I met Sian Elin at Tent London, part of this year’s London Design Festival. It was her first ever trade show, which is incredibly exciting, so I was keen to interview her and find out more about her story. We talked cameras, Pantone mugs and making the jump to fly solo…
What’s the most important thing to know about you?
I am passionate about what I do.
Describe a really good day and a really bad day in the life of Sian Elin.
Bad day: No inspiration, no natural light, no colour.
Good day: A productive day which makes me feel like I am on to something. And time spent with people who make me laugh. Oh and preferably a beach or a really cool arty city.
What inspires your ideas?
Everything! But mostly the built environment. I love the energy, quirkiness, and spectrum of cultural identities displayed in cities and I like being able to document this in my designs.
Describe the process you go through to turn your ideas into products.
I take a camera with me wherever I go and take snaps of anything that draws my eye. Then I hand-draw motifs from my photos. I scan these in, and arrange them in illustrator to make a pattern. I play with scale, and then I colour my designs digitally – experimenting with lots of combinations that compliment each other and that someone would want to live with and find stimulating.
What advice would you give to an aspiring surface pattern designer?
Keep your eyes peeled wherever you go! Document everything that inspires you on a camera. And find pattern in anything, because it’s everywhere. And then design, design, design.
Desert island design time; which three designed items could you not live without?
My Apple Mac.
My Orla Kiely latop bag.
And any of my Pantone mugs (my friend and I buy each other a new colour each birthday, until one day our houses will be littered with a beautiful array of coloured mugs).
What are you most proud of?
Leaving my full-time job to fly solo – it was a hard decision, but I am glad I took the plunge.
What’s next for you?
I have lots of new stockists in the pipeline, so I am working on seeing these through. And I have a Christmas exhibition in Cardiff at the Washington Art Gallery which I am excited about because I really want to support the Welsh design scene.
And, finally, what’s your favourite colour?!
That’s really hard, because I like so many colours. I gravitate towards just edging on pastel-y colours of yellow, blues, pinks. I can answer this question instead by telling you which colour I do not like – and that is purple!
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- interview :: ronan and erwan bouroullec
- interview :: charlie & jasper
- interview :: home slice
- interview :: amy whitworth
