creative spaces :: clarissa hulse

I was recently very lucky to be invited to Clarissa Hulse‘s North London studio to screenprint my very own Clarissa Hulse cushion – what a fantastic way to spend a Thursday morning! Her studio is spacious, light-filled and, as you’d expect, a riot of colour, so while I was there, I thought I’d shoot a creative spaces post.

Clarissa is known for her nature inspired designs. She hand prints bright pigments onto contrasting silk to really make the colours ‘pop’. She credits her global, nature-filled childhood as a key inspiration for her work.

Clarissa’s design process usually starts with a walk in the countryside. She photographs flowers, plants and shapes that inspire her and turns these into her trademark designs. The designs are then exposed onto screenprinting screens, ready to print.

Her space is full of tools of the trade and snippets of the design process. These samples hang above the printing table for colour matching – pigments look different on different silks, so these help to predict how certain combinations will look.

I loved Clarissa’s desk area. She is surrounded by her inspirations, her products, her ideas and her work in progress.

But my favourite thing was the patina on the sheet covering the printing table, developed over time by layer upon layer of prints. Clarissa has spotted the appeal and now recycles these sheets into bags – what a great idea!

And here’s the lady herself, showing us how it’s done.

Further reading for the especially geeky:

• creative spaces :: cockpit arts
• creative spaces :: chase and wonder
• creative spaces :: linda bloomfield
• creative spaces :: foodie bugle hq