You know how much I say I love twitter and that it’s great for meeting people, well it really is. In fact I am going to get a t-shirt that says ‘twitter has changed my life’ (and then tweet about it!) Emma Hamshare the lovely lady behind the the alter ego Demiswede is one of these people. The twitterverse brought us together.
Emma studied at London College of Fashion before being given a Scholarship from Marchpole to make my graduate collection. Now the designer and textile artist set up the label ä elska from my studio space in the creative hub that is Cockpit Arts in Deptford. We asked her some questions and she said this…
Squidge Mag: Can you talk us through your work process, how do things go from a fuzzy concept to the finished article?
Demiswede: Well for me usually everything starts with a lot of photocopies! I’ll spend a lot of time in libraries and this creates loads of ideas that usually lead to a theme. For my graduate collection I was influenced by a lot of scientific diagrams and symbols that document movements or sounds. I thought about how even though most people can’t read musical notation they can enjoy the sound, so their brain understands the same symbols just in a different way! Its a thought process that feels simple and obvious but points to other ideas about interpretation. This leads to me scribbling a lot and playing with shapes on the mannequin which leads to garment shapes!
SM: What or who do you think has been the biggest influence on your designs to date?
D: I think Swedish culture is my biggest influence, I find the design aesthetic so beautiful, Its so pure and so functional yet has a massive visual impact, It is my aim to design like that.
SM: Which designer would you most like to work with?
D: At the moment my favourite designer is Erdem Moralioglu. It is difficult to combine femininity, modesty and modernity and he does it so so well. I also love Martin Margiela for his design ethos, it’s very admirable for a designer to shy away from the spotlight because a huge team of people will have worked on the designer’s collections. The work is so high end, yet exposes the processes behind making the garments.
SM: The fashion industry has been massively influenced by the recession, what effect do you think this has had on new designers?
D: I think it has hit everyone hard, I’ve definitely lost some opportunities due to the recession but I’ve gained the absolutely amazing one to have a studio space at cockpit arts and support from head for business that I never would have had otherwise! Seeing other businesses fail makes you realise that you can’t spend money you don’t have, and you have to be very clever about what you put on the market, but it pushes you to do well on your own. I don’t think it would be any fun if it was easy ; )
SM: How would someone reading this hope to get hold of one of your designs?
D: The garments you can see are made to order and you can email me at demiswede@googlemail.com. Later this year I will be selling accessories at Greenwich market and slowly but surely building up a bigger product range and stockists! Also look out for my label launching which is going to be called ä elska
SM: Your final collection features items which have incredible intricate patterns cut into the fabric, is the process as painstaking as it looks?
D: I drew the textile design by hand and used a laser cutting machine to cut the design. So the laser does the really clever bit! Although it does take a long time to digitally match the textile design to the garment shape, not to mention make sure that you don’t set anything on fire!!
SM: I love that there is an origami element to your work, the pieces are incredible architectural, where did this feature in your work emerge from?
D: Architecture feels similar to fashion in a lot of ways, basically in both disciplines you are cutting out flat shapes and putting them together to make one big three dimensional shape. I also think that you inhabit your clothes as much as you do your home. Its funny that you say it looks like origami because at first when i was trying to work out how to fit people into the shapes I made little paper models of them!
SM: Your studios are in Deptford; South East London has often been suggested as a hub of creativity, do you think that the area has had an influence on you?
D: It’s impossible not to be influenced by your surroundings and Deptford is brilliant as the creativity is a really exciting undercurrent that bubbles underneath society and comes out in graffiti and little community projects. I think you will always find emerging artists and designers where the rent is cheap!
SM: What would you say has been the highlight of you career so far?
D: I’m really only just getting started so I feel like all the highlights are yet to come! I think my graduate show was a definite highlight even though I totally almost fainted afterwards! Can highlights exist in the form of people? I’ve been really lucky since graduating to work with some amazingly creative people at places like Amelia’s magazine and Louise Goldin.
SM: Have you got anything interesting in the pipeline for the future?
D: I have so many ideas and so many plans! I’m going to be doing large pieces of textile artwork to place in empty shop windows, converting negative recession-affected spaces into positive ones! I’m going to be setting up my market stall and I also have some really cool interior products in the pipeline!
SM: What other up and coming designers do you think we should watch out for?
D: Definitely look at Louise Goldin, she does absolutely astonishing things with knit and her shapes are so forward thinking. I also think Peter Pilotto is doing some really interesting things with digital print so I’d keep an eye on him!
