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Fabric store employee launches school projects assistance initiative

To some parents, Enrique Corbie has been a creative dream come true. The 27-year-old's knack for breathing life into some of the projects given to students – which more often than not become parents' projects – has led to his starting Little Project Helper, an initiative that assists parents with school projects. "Projects for a science fair, or maybe a Carnival costume or career day outfit; any creative school assignments," Corbie told Newsday. [caption id="attachment_1167677" align="alignnone" width="768"] A bag made by Enrique Corbie. -[/caption] "Parents often come to me to get advice on what to do with a project. I would say it came about with my own family members asking for help with their little projects that they had to get done," Corbie said. Eventually, this service was extended to his co-workers at Jimmy Aboud the Textile King, in Port of Spain. "A lot of people kept saying, 'you know, you should open a business or something. This is something people would need.' And I guess that's where it started." Although the Little Project Helper social media platforms only became active last month, Corbie said the initiative has been approximately three years in making – one year after he started working at the store. [caption id="attachment_1167678" align="alignnone" width="569"] Appliqué cross patches made by Enrique Corbie for a graduation suit. -[/caption] "I have assisted with a lot of projects. A lot of times customers would come in looking for material to make things like hummingbird costumes, things to do with nature, career day outfits, and because of my experience in the store, I would be able to advise them on what they need to get and how much of it," and many times, after working hours, he would even help them put it together. But it has now gone beyond school projects. During graduation season customers have come into the store wanting to add "bling" to their suits and gowns, or they would want to "recreate a nice effect on their shoes." This year, he said, appliqué cross patches were very popular among the young men. He recalled one parent coming into the store after going to a number of places looking for cross patches. It was not available at the store but he told her he could make them. She bought the material he recommended, gave it to him, and the following day he sent her photos of what he had made and told her the eight patches were ready for collection. She was so pleased that she sent him a video of the finished product on the suit to post to his social media platforms, which led to more requests for appliqué patches from other graduates. [caption id="attachment_1167679" align="alignnone" width="768"] Little Project Helper founder Enrique Corbie helps parents and children with projects for science fairs, Carnival costumes or career day outfits. -[/caption] "And one of them whose suit I made crosses for won prom king," he beamed. "There's so many things I've done and so many people ask for my help," he said, that he is considering offering his projects assistance services through the school system to help to engage students and parents. "I mean, it should be something that is interactive with the children. I know a lot of parents take on the burden of the whole project, and I feel like it should be something that both the parent and the child should work on. So I'm hoping that I could probably get into the schools and offer one or two programmes in terms of projects and how it's done." Another thing he would like to see is the creation of a department at his place of employment that would allow him to use his talents to advise customers who come in with specific creative needs, and to make what they need if it is not available in the store. "That would be something, yeah. That would be really cool." Corbie's love for all things creative, even as a child, is all natural. For although he studied art at school, he has always been the go-to artsy person within his circles. "I've always been drawing and making little crafty things. Even with my own family members, they'd be like, 'Enrique knows what to do.'" In addition to customising clothes and shoes, he makes bags, backpacks, and "I'm very much into the DIY culture. For example, I might find a broken mirror and fix it up, put some gems on it. If it doesn't have anything to hold it up, I will make a cardboard casing to put it on, so that it could hang up onto the wall." He also does a bit of sewing, but mostly for himself. The self-proclaimed homebody said when he is not working or getting creative, he can usually be found at his Trincity home playing video games. But he has plans to apply to the University of Trinidad and Tobago to study fashion designing. Follow Little Project Helper on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.   The post Fabric store employee launches school projects assistance initiative appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.