming aware of him through the work he does with custom decorated Carnival Boots and then with the costumes he has designed for his own band Island Pride as well as work he has done for Caribana.
We communicate frequently and I have always been impressed with the talent he displayed. It was unfortunate that a customer last Carnival (2010) gave a bad review of service she experienced for custom ordered boots. Having heard both sides of the story, and subsequent positive reviews, this did not deter my decision to work with Daryl for Carnival 2011.
Once I registered for my costume of choice I decided to do some upgrades to my frontline option, as I always do each year, and contacted my band Bliss first asking them if what I wanted could be done. A few emails back and forth ended with no confirmation so I decided to go ahead and get what I wanted on my own.
In the past I have done upgrades myself but when it comes to the complicated designs I would normally turn to Richard of Richard and Anthony productions, however they were filled with doing production work for YUMA. I chose to work with Daryl for several reasons, the primary one being that we had a very good rapport and communication and he understood what it is I wanted done. Having also seen his work I was confident to give him creative license to execute what I had in mind.
In the past I have done upgrades myself but when it comes to the complicated designs I would normally turn to Richard of Richard and Anthony productions, however they were filled with doing production work for YUMA. I chose to work with Daryl for several reasons, the primary one being that we had a very good rapport and communication and he understood what it is I wanted done. Having also seen his work I was confident to give him creative license to execute what I had in mind.
Daryl secured all the feathers, gems and other items I needed in advance and when he arrived in Trinidad we both went to Samaroos to pick up the rest of supplies. To tell you the truth the actual cost for my "upgrade" priced less than the difference in price between the backline version of my costume and the frontline! I am now very well aware of the cost of a pound of feathers and what that looks like.
After meeting with Daryl in Trinidad he was able to do almost 100% of the work that first day and once I confirmed that I was pleased it was ready to pick up the following day. There was no drawn out wait, I was serviced and done with in record time. To tell you I was pleased is an understatement I absolutely LOVED Daryl's work and when he was done with my backpack it was so huge I could not see around either side of me and it blocked the sun!
Consequently, I would whole heartedly recommend Daryl's services and in future I am definitely going to work with him again . You all know I demand great service and I never had a problem or issue with Daryl. We had excellent communication, he was fair with me in all the pricing of supplies as well as his own fee for labour, I trusted his creative talent and not to mention he is pretty cute!
I would include a photograph of the work Daryl did for me, and I deliberated long and hard about doing it, but since I do want to hold on to my "incognito" status a while longer you can surely be able to pick it out if you are observant !
Here are some more of Daryl's custom work for other clients for Carnival; corsets, bras, collars, back packs and boots.
To contact Daryl :coxdaryl@hotmail.com or http://islandprider.blogspot.com/
5 comments:
Loved your backpack Saucy!
I THINK i saw ur backpack.. well based on the image it HAD to be your backpack lol.
That backpack is drool-worthy.
Love the details in the backpack, this was a great job and great idea!!!
Those Tribe Bliss costumes were so lacking .... its a real shame that they actually NEED (imo) an upgrade
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