It will be 10 years ago this summer when I was asked by Liberty to create their 2005 Christmas windows. I had just finished collaborating with Michiko Koshino on her SS 2005 where I had used pleated paper in a series of showpieces for the catwalk show. The creative of VM at Liberty had seen the show and wanted a slice of this for Liberty! The brief was to come up with something spectacular and modern with a fashion edge – to help sell their artisan crafted products. The idea of using paper was mooted to tie in with Christmas – although reindeer printed-paper was out! I decided to pursue the idea of using luxury iridescent papers. These had a wonderful luminous lustre that captured the spirit of Christmas. I drew upon my previous experience of working with designer Alexander McQueen to design and create exaggerated silhouettes in paper. At the time my tiny studio in Holborn was above a shop. So Liberty kindly let me use the rafters of the store to work day and night with my team to create thousands of pleats for a dress that grew within the windows as shoppers passed by!
The result was an immediate success and marked a journey into creating spectacles for windows and a desire to create more challenging shapes in paper. As a medium in plentiful supply, its versatility fuelled my creative mind. Scroll forward over the last decade and I find myself back in Liberty. Having been asked to create several floral installations to launch their exclusive floral Liberty prints. Our paper art installation can be found on the 3rd floor, celebrating ‘The Flowers of Liberty ‘ home line. Its seems fitting with this first blog post. My team and I are celebrating 10 incredible years working in paper and we have come full circle to where it all began!
