DESIGNER Q&A - MEET IRENE VAN OPHOVEN AND HER STUNNING INTERIOR PRODUCTS THAT PUSH THE ESTABLISHED BOUNDARIES OF DESIGN

Irene Van Ophoven’s design studio is based in Rotterdam. It’s here that she creates her beautiful patterns and prints that explore new and innovative creative applications for Interior Decor. Her work encompasses Textiles, Wallcoverings, Ceramics and much more. As an inquisitive creative, her playful approach pushes the established boundaries of design by exploring new materials and techniques to create bold, balanced, tactile interiors.

When did you choose a creative career and why?

I think it has always been there. As a child and in secondary school I was always busy with creative things, I also painted a lot. Eventually I studied art history and cultural studies at the University of Amsterdam. So my background is actually very broad. I first started working in the cultural industry on a more organisational level, but in the end blood was thicker than water which led me to my current creative career.

Where did you study and did you have good access to digital technologies?

As I said, I initially studied at the University of Amsterdam. Many years later, I went to study Styling and Design at the Artemis Academy where I graduated cum laude, with a follow-up year at the Academy Vogue in Amsterdam.

I then also started learning to work with digital programmes for my design work. There are so many possibilities and that is wonderful, but I always try to put something of manual creation – by my own hand - in my work as well.

Tell us how, when and why you decided to go it alone an build your design brand

That all happened very organically and building my own brand was a very gradual process for me. When I started designing on fabrics, I got very positive reactions and I also participated in a number of exhibitions. At a certain point, people start to recognise your work because a certain handwriting emerges, but it never stops. It evolves. And besides, I also work ‘bespoke’ or with other companies like Eijffinger, Urban Cotton, Chivasso and HOT to develop collections. Then it has to fit with them as well.

Define your style and how you create your designs.

At the start of a design process, I like to collect, search and then compose ideas and I always go very widely. I prefer working in series.
At the moment, I am mainly busy with graphic design, designing patterns that are suitable for very large surfaces - such as high walls. Graphic can sometimes be a bit strict, but I want to keep it colourful and playful. I get my ideas from many things. I am very visual; aesthetics and harmony play an important role. Things are also allowed to go a bit 'wrong', so I try to combine digital and manual methods and incorporate some of the errors that I make during the process, instead of correcting them. I believe that this benefits the final work in a positive sense and the way the design communicates. I believe in the positive power that good design can have on people.

How have digital technologies enabled your success and creativity?

If you work digitally, you can quite quickly try out different variations in your design as you go along. Making repeating patterns is easier done on a computer than by hand.
Digitalisation also gives you the opportunity to fairly easily show people how a design works in a space.

What’s your favourite print media and why?

I like working three-dimensionally and I like tactility. Working with textiles is something I have enjoyed since childhood.
But now I have also discovered other materials such as ceramic tiles, wallpaper (preferably with a textile look) and floor and wall hangings. This allows me to show even better the different applications of my designs.
I am always looking for new materials. For example, I recently started working with Piñatex, a sustainable leather-like material, and I continue to look for innovations and partners to work with.

If you could print onto anything, what would that be?

I am always looking for innovations and partners to work with. Finding new insights is what I like best in my job. I also think it would be great to combine different techniques, so digital print with, for example, weaving or embroidery techniques. I am also thinking about what I could do with 3D print.

What’s your favourite project and why?

For now that is of course the work I showed during the Salone del Mobile last September in Milan at the Dutch pavilion ‘Masterly’. I showed my 'Connected' series there. This is a growing series of designs with different materials and proportions with which customers can also 'play' and create their own patterns. I like that people have an input as well and add personality to their interiors!

The series is all about geometric shapes, colours and patterns interfering with each other and reminiscent of landscapes and city maps like the ones in the metro. In a very playful way, I combined different patterns and translated them into different designs. The nice thing about this series is that it arose from the desire to work with the physical canvas again. For me personally, it is great to work on a series that has infinite design possibilities.

How do you plan to expand your design brand?

I want to do more creative collaborations.
On the one hand, I would like to cooperate more with interior designers in creating interior experiences. This can be done with total concepts that reflect in the patterns, but also with unique (art) pieces.
And on the other hand I want to continue working with partners to experiment with materials and create product collections or applied products.

Finally, how can the print industry make the process easier for the emerging creative?

Short delivery times and small print runs are convenient for me. Another challenge is to find special materials that not everyone offers, in order to be distinctive. Price remains a point of attention, because in the end, a product must also remain interesting in terms of cost calculation.