Born and brought up in Manchester UK within spitting distance of Strangeways with parents from the so called " Silent Generation" Did this have an impact on me?...... maybe but it never seemed to affect my curiosity and optimism of what may lay ahead. My childhood was happy and filled with my imagination.
The teenage years was similar to everyone else of the era. Love of music was huge and I was so lucky to be immersed in what later became iconic music venues. Wigan Casino, Mr Pips, (Reno and the Nile which was a bit underground for me) and lots of other places I cannot even remember. Then later the Iconic Hacienda which was more of my sister's haunt but on trips back home I joined her..... Lots of stories to be told, another time!
Career wise, I briefly went to college to study fashion but left to study surface pattern design in one of the many small independent studios.
This is where it all began. Working hard, long hours, lots of tears trying to master the tricky designs. As a freelance studio we were expected to be able to mix our own colours, work out complicated repeats, do all the design styles for different products and markets, understand the printing and production processes and colour separate by hand our designs, if needed. At least 10 years to get most of this under your belt.
My immediate reward was travel. Firstly to the Parisian design studios, Lizzie Derriey, Studio Kitler to name a few. Notoriously secret and a no go to other designers but our studio shared an agent, the lovely Rene Dorenlot who reminded me of Maurice Chevalier. We also had designer friends at the stunning studios in Como, Italy and Krefeld in Germany.
Running parallel to this was the collections we created for clients not only in the UK but US and Australia. By the time I was 20 I had travelled to work in South Africa at Berg River Textiles and Svenmill. Then later at David Whitehead in Zimbabwe. Also a little time with traditional batiks in Sri Lanka for a small company in Negombo.
The studio re located to Cramlington Northumberland to a huge 48 acre site for textiles which housed what was called a totally Vertical company. Meaning the site included spinning, weaving, dyeing, finishing, printing for home textiles. This also included 500 seamstresses making up products such as bedlinen, furnishings etc .The company also had a retail arm to the business, owning approx 250 shops under the Brentfords banner and 300 "Accord" concessions within retail groups such as Debenhams. There was of course a huge warehouse and distribution centre. As well as the main offices, merchandising , showroom and marketing departments.
Our studio was part of the Product Development area which included another showroom, a studio, a room to make prototypes and mini sampling room for the designers to print up small colour ways for clients and presentation.
" I call this the crazy years, partly because of the full on working mode I was part of for 17 years. I became swept up and involved with weekly trips to London for presentations as well as the rest of the UK. All within the backdrop of the 80s excess, lots of entertaining, long days and nights. Relentlessly mixing up working through the night to finish work off and prepare for events. I loved every minute of it. My Zen was painting, creating and planning the schedules, which gave me some breathing space.
The latter part of the 90s was a bit mixed but no less exciting. A combination of personal changes and consultancy opportunities with the mills in Pakistan which I had been visiting on and off over the years. I developed collections for various mills over there including Gul Ahmed in Karachi and then an amazing position arose which I could not miss. I was invited to live and work in Faisalabad and create and establish a design studio for a company called Sitara. Training local designers as well as developing collections for their international clients they printed for which was actually the world. Scandinavia, Europe, North America, South America, Australia.
After all my travel and craziness , I was thrusted into the great unknown..... which I guess actual began at the end of the last era. Little did I know at the time, this proved to be a time of realisation and coming together of all of my skills and learning new skills. All which enabled me to be more confident than I had been before.
The textile and design industry had changed, interiors and taste had changed and I found it difficult to slot into these changes. I decided to side step this and re train. I worked at the Interiors section at Fenwick's department store and went back to college studying Interior Design and Decoration.
Over 14 years, I continued to work with interiors in different companies. Mainly retail. Developing schemes after home visits and surprisingly enjoying all the project management and planning which was similar to the development work in Textile manufacturing. Everything seemed to link together. The unique position of being able to create and develop a design and actually apply it to a product within a scheme gave me a buzz and also gave me the confidence to advise a client.
After a brief time selling art, ( which was not for me at all, would you believe?..... I may tell you why sometime) I felt the urge to paint again and work with pattern design. But this time decided I had to build on my painting skills as well as the interior decorative side and perhaps aim towards a more niche market.
My Husband and I moved to a small village and built my studio in the garden. I started off with small paintings and progressing to experimenting on different surfaces and mediums. Realised that I love working on a large scale and over the moon when commissioned to work in beautiful Grand houses, one which is still Work in progress......... Not unlike this bio which is still work in progress....... so I guess to be continued
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