One to Watch - Louise Archer

*Soppy message alert*

Before introducing Louise and her beautiful colourful works, I'd love to say a little something. The past year since graduating, I've been the blogger for F6.Studios and have relished the excuse to meet lots of talented and interesting people, and visit art previews and studio parties! Although I'll still be working in this amazing space (and still meeting new people and going to colourful events), I'm really sad to have finished my internship, and it's been such a privilege to look after the blog and to have all of the experiences that have come with it. Back to the blog itself, I'll leave you with my last blogpost for F6.Studios, which I have decided to write on recent graduate Louise Archer. Not only is she a great person who happens to have a brilliant eye for colour, but she is going through the nerves, uncertainty and excitement that many creatives can relate to at this moment in time...

Earlier this month in London was the annual event New Designers, which attracts the top picks of new graduate designers and top buyers from around the globe. One of the designers showcasing at New Designers, having just completed her textiles degree at Cleveland College of Art and Design (CCAD), as well an interview for Texprint, is emerging talent Louise Archer. Louise's surface patterns are incredibly versatile, working well on everything from fashion to gift and interiors, and her lively colour combinations and expressive style are something that makes her stand out from the crowd. We particularly love her two-tone velvet devore, which cleverly combines two different types of dye to achieve the contrasting colours.

We recently caught up with Louise to talk about her love of colour, London, and how it feels to be stepping into the real world as a designer...

F6 Studios: Hi Louise, we'll start with a congratulations on your first!

Louise Archer: Thank you

F6: How does it feel to have finished your degree?

LA: Exciting, I was a bit nervous towards the end because I've always been in education, and now it's like I'm entering the real world, but I'm excited to see where it's going to go...

F6: So for your degree show collection you've used vibrant colours in quite an ecclectic way, what inspired your colour pallet?

LA: I tend to always go towards bright colours, I think subconsciously maybe, but it's meant to go with my theme and concept. It was direction and movement and things, so I wanted to mix a whole bunch of colours together and see how they went, how they're always moving in different directions and get put on different paths, so to see the movement between where the colours work together.

F6: So it's quite an organic process?

LA: Yeah it takes me a while to get into things but once I get there, normally towards the end everything starts to flow more naturally.

F6: You've also just come back from New Designers, how did you find that?

LA: Ah it was an amazing experience! I was really glad to get picked for that, it's a really good opportunity to be there and to see your work in that sort of environment, it really makes you want to...really hits home that's what I want to do now, and that I'm doing the right thing for me to carry on after university. It was just great to be there with everyone, and it was a really nice way to finish off.

F6: What would you say was the best thing about London when you were down there?

LA: Just the place itself really, there's so much going on and everything's really fast paced, and it was really exciting putting up the show. Seeing it all come together and being surrounded by a load of other people's works, cause I mean you see everyone who's in your class at uni all the time and you know their work, and see what other places are doing as well was really good.

F6: So now you've got your graduation coming up, what's next?

LA: I just want to get some placements and get a bit more experience within the industry, I'm not really sure which direction I want to go into because I like trend research, and really like surface designs in general. I just want to see where I would fit really, also some experience of working in some studios and see where I go from there.

F6: That's the good thing with a textiles degree is that it is very versatile, so you could go into pretty much anything you wanted.

LA: There's a lot of different directions you could go into so we'll wait and see!

F6: Well the world is your oyster, you're really good with interiors though and you've just gotten yourself a placement? 

LA: Yeah I've got a placement coming up which New Designers helped with, they seen my business card and I wasn't actually there at the time to actually meet them, but they picked my business card up and I got an email saying they would like me to go for a placement, which I'm really excited about and see how it goes from there!

F6: Congratulations! That's a great start and I'm sure it's only the beginning of an exciting journey for you, and it's been a pleasure talking to you.

We're excited to see what's next for Louise, and we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for her experimental work. Just like her designs, based on direction and movement, and seeing where everything fits, the beginning of her life as a young designer seem to have similar exciting parallels with the early stages of her work.

This leads nicely onto our studio shakeup, as we are waving farewell to a few members and saying hello to a few new people! We're sorry to have to say goodbye and wish lots of love and luck to our fab photographers, Michael (McGuire) and Lucie (Cox), who are moving to a new space, our fine artist Kate Dunn, who begins teaching in Cyprus in September, and also one of our colourful urban artists Stu Borbjerg, who will be moving to Edinburgh to start his Masters degree!! We also would love to wish a very warm welcome to our newbies, avant-garde fashion designer Dayne Henderson (as seen on Lady Gaga and at Newcastle Fashion Week!) and 3rd year animation students Thom, Emma, Dannielle from Newcastle College!

And to round up this blog post, here are some lyrics by Gracie Fields:

"Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye,

Cheerio, here I go, on my way

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye,

Not a tear, but a cheer, make it gay!"

MK