Midsummer by Lora Avedian
We’re extremely happy to be working with the textile artist Lora Avedian on a series of art works called Midsummer, created for Once. Anna Stewart (Once) first met Lora through a mutual friend ten years ago, and has been following Lora’s rising star ever since. It felt natural that Lora was one of the first people Anna called when opening the gallery, with its focus on handmade, beautiful objects for the home.
The Midsummer collection is a series of intricately designed and embroidered florals on wooden-framed linen canvases, using applied threads, silks and ribbons. Together they celebrate the joy and abundance of Midsummer florals, including: Poppies, Sunflowers, Nasturtiums, Cornflowers, Heleniums, Echinacia and Marigolds. The pieces can be bought separately or in groups.
The Midsummer collection is open now at Once until 20 September and the pieces are available to purchase at the gallery. The collection is available to buy online from 9th July, following our official opening. To tell you a bit more about the collection, we asked Lora some questions about her journey as an artist, her inspiration and Midsummer gardens…
AS: We first met at the Royal College of Art about ten years ago when you were graduating from the Textiles programme and I was studying History of Design. Can you tell us a bit about your journey - and what attracted you to study textiles?
LA: I have been interested in textiles from a really young age, I started doing embroidery on clothes and bags when I was in my teens, and got really interested in it when I was doing my A-level’s and learnt from my friend’s mum about machine embroidery.
I decided to go to Manchester Metropolitan University, to study their degree course called Embroidery, which doesn’t exist anymore, it was very focused on machine embroidery. During my BA I became really interested in prop making, and costume and creating a narrative with the objects I made, very much inspired by photography.
After I graduated I did an internship for JW Anderson for a season, and lots of odd jobs, working for artists and designers. I then sort of fell into assisting prop makers and stylists, and began a career in prop making, styling and set design for advertising, fashion, and editorials. I did that for about seven years and although I loved it I realised textiles, colour and materials are where my heart is. I went to study at the Royal College of Art in 2015, which gave me the time and space to develop my work into what it is today.
AS: When visiting your studio I noticed many visual references from different disciplines and different parts of the world, which references do you find yourself coming back to and why?
LA: I think I am just a bit of a magpie, I want to do everything and I like looking at all sorts of things as references. It is hard to pin down exact inspiration for any of my work because it often comes from lots of different places.
Sometimes things are inspired by anything from materials, or colours I have found in nature to a wall colour in a house I have been to. I often find I come back to antique textile samples when I am thinking about technique and materials. I love ancient objects from different cultures, I try and collect books from different places I travel to, and always love to go to museums when I can.
My trip to Armenia last year was really great for this, and I think it will feed my imagination for a long time. Artists like Eric Rivilious and David Hockney are always there as a reference, I love the sensitivity of line in both of their drawing styles.
AS: I understand that you also enjoy working with clay - something close to our hearts at Once - and something that all the artists we work with share. Could you offer your thoughts on the appeal of clay ?
LA: My mum was always making pottery when I was a child and we had a lot of her pieces around my family home. Until recently I was going to an evening class, and I love taking that time out to make something with a completely different material and process.
Cont…
I think there is something so satisfying about working with such a soft material to physically build an object that will then be turned into something that will be completely solid and can be used for generations.
I use my pottery classes as a way of switching off, you have to be so focused on what you are doing. My favourite bit is the decorating with slips and glazes. Oxides are my favourite. It’s always interesting to see how my work can translate into different mediums. It’s that element of surprise i love as well, seeing how it looks when it comes out of the kiln; it’s magic.
AS: There is often a theme of horticulture running through your work, and it’s clear that you have a deep knowledge of plants and flora. Is the natural world something you have always been drawn to?
LA: Not always, I think an appreciation of flowers has always been there, but during my higher education I was just interested in making fantasy worlds. Really influenced by photography and film. For a long time I have been interested in fashion and costume. I loved to look at antique clothing and used to go to antique fairs with my mum.
I would often be drawn to objects that tried to replicate nature, like metal lamps or silk flowers, or glass chandeliers. But I think my deeper interest in flowers developed when I started to make them from paper as props in around 2014, I enjoyed looking at the anatomy of them, the petal colours, I would paint the petals with water colours and cut out each of the petals by hand. I think it made me really look at them closely, and then I realise how vast the spectrum of different ones there are out there.
Now I garden too, which came when I had my daughter, and that has just made me love horticulture even more.
AS: I’m interested to know if you have an abundant garden full of Midsummer plants right now?!
LA: I do! I am so proud of it, after five years it’s all finally looking gorgeous and of course we are moving house…
AS: Conversely, your new Looping Forms trims are more joyful pattern than floral references. We love the fact that the trims are a practical way of updating existing curtains and upholstery rather than buying new every time. Can you tell us a bit more about about this collection ?
LA: The collection is something I had wanted to do for a long time, I love trims and ribbons and it felt like there was nothing out there that looked like the sort of thing I wanted to make. It is inspired by two significant trips I took last year, one to Armenia and one to Japan, as well as my collection of vintage trims. I love the simplicity of a single line drawing and I used the collection to highlight that. The technique I use is hand guided braid, which is a machine version of the hand couching technique I teach. I make each length to order in my studio in SW London, it’s a labour of love but that’s what makes them interesting, each one is unique.
Image references (from top right: the Midsummer collection at Once - image by Anna Stewart. Mid left: Midsummer work-in-progress at Lora’s studio - image by Lora Avedian. Mid right: Lora Avedian in her garden by Elena Bazu. Bottom left: Looping Forms collection by Lora Avedian.
