Inspirations can come from the most unlikely places: Colombian artist José Antonio Suárez Londoño started his meticulous drawing practice after author Héctor Abad asked him to participate in a project that consisted in Suárez Londoño drawing a picture a day and in Abad creating, at the end of a month, a text revolving around the drawings.
In the end, Suárez Londoño's prolific output proved to be too much for the writer, but gave the artist the chance to learn how to organise his work and pratice, drawing a picture a day for different texts including the diaries of Briano Eno, Paul Klee and Franz Kafka, and the poetry of Patti Smith.
Examples of his drawings illustrating the diaries (from 1914 to 1923) of Franz Kafka are on display at the 55th Internatinal Venice Art Biennale.
Suárez Londoño's modus operandi is simple: first he reads the diary or the poems and then he illustrates the images of objects, clothes, accessories, small portraits or figurative studies that they inspire him on a notebook page.
The pages of these notebooks, that he calls Yearbooks (65 so far) represent a dialogue between the artist and the author of the diary.
Sophie Nuttall's graduate collection, that she presented in May during the Westminster University fashion show, moves from stationery and in particular from printer paper and notebooks. In Nuttall's collection a blank page turns into the main material for her dresses that become tangible tools, almost physical words, to start a dialogue between the wearer and the designer.
Very aptly entitled “Pages”, the collection features dresses and accessories in different shades of white and cream, representing the possibility offfered by a blank page. The designs are indeed decorated here and there with ring bind reinforcements and metal ring binders, and can therefore be deconstructed and reconstructed in different ways.
Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Sophie Nuttall: I was born in a Weir village in Lancashire and went on from studying a BTEC in fashion onto University of Westminster. Going from a village to the capital city was a huge change and I had to adapt pretty quickly.
Can you take us through the creation of your graduate collection by briefly explaining us its genesis?
Sophie Nuttall: I have always loved stationery to the point where I would seem to collect paper and pens but never use them and so my collection entitled "Pages" refers back to old fashioned printer paper and notebooks which I remember as a child. The idea of the holes which run down the edges forming the seams and fastenings of the garments is taken from metal ring binders and ring bind reinforcements. I love how blank a page can be, like an idea that is waiting to happen.
What kind of materials did you employ to recreate the rigid shapes and silhouettes of your designs?
Sophie Nuttall: I created the whole collection by fusing fabrics together, not a stitch in sight, using mainly neoprene and cotton, in subtly different whites and creams finding each page has its own shade of white. I also used metal rings to attach pieces together signifying ring binders which allowed the garments or rather "pieces" to be taken apart and attached in many different ways; I have always liked the idea that things can be adapted, and that nothing is ever permanent.
The collection seems to be characterised by very clean and pure lines, do you feel that other disciplines inform your designs?
Sophie Nuttall: I am always inspired by architecture, one of my favourite books is The London Book, a photographic compilation of London architecture and design from grates to lamp posts, inspired by the simplicity of humble functional design.
Which was the most challenging part of creating this collection?
Sophie Nuttall: Having to fight against all the other ideas. It has been so difficult to choose one idea when you feel so much emphasis will be based on your graduate collection as though it defines who you are as a designer. As I have learnt it's who you are as a designer in that space of time and although a designers' philosophy will remain the same, your way of working and inspiration will always change, and that's what makes designing so exciting.
Is there an artist/designer you particularly like?
Sophie Nuttall: I worked with Marie Wilkinson who is Design Director at Cutler and Gross, she is consistently passionate about her work and is well informed on all areas of design and culture which she fuses into each collection. My favourite artist is L.S. Lowry, I find solace in his lines and shapes.
Were you excited about presenting the collection during a proper catwalk show and how was it?
Sophie Nuttall: I was very nervous as I naturally focus on small details which would not have a visual impact on a catwalk, but it was exciting to finally have some design output released into the world.
What's the best lesson you were taught at the various placements/internships you did so far?
Sophie Nuttall: To never give up being inspired, to be innovative always, and not to overlook simplicity.
What are your future plans?
Sophie Nuttall: I would love to work further on accessories as I feel it suits the way my mind works in shapes.
Photographs of Sophie Nuttall's collection by Simon Armstrong.
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