DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT WITH AMELIA GRAHAM AND HER LATEST INTERIOR COLLAB WITH SUNBURY DESIGN

There’s no question that the advancement of digital technologies has empowered a new generation of entrepreneurial design. But, to survive in commercial life you have to be both talented and have a good mind for business. Amelia Graham has both in volume!

Her brand has grown from strength to strength in the years since she graduated from Chelsea college of Art. We caught up with her to discuss her Creative Journey, the importance of Design and Product Diversity and her latest collection for Contract Interiors with Sunbury Design:

What or who inspired you to choose a creative career?

Both my parents had a keen interest in Art and Design, my mother was a brilliant seamstress and my father is an architect, so drawing and making things seemed second nature….

Tell us about your creative journey back at Chelsea College of Art

The staff at Chelsea are amazing. Chelsea was really about learning the process of creating, and exploring that through techniques, while I was there I did an exchange in Sweden, and that speeded up my CAD skills which was really helpful- CAD was quite fledging in those days and the vast majority of the time was spent in the Print Room Screen printing.

I went back recently to do some guest lecturing on the MA course and it was SO good to be back.

What drives your creativity?

I suppose fundamentally its just an urge to create stuff, that pure joy in playing with shape and form and colour, or solving a brief for someone else, that pleasure in delivering something beautiful for someones brand or fashion line, or the challenge of a new situation for a print, how can this work here. Design is a lot about problem solving and I actually find that immensely satisfying. I love sitting down and thinking, “Oh, so how are we going to do this?”

When did you found your studio and own brand and why?

I started being approached for private commissions about the same time I made my first foray into my own product. I fell pregnant and I suddenly had this crazy impetus to get stuff done. That would be about 7 years ago now. I really wanted to carve out my own place, working for Studios was very creatively free, just pure design work essentially but I missed the interaction with the client, and the whole dialogue that goes with that, ultimately also I wanted to come out from the shadows of working anonymously with no credit, and put my name to my work.

What was the biggest challenge in sourcing products back then and how has the industry changed since you began?

Hmmmm… interesting. I’ve actually used the same printer since my Chelsea days so not a lot in that sense. There seems a lot of print on demand surfaces for various products these days which is good from an ecological point of view I guess.

Your Designer brand offers a wide selection of products, do you print and manufacture on demand?

I keep some stock, like scarves but everything else is made to order. A lot of my clients want some sort of customisation, a slight change in colour or scale, a different word on an art print. POD allows me to offer a bespoke service! I print a lot of fabric by the metre for clients, and often people want to customise the colour to match an existing scheme.

Tell us about you most recent Interior Collection for Sunbury Design

There are 3 designs, in 20 colourways, Riley, Gego and Diez, taking their names from prominent artists in the Op Art movement, which was my initial reference.

These are contract furnishing- so it’s designed for the hospitality market, the textiles are hardworking, and designed specifically for a lot of traffic.

What’s next for Amelia Graham?

I’ve got two exciting things which will hopefully drop next year which I cannot say anything about- sorry that makes for boring reading! I’d love to continue to work with other brands and designers, I am actively looking all the time, so do get in touch people!

Finally; How can the academic sector and the Textile Industry do more to support the next generation?

I think the main focus should be on sustainability as the Textile Industry is one of the worst in terms of the environmental damage it wreaks, so the industry and academic sector need to focus on new ways of working, while the general populace need to change their patterns of buying/using etc. My ex tutor at Chelsea Prof. Rebecca Early has just written her inaugural paper on it.

Becky’s lecture looks through the archive of twenty years of remaking second hand polyester shirts, bringing them back to life to discover the new stories we need to write for the industry and a circular society. I recommend a read here!