I've always thought of dyeing and screen printing as cooking with colour — it was the process itself that I fell in love with. I loved playing around with dyes and just letting the process take over. And just as it is in the kitchen, the same recipe would come out differently every time.
I had developed a technique of printing onto silk with dyes, onto which I hand painted over the top with a (horrible) bleach. You couldn't see how it would turn out until the piece was steamed and washed, and it was fascinating not being able to fully control what you created. There were so many variables; the heat of the day, the humidity in the atmosphere, the concentration of dyes I used, all would make the colours come out completely differently once the scarves had been fully processed- for better or for worse.
Some of my first ever scarves using a hand painted 'bleaching' technique.
Back in the 90's when I graduated, textile designers earned a living by painting and designs which were then given to an agent, who would sell them to manufacturers and fashion houses around the world. I remember one time trying on a dress in French Connection that I thought was quite pretty, and thinking to myself, "hang on a minute, this print looks a bit familiar." On closer examination, I realised it was actually one of my own designs that had been horribly altered. This experience fuelled my frustration of just creating print designs and sending them off, never to be seen again. I wanted to see the things I made from start to finish. So I knew that my main ambition was to start up my own studio.
I was lucky enough to get a studio at Cockpit Studios in Bloomsbury, London - a brilliant establishment that's still going strong today and is home to many artists who work in all manner of crafts. One of the best things about Cockpit is their busy open weekends (I still exhibit there most years at Christmas, if you haven't been along, you must!) It is a great opportunity to buy straight from the maker.
Cockpit Studios in 1997
At this point I had spent a fortune setting up my studio, which I desperately needed to recoup. So I thought to myself: what could I print that would sell quickly? The obvious answer was scarves. So I duly dyed a load of silk, had fun playing around with my screens, and created around thirty silk scarves.
A selection of hand printed scarves sold to Barneys New York.
When the sale started, I was bowled over as, one after another, the scarves sold. Excitingly, one of them was purchased by an agent employed by American department stores to scout for interesting products made in the UK. She arranged an appointment for me with Barneys New York. I turned up with my scarves... in a plastic Sainsbury's bag, if I remember rightly! The buyers picked up my scarves, cooing and trying them on, and placed an order for around 100 scarves with me on the spot.
I kept a strip of every scarf I ever printed in a sketchbook for my department store orders.
I knew nothing about business at all, I literally didn't even know what an invoice was, let alone how to export to New York. But I knew how to print the scarves, and somehow the order was sent off, and about six weeks later another order came through the fax machine - this time for triple the quantity. I was over the moon. So I got to work, made it all, and sent it off.
The next thing I knew, I had a phone call from the buyer at Liberty's, who had seen my scarves in Barneys and wanted to buy them too. And so it went on, next it was Joyce Boutique in Hong Kong, then Harvey Nichols and then Neiman Marcus. My business took off completely by accident, and I knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about how to run one. I was printing day and night and decided it was time to employ somebody to help me, and then another person, and then another. Then I decided that my studio space was too small at Cockpit and that I needed to move to bigger premises, which I did.
Left: Standing in front of my mountain of fabric stocks
Right: I still use the very same sink in my studio today that I had in 1997!
I took a space near where I lived in Islington, and had a few happy months there before I got booted out, because I had taken an insecure lease. This was just one of a million lessons that I have learnt the hard way from starting a business from scratch before the internet existed. So I had to move to another premises, which cost me a fortune as moving industrial equipment is expensive. Once I moved, I found myself wondering why my bank account, which had been very full while I was at Cockpit, was now empty, no matter how many scarves I made. This was my first insight into why you can't ignore the business side of things...
Looking back, the scarves were indeed beautiful. Every single one was made by hand, using my techniques of hand-dyeing and hand-painting, which meant each one was a one-off. Barneys then wanted me to make clothing for them as well, so the collection grew as I started making tops and sarongs. I was churning out new designs each season, and whilst I still loved designing scarves, I started to became frustrated by the fleeting nature of fashion and wanted to focus more on developing my now signature botanical style. So in 2002 I took the plunge and launched my first homewares collection.... I shall tell you all about this in another blog post soon....
Clothing collection from the year 2000!
My first collection of cushions in 2001
Even though my scarves are no longer hand printed by me, which I do miss, they are still one of my favourite things to design today and will always remain a part of my collection.
