Interview With Student Artist Charlotte Plews
So, Charlotte, what made you decide to start making brooches out of felt?
I was originally making a present for my mum's birthday, and then it became something I enjoyed and was a productive way to spend parts of my summer.
Do you have a particular creative process for it, or is it a spontaneous explosion of creativity whenever you get an idea?
I tend to pick a theme and follow ideas from that. So I've made brooches along a theme of heraldry, and flowers. I'll write down and often design the idea at the time and make them at a later date when I feel I have enough free time to spend on something other than academics.
Do you think of yourself more as being an artist, in the sense of your craft, or more as a designer in a fashion sense?
I'm not really sure. I guess I've gone for designer with the title of my website, but if I'm honest I view myself more as a crafter—someone who's learning to work with my materials and improving every time.
Have you ever considered a career in the arts?
I have but not in the line of jewellery or crafts. I would really love to become a screenwriter, which is an entirely different side to the arts!
Would you say there is a particular inspiration for your art, in terms of existing pieces and artists?
I'm a big fan of kitch jewellery, and I think that definitely comes through. For me it all began with the Yorkshire Rose brooch, which is very important to me being part of who I am. I like the concept of revitalising the old with the new—using something so simple (and bright) as felt to create a kind of nostalgia.
Is there a general “feel” to your work- do you have certain conceptions of what they should mean when you're making them?
I like to pick themes and run with them. Often going for quite simple designs often based on symbols. I have a couple of sets of old BBC-style weather symbols to go on sale soon, eclecticism and nostalgia are very much essential to my designs.
How did you go about marketing your product?
It was more chance than anything. I'm good friends and work for Kate, owner of Anyone For Tennis?, and I was finishing off my mum's birthday present in the shop, she offered me the opportunity to sell my brooches through AFT? and I took it.
Do you see the creations as something you would display as an exhibition, or purely as wearable art?
Definitely wearable art, since I'm not as skilled as I'd like to be I think the 'hand-crafted' look is more suited to fashion. Though being terribly vain if someone asked for an exhibition I wouldn't say no.
How do you feel about the 'boundary' between art and fashion? Do you have an interest in both?
I think fashion is an expression of art to an extent, but there are limits. Haute couture is not truly fashion because it simply isn't designed to be worn, it exists as an artform. Art is very much a way to express the self, or a specific set of ideas, whereas fashion sets and follows trends—we adapt them to our tastes.
I was originally making a present for my mum's birthday, and then it became something I enjoyed and was a productive way to spend parts of my summer.
Do you have a particular creative process for it, or is it a spontaneous explosion of creativity whenever you get an idea?
I tend to pick a theme and follow ideas from that. So I've made brooches along a theme of heraldry, and flowers. I'll write down and often design the idea at the time and make them at a later date when I feel I have enough free time to spend on something other than academics.
Do you think of yourself more as being an artist, in the sense of your craft, or more as a designer in a fashion sense?
I'm not really sure. I guess I've gone for designer with the title of my website, but if I'm honest I view myself more as a crafter—someone who's learning to work with my materials and improving every time.
Have you ever considered a career in the arts?
I have but not in the line of jewellery or crafts. I would really love to become a screenwriter, which is an entirely different side to the arts!
Would you say there is a particular inspiration for your art, in terms of existing pieces and artists?
I'm a big fan of kitch jewellery, and I think that definitely comes through. For me it all began with the Yorkshire Rose brooch, which is very important to me being part of who I am. I like the concept of revitalising the old with the new—using something so simple (and bright) as felt to create a kind of nostalgia.
Is there a general “feel” to your work- do you have certain conceptions of what they should mean when you're making them?
I like to pick themes and run with them. Often going for quite simple designs often based on symbols. I have a couple of sets of old BBC-style weather symbols to go on sale soon, eclecticism and nostalgia are very much essential to my designs.
How did you go about marketing your product?
It was more chance than anything. I'm good friends and work for Kate, owner of Anyone For Tennis?, and I was finishing off my mum's birthday present in the shop, she offered me the opportunity to sell my brooches through AFT? and I took it.
Do you see the creations as something you would display as an exhibition, or purely as wearable art?
Definitely wearable art, since I'm not as skilled as I'd like to be I think the 'hand-crafted' look is more suited to fashion. Though being terribly vain if someone asked for an exhibition I wouldn't say no.
How do you feel about the 'boundary' between art and fashion? Do you have an interest in both?
I think fashion is an expression of art to an extent, but there are limits. Haute couture is not truly fashion because it simply isn't designed to be worn, it exists as an artform. Art is very much a way to express the self, or a specific set of ideas, whereas fashion sets and follows trends—we adapt them to our tastes.