Q&A: Clarissa Hulse, textile designer
SELF-CONFESSED GIRLY GIRL, textile designer Clarissa Hulse, has a problem with Barbie…
41-year-old Brit Clarissa Hulse studied fashion and textiles in Brighton before launching her own accessories and fashion company in the early 1990s. That company has now morphed into her interiors and design business - an arena she feels much more comfortable in than fashion. Here she talks design and motherhood, and why she hates Barbie.
LittleBig: Are any of your products designed with children in mind?
Clarissa: [Laughs] I have to admit, they’re really not. My business was well established before I had children, and they were definitely not designed with children in mind - they’re silks largely produced in India and so I’m sure they would pass no stringent child-safety tests! Having said that I’d love to do a collaboration with someone to design more child-friendly products. Not necessarily interiors but perhaps a book - my daughter has several with such beautiful illustrations, but sometimes the stories are so awful - they have to be fun to read when you’re doing them hundreds of times!
Posted 8 May 2010 in Designer Profiles
Inga Sempe: Modern mother
by Jenny Dalton
FOR ALL THAT the parents whose creativity has been directly influenced by their children - and has led them to creating innovative design companies in an attempt to make life better and easier for them and other parents - are inspiring figures, it’s equally inspiring to come across women (in particular) who create some of the best designs for life in general and who just happen to be mothers too.
Like Inga Sempé - the uncompromising French product designer whose star is on the ascendent thanks to fab designs like the Vapeur lamps for Moustache (pictured left) and seating for Ligne Roset. I recently had the chance to interview her for How To Spend It magazine, and was struck by how, in a mostly male-dominated world, she is striving to create designs that aren’t dictated by her gender, but that are a mixture of poetry (she loves pleats / and the idea of lightness), technology and practicality. All this and she’s a mother of two - including a two-year-old girl, Mette. See the full interview here.
Posted 20 April 2010 in Designer Profiles
TEN QUESTIONS, TEN ANSWERS: Alexander Taylor
By Christine Samuelian
At 33 Alexander Taylor is one of the youngest product designers to have made it big in the international design world with iconic shapes like the powder-coated steel Antlers coathanger, the solid oak and rubber Kids Rock rocking chair, and the Fold lamp, a version of which is manufactured by Established & Sons. Alex lives in the seaside town of Deal, Kent, with his wife and two kids, Wilf, 4, and Clara, 18 months.
LittleBig: What inspired your now famous Kids Rock rocking chair [pictured bottom]?
AT: I saw an old children’s rocking chair at a friend’s house. At the time we didn’t have kids but I was instantly struck with this image of children kicking back in front of the fire, relaxing after a tough day - I just thought it was a funny concept. It also gave me an opportunity to design a very pure piece without having to worry too much about ergonomic and comfort complaints. I wanted to design something that would survive long after the children have grown up and left home. It was never my intention to do a version for the grown-ups - I like the idea of the children having their own individuality and furniture.
LB: Any other kid-related products?
AT: The Antlers coat hook [£59, pictured right]. It’s a highly graphic and functional piece that lends itself perfectly to a child’s bedroom wall. [And we also love Alex's flat Fold lamp with coloured flex, pictured below, great for older kids' bedside tables].
LB: Any more child-related ideas in the pipeline?
AT: I’ve had a few thoughts that may develop into both playful objects and serious children’s furniture. I’d love to design a good high chair - there are already a couple of good ones on the market but I think it would be a challenge. It’s such a fundamental part of the kitchen and you have to live with it and use it three or more times every day. I’d also like to design a bed that helps children sleep all night and at least until 7.30am during the week and 11am at the weekends - I’d make a fortune! Read the rest of this article
Posted 5 September 2009 in Designer Profiles
TEN QUESTIONS, TEN ANSWERS: Isak
THE SCANDINAVIAN GRAPHIC DESIGNER and illustrator, Sandra Isaksson, has been designing lifestyle products for her label Isak since 2006. She lives with her partner and sons Theo, 5 (pictured left reading with Sandra) and Eden, 8 months - his new bedroom is pictured bottom - in the beautiful, historic English town of Arundel. Her Isak products focus largely on eating and drinking, as well as a growing range of illustrated posters, textiles and wallpaper (her penguin design is pictured below) for children…
LittleBig: What do you want your kids’ products to say?
Sandra Isaksson: I want them to be user-friendly and kind, the kind of things you want to look after and save for your own children when you grow up.
LB: How has having children made you more design-aware?
SI: Without them I would never have started to design for children. Yes, through their needs I have become more design-aware. Or its made me understand what was lacking out there.
LB: What influences have you tapped into in your designs for children?
SI: My childhood! I was brought up by a family of trolls in the heart of a Swedish forest. Summers were spent sculpting clouds and painting rainbows. In the winters I carved with wind and whittled skybears from snowflakes. I want my children to be as blueberry kissed and filled with magic as I was.
LB: Why your (initial) focus on tableware?
SI: Because I like to eat! And cook! And all my childhood memories are around food and the pleasures of sitting down with family, talking and eating. We had great fun going fishing with granddad, berry and mushroom picking with grandma, coming home and cooking it and sitting down and eating it. We did
proper things, ran around naked in the woods and swam in lakes. My grandparents grew their own veg, went hunting in the woods for meat. And Swedes love eating in the garden! Read the rest of this article
Posted 3 June 2009 in Designer Profiles
TEN QUESTIONS, TEN ANSWERS: Absolute Zero Degrees on Mini Moderns
Together Mark Hampshire and Keith Stephenson of Absolute Zero Degrees, a graphic design outfit based in south London, produce Mini Moderns, a homesware label for kids with more than a little adult appeal too.
They have ridden the wave of the new market in children’s interior design, and have become, within 4 years of their launch, one of the world’s most inspiring design companies for children.
Mark, 41, (shown right in the picture on the left) from West Yorkshire, holds a degree in English literature and loves New York, Negronis and Radiohead. He dislikes red sports cars. Keith, 42, from North Yorkshire, has a degree in graphics, used to work with Wayne and Geraldine Hemingway at Red or Dead, and loves Autumn, gigs, The Festival of Britain, and the Amalfi Coast (ED: but then who doesn’t?). He hates prejudice, heights and laziness. Here they talk design, eco issues, and being online uncles to their growing legion of fans….
LittleBig: Most people turn to design for children when they have kids themselves, and become frustrated or disappointed at what is on the market. You don’t have that justification so what’s your reasoning for Mini Moderns?
Posted 25 October 2008 in Decor, Designer Profiles
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