Artist and designer Saskia Pomeroy recently teamed up with Soho-based boutique OTHER/shop to create The Abstract Vase – an exclusive new lifestyle collection comprising artwork, ceramics and t-shirts.
We were asked to reproduce Saskia’s dynamic designs onto a limited edition series of men’s tees, which we achieved using DTG printing. Saskia kindly took the time to talk to us about the project, as well as her multidisciplinary practice.
Q. How did this collaboration come about?
A. My husband’s uncle owns Present London, a menswear shop on Shoreditch High Street, and I work at Topman, so I’ve been hanging around the menswear circuit for a while. As everyone knows each other, sometimes all it takes is a quick chat with one person and, before you know it, a project is underway!
Above: Saskia created a total of four t-shirt designs as part of her recent collaboration with OTHER/shop
Q. Tell us about the t-shirts you designed as part of the project.
A. Lately I’ve been working a lot with simple shapes and brushstrokes. The t-shirt designs are an extension of this approach. I’ve taken previous outcomes from similar work and tried something else. As an artist, you get stuck on a theme for a while, obsessing over it until you feel it’s been resolved.
Q. You’ve previously created a womenswear range in collaboration with designer Rebecca Torres. What do you enjoy most about designing for clothes and apparel?
A. It’s the chance to create wearable art! It’s great to be able to take your work out of the gallery and put it onto someone’s body. I work a lot with pattern, and really like putting crazy patterns onto garments. I take a lot of inspiration from nature, and kind of perceive print as being a bit like a new skin.
Lately I’ve been doing some stuff with American online retailer Print All Over Me. It’s been really fun and immediate, and is a good way of bridging the gap between designers and suppliers.
Above: One of several pieces produced by Saskia in collaboration with fashion designer Rebecca Torres
Q. You touched on how the natural world influences your work. You can see this in some of your previous projects – particularly your excellent series of anemone bags. Where did the idea for these come from?
A. I’ve been taking a lot of inspiration from animal markings – using them in digital prints or as starting points for my more graphic stuff. So it was this approach and the fact that, as a designer, digital printing is readily available to me, that led me to make the anemone bags. I find digital printing perfect for making small batches of product.
Above: Made from canvas, the anemone bag features a digitally printed, deep sea-inspired design
Q. What would you say is the most important thing to consider when creating designs for textiles?
A. I think it depends on what you want to get out of it really. If you want to sell loads, then it’s best not to do anything really crazy. But I don’t like to bend my style that much, so I’ll probably always just do the craziest thing.
I think you should always consider scale when designing. The scale of the pattern can completely change the garment. I also don’t really like it when you can see where the pattern repeats. I like seamless designs which seem infinite.
Q. You used to work as a commercial screen printer. How did this experience inform the way you work now?
A. I think it moved me away from drawing, and made me look at the stencils and richness of flat colour. Screen printing is a bit like a puzzle that you fit together. I was, and still am, intrigued and inspired by the way you can create 3D visions out of 2D shapes.
Above: A ceramic bowl, handmade and painted by Saskia
Q. Your work ranges from print and drawing to sculpture and textiles. Which discipline would you like to try your hand at next?
A. Good question! I’m not sure at the moment. I seem to work in a pretty impulsive way – I’ll see something and want to do it. I’d like to stick with ceramics for a while, and revisit textiles and garments next year too. But I’ve also been thinking about working with jesmonite moulding too.