Posted by sabine7
Interview | 12 Jun 06 | Comments (1) | Stumble
Wallcoverings were certainly all the rage at ICFF and the work of Erica Wakerly was no exception. Wakerly’s background as an illustrator stands her in good stead as her approach to designing wallpapers and fabrics comes from a print perspective. Black and white figure strongly in Wakerly’s prints, as does silver. Other colours in use tend towards the refined and mature which work in tandem with Wakerly’s very modern-flavoured graphics. Erica Wakerly's work is very striking and we took a moment to ask her a few questions about her designs. Interview after the jump. SM
Houses and Spiral wallpaper at ICFF.
ML: Erica, your designs are quietly elegant, with a bit of quirk that gives them an edge. But this is perhaps not the way you would describe them. What is it about these designs that give them that Erica Wakerly touch?
EW: I think your description of my designs is good - I think the elegance is to do with the balance in the composition. The designs are quite delicate - even the larger, bolder designs - I am not wanting them to overpower a space, I want them to help create a feeling of space, an airiness. I have never tried to conform with a particular style - I am interested in a Modern aesthetic, in terms of proportion, colour and space, but I am not a complete purist about this. I like to contast very clean, graphic lines with something much rawer, rougher, textured, such as 'Desert', to something illustrative, such as 'Houses' (although I still consider both of these designs to have a Modern feel).
The 'Erica Wakerly' touch, (as you describe it!), probably also comes out of the unconventional route I have taken over the past few years - I have worked/ studied within illustration and graphic design as well as textiles and wallpaper. I have also always had a strong interest in architecture and interiors. I feel it has benefited me to have seen design from all these perspectives, I think my influences have come from many areas that this helps to contribute to an individuality in design.
Desert fabric at ICFF
ML: Something we love is that your graphics have a retro feel to them - can you tell us about why you are drawn to certain eras?
EW: I have been influenced by the interiors and shapes of the 1950's having spent a lot of time looking at images from magazines of this era. I really like the odd perspectives you find in the illustrations, and the print quality, as well as the angular shapes and the colours, and often the strange, optimistic humour of the era (more from the US than the UK). I am also very interested Art Deco interiors, and 1930's design. Again it is to do with the shapes, there is sense of elegance and simplicity of form.
ML: How do your illustrations come by their architectural flavour?
EW: With my illustrations I have always enjoyed drawing interiors and buildings. It is something to do with the perpectives and the negative space around them which interests me. And of course since I have been designing prints for interiors this all then ties together; I can drawn interiors to visualise how my own prints will look within them. This is also part of the idea behind the 'Houses' wallpaper - you could view this in an ironic way, putting these suburban looking Houses in your city home! (or your suburban home!), or they can just be enjoyed for their drawn quality.
ML: What's more fun for you to design, the wallpapers or the fabrics? Is there a different creative process involved?
EW: For me the wallpapers and fabric designs are very closely connected, as some of the designs work on both. Fabric is great as it can become a whole new form and this allows the pattern to take on new characteristics and there is a wider choice of substrate, I love the way flat blocks of colour pick up a particular weave, but I love the way the wallpaper print and pattern works over a large flat surface. Wallpaper also allows a pattern to speak more clearly, in some ways you have to be cleverer with the repeat as it is more exposed over a flat surface, and I like that challenge. Ultimately it is how both of these work together within the space which counts.
Spiral wallpaper.
ML: There was certainly a wide range of wallcoverings at the recent ICFF - what trends in this area do you see coming up?
EW: Wallcoverings have become really exciting over the past few years, but I think there has been a heavy reliance on traditional motifs and very heavy decoration and embellishment. I think people will tire of the bird and flower motifs which have been flooding the market, especially in the UK. I think that we are coming up for a period when things could start to get stripped back again, to something more minimal, perhaps more masculine, but retaining the use of pattern and interesting textures, with perhaps a rougher edge.
Windmill wallpaper.
Finally, innovation in wall coverings that has more to do with aesthetics than breakthroughs in fire-retardant vinyl. Anyone who's had to catalog their firm's wall covering samples would view this as an extremely welcome change.