This
lovely success story takes place across two years. Not just any two years –
those epic and overflowing years at the start of any creative venture. For Annie Everingham, the journey commenced when she completed a Bachelor of Fashion and
Textiles at University of Technology Sydney, November 2013. Sitting on the edge
of Hyde Park, in a warmth typical of the start of summer, she openly shared her
sketchbook workings. Realms of delicate yet decisive pencil lines formed pretty
faces, gentle hair and strong forms to hold her watercolour designs. Annie’s
love of florals and abstract shapes were evident, as was a preference for
cobalt blue, fuchsia pink and emerald green. And as she contemplated her fork
in the road, it was clear Annie had something special.
But
special does not always translate into success – and the juncture between inspiration
and actualisation can be tricky to navigate. Just like the worlds of fashion
and textile design had overlapped during her course, so too did the options for
her future. Was her work in textile design, or was it in fashion? Should she be
developing her own business and products, or working for others? With options
abounding, but no clear frontrunner, one thing was clear – she would take her
next steps from the seaside town of Newcastle, standing strong with support of
her life partner and business graduate, Chris O’Connor.
And
so, in one of those rare steps of fortune, she took the pressure off and “just
for a bit of fun” started selling prints on paper of her work at Hunt &Gather, a local design market. Visitors flocked. Buyers were drawn to Annie’s bold
use of colour, finding her abstract designs fresh and enlivening. Her social
media following grew rapidly, and Annie quickly found herself right where she
should be – painting.
“I
guess when I met you I was really coming out of my degree. I was really focused
on textiles and seeing where I could go with that. I started carrying on from
my major project, which was the digital textiles collection that I did at uni,”
explained Annie. “But as a side project I started selling the designs that I
had come up with for fabric as prints ... So I set up an online store and started
going to markets. I was selling them as prints on quality art paper, as
artworks, which I found people really responded to. It was kind of like a hobby
for me, but the more I got into it, the more the digital aspect sort of started
slipping away a little bit,” said Annie.
“I
was finding a lot of enjoyment from the actual tactile process of creating the
artwork on paper,” she continued. “Then, once I had played around with it, I
was scanning the artwork into Photoshop and working it as a digital file, which
was the process I had learnt at uni. But more and more, I was enjoying the
initial process, rather than the digital side of things, so because I was doing
really well with sales, I started painting a lot more, and it has just been
going from there. I have really stepped into more of an art space, rather than
just textiles,” she added.
So
although Annie had finished her studies with promising prospects for a career
in fashion and design – she had won both the Design Institute of Australia’s NSW
Graduate of the Year for Textiles in 2013 and been a finalist in the Textile
Institute’s National Student Design and Technology Award in 2014 – the vocation
she has now arrived at sits far more firmly in the realm of an artist. Her
journey had travelled full circle, for as a child growing up in the country
town of Tamworth she was always creating, and often daydreamed about being an artist.
Torn between studying art or design, her path now makes perfect sense.
“Pursuing
design seemed to be the practical solution to wanting to create for a living,”
Annie elaborated, “but my interest in fashion was actually born from sketching
and painting fashion illustrations, rather than a love for sewing or the construction
of garments. I guess where I find myself today is sitting quite
unconventionally between art and design – I feel uncomfortable labelling myself
as an ‘artist’, because I apply my training in design and consider trends and
the commercial aspect of my products. But when I’m designing, I’m creating from
a pure, creative and intuitive place as any ‘real’ artist would do in their
practice. I think in the digital age, there can be room for both to sit
alongside each other, and intermesh. I really look up to creatives like Ken
Done in this way. I love that my work can move between the worlds of art,
fashion, homewares and design, it satisfies the conflict I used to feel in
choosing one or the other,” she concluded.
These
same tensions were ever present during her time of study. Annie’s colour
palette is bold, repetitive and unmistakable. Being connected to the world of
fashion, where colours are often martyred by trends, some of her teachers had tried
to encourage her to step outside her comfort zone and try something new. But
Annie was leading from within – using the colours she was drawn to explore, which
have now become her signature. In another little twist of fate, one of those
teachers is now one of her firmest supporters.
“When
I was at uni, one of my lecturers – probably one of the teachers always
steering me away from these colour palettes in the beginning – actually turned
out to be one of my biggest supporters by the time I graduated,” explained
Annie, “because he always said to me ‘Annie you’re an artist, don’t worry about
all of this other stuff,’ because I would be crying about sewing and stuff, and
couldn’t do it, but he would say ‘You know you have got such a unique talent,’ I
felt as though UTS encouraged us to fit into a really conceptual, high end,
niche market of fashion, readying us for the international stage, which just
didn’t fit with my work. I knew it was too commercial. So when I just gave it
my all and went into this other space, this art space, I was creating hand
drawn artworks and printing them digitally onto squares of silk - he was sort
of nudging me and saying, ‘I told you so,’ like, this is working for you
because it is removed from fashion.”
“But
I did often get complimented on my use of colour,” she continued. “They knew
that I had an eye for colour, and could put things together and they always
encouraged that in me, it was just that I always used to pick the exact same
colour palette for every collection and by year three or something they were
like, ‘you can’t keep using this – it is really commercial – it’s not exciting,
you have got to push to try other things,’ which was their job, but I used to
get frustrated. I just wanted to create with what felt right.”
It
is this friction between colour and comfort zones, art and design that has enabled
Annie to so easily garner a following. Although she is very modest when asked
to contemplate why people like her work, she is very aware that her paintings,
with their bright hues, provide an alternative to the more serious tones often
found on gallery walls. They have found a contemporary home, with many of her
supporters placing them in clean and modern spaces for the uplifting pops of
colour and life they provide.
“I
just pick colours that I like – that I am drawn to myself. I think the pastels and
the vibrant colour palettes are quite commercial, especially at the moment. I
think a lot of these colours are having a moment in the spotlight – but I guess,
if you go into a gallery, a lot of natural tones are probably more prominent
than brighter colours. I think people are drawn to my paintings because they
are something they haven’t seen in a gallery setting – my colours are seen in
more of a commercial, interior design space,” suggested Annie.
Lately,
these palettes include bursts of candy pink, ocean turquoise and indigo blue,
inspired by the colourscape from her recent European summer, which included
Greek beaches and the Italian Riviera. Annie works in layers – freely building
up washes of the colours she is drawn to, then working into the areas of
interest that develop along the way.
“I
love working in layers, and I have been paying a bit more attention to my
process in the last few months,” Annie elaborated. “But, I would definitely say
I do a wash, I pick a basic colour scheme, or just a background colour that I
am feeling drawn to, maybe one I have pulled from an image or something. I am a
big user of resources like Pinterest and I keep journals and things like that. I
just love images, so I soak up a lot of colour and pattern and texture through
them. So I’ll sort of build up a rough of the texture for the background and
then let that dry and then I will probably start working on another canvas at
the same time while that one is drying. Then I will go back and do another
layer and just work into the textures and shapes that are emerging from the
first layer, and just sort of build on that. Build up shapes, slowly, work into
the colours, and just let it play out.”
So
her studio walls, as well as being the backdrop for her painting, are often
dotted with images and paint chips. “I am sort of still working out what my
style is,” said Annie, “so I am sort of just letting it all out and going crazy
and moving between styles and mediums at the moment. Ironically, I’m also
getting a bit more experimental with my colour choices. I recently chose an
orange I wouldn’t usually use because I found some random picture of an old
rusty Moroccan style door. It was a really beautiful image and I was really
drawn to the washed out texture of it and I just tried to replicate that in
that washy piece and it all just sort of flows on from there. I really love old
architecture and aging surfaces,” she said.
These
colours, textures and inspiration combine to create something that is uniquely
hers in a process she joyfully shares on Instagram. “I thrive in the sharing
community on social media – Instagram, obviously. I really love following the
journey of other artists and seeing what they are coming up with every day, and
I enjoy that side of the creative process and sharing my step by step process
to achieving an outcome,” said Annie.
So,
while following favourites like Miranda Skoczek, a host of florists and an
assortment of Turkish carpet makers, Annie has worked to develop a range of
limited edition art prints, digital wall prints, cushions, greeting cards and original
artworks. She made the jump to working full time on Annie Everingham Design Co.
at the start of the year and is currently realising another long held dream – working
from her own creative studio in her seaside town.
Since
her return from Europe, Annie has been kept busy wholesaling her design range
to homewares stores and her ongoing commissions, with plans to host her first
solo exhibition at local retailer Willows Home Traders in the pipeline. Still
enjoying the creative freedom that her move away from digital tools has
provided, she remains a lover of textile design and would love to collaborate
with others to see her work on a range of homewares products, or even on the
fashion runway.
“I’ve
fallen out of interest with my work on the computer – I sort of love spending
my time more of the tactile side of things, but I am definitely open to seeing
my work on different products and collaborating with other designers and people
who can make that happen, because I think there is a really nice marriage there
between art and fashion,” said Annie.
One
thing is for sure – this gentle, brave and talented young woman is in a great
place. This dreamy lady has her head screwed on right, and offers some
wonderful words of advice to other aspiring designers. “The journey I have
found myself on, I have allowed myself the space to experiment, with everything
that I can – not holding back, and not feeling like I have to get it right the
first time. I think there is a lot of beauty in the process in textiles, and a
lot of mistakes can happen and they are usually the best part. So push on
through the anxieties you have as a creator, when you are creating things and
worrying if they are valid, and just having the strength of character and
knowing that your intuition is going to take you to a good place.”
