Conversations: Amber Hards

I am so happy to present to you Miss Amber Hards who is both a good friend of mine, and a Bristol-based Knitwear Designer Extraordinaire.  She recently graduated from UWE with a first class degree in Fashion and Textiles.  Her degree collection has shown at London Graduate Fashion Week, and was a finalist of the Knitted Textile Awards, winning a runner-up Innovation Award for her knit.  Here she is sitting pretty as a living window display installation in the newly opened Sue Ryder Vintage Shop in Bristol.
  
Hello there Miss Amber, what 5 words would you use to describe your work?

Knitting, innovative, experimental, intricate and …exciting.

AGREED!How do you approach designing and creating your knit pieces?

I spend a lot of time researching, first by drawing and looking into my chosen subject. I try and find out as much about it as I can, then I start knitting swatches: just experimenting with yarns and colours and textures. I love texture! Then I decide which I like, and start experimenting with scale. I usually knit up some pieces really big so I can drape them on the stand and see how they move and feel, and from there I start designing. Once you know how a fabric feels and behaves, you can design garments that will work.  Then I do all my patterns, work out the knitting; and knit and knit and knit and knit until it’s all done!  A lot of it is trial and error, and sometimes I end up spending a day knitting and nothing good comes from it.  But its all learning and I love it when something unexpected happens.  Happy accidents are really exciting!



Do you ever have a finished idea in mind, or does all your work evolve organically?

It changes. for my last project (Jellyfish project) i didn't really know what was going to happen.  It wasn't until I had actually knitted up the garments that I knew what they were going to look like…Which is probably a bad thing - luckily they looked alright!  But all the time I'm thinking about possibilities of what fabrics could be.  I knit swatches and start designing.  But also I sometimes design things before I've knitted a swatch, just messing around with shapes and silhouettes in my sketchbook.



Your sketchbooks are ACE - pages of wonder.

It’s all a bit of a jumble in my head so I end up just drawing or writing every idea down and then sort of decide which stuff is working.  I usually draw the same things over and over and those are the things that sort of stay throughout..

Lots of lists?  The things you're drawn to always keep cropping up don't they

Yep lists and lists.  Sometimes not everything gets done on the lists, but then the stuff that does is usually what end sup being used in the end.  But lists are good to organise your head.

  

It's just as important to know what you can discard as what you want to keep.

I need that help a lot!

Moi aussi! What do you enjoy most about your creative process?

Knitting!  Experimenting on the machine.  I get such a buzz when I do a sample I love.  But also I love the end, seeing my collection on a catwalk was one of the best feelings ever!  But I do love sitting on my machine all day and creating new fabrics.  Its fun and rewarding.

Which do you prefer: making swatches and experimenting on your machine; or the finished piece? The journey or the arriving?

I love the journey.  You discover a lot, and not all of it works or gets used, but it’s all something that could be used later, or just an experiment, but the reward is the finished product, and that feels amazing.  To have someone like your work is amazing.
 
  

The highest honour.  Your pieces are very sculptural - is all this volume created directly from your knitting machine, or do you create knit fabric and then manipulate it?

It’s all 100% knitted.  I use a mix of lycra which sucks fabric in, and then nylon monofilament which is light, so it creates these volumous shapes.  It’s extremely time consuming, but I LOVE the result.  I knit it all on the machine which takes hours.


 


Labour of love?

Sometimes...there were times when I was screaming at my machine, or shouting at it...when a whole bed of knitting falls off and you have to re-attach needle by needle, you kind of lose the will to live!  I'm amazed that I had the patience, because it was unbelievably tedious.

Oh god!

Yep!  Three weeks of solid knitting and I hadn't even finished the dress.

What's on your knitting table - what machine do you use, and what are your favourite materials?

My knitting table....it has some random yarns, all of my tools and scissors and usually a laptop perched nearby with some excellent music on!  My machine is a standard domestic Brother.  I really want a chunky, fine gauge and a passap!  I seem to be drawn to the nylon monofilament...which is a pain to work with; and I like lycra and lambs wool - yarns that do something.
 
 

What is passap?

A passap is a chunky double bedded machine, which means you can do things like ribs, double sided fabric and colourful punch cards.

YUM! what qualities do you look for when selecting your yarns?

I usually decide what yarns to use through my research.  For example, my latest collection is based on Saturn.  Saturn’s rings are so light and see through so I've used the nylon monofilament.  There is a ring called the crepe ring, so I'm using a crepe yarn; and Saturn’s atmosphere is all cloudy and soft so I'm using a soft lambs wool.  I find yarns to to fit the project.

    


  Is it true that your machine was £20, second hand off eBay?

I got my machine from uni, second hand for £20 but you can get them super cheap of eBay too

HA! I love that!

Yeah they are super!

No, I love that you did all your incredible degree pieces and all your incredible work on a £20 machine! YOU are super my dear!  How did your degree in Fashion and Textiles help you as a designer?

Lots of ways...it encouraged me to experiment as much as I can, to find new ways of doing something and to try out everything I could think of.  I think that is very important to create something new.  It helped my drawing and designing.  It showed me how to develop and use my swatches for garments, and most of all it told me to be different, to stand out from the crowd and not be afraid to do something that isn't trend led.  I'm not interested in doing something that is following a trend.  I want to be setting them.  I'm not sure why someone would want to be on trend designing.  What’s original about that?

 



You are very futuristic and uninhibited in your imagination, methinks.  Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I'm usually inspired by nature.  I just find it so beautiful and I love the idea of creating something beautiful from something beautiful that was made by nature and not us!  It’s fascinating!  There are so many textures, prints, colours forms and shapes – it’s endless.

Underwater and space-like nature?

Yes indeed but also flowers, or animal skins, or honeycombs - or anything really.  I usually see something on TV or go to an exhibition or the zoo.  I love David Attenborough, he is WONDERFUL!  I like his voice, he's friendly I'm sure of it!




I know from experience that you are a very good chef.  If you could invite 5 designers round to dinner to pick their brains, who would you choose, and what would you cook them?

Christopher Kane, Louise Goldin, Nicholas Ghesquiere, Alexander McQueen and Ricardo Tisci.  It'd have to be something sophisticated but English.  I truly love a recipe from Jamie, that involves leeks, pancetta, thyme, WINE and tagliatelle.  DELICIOUS.

Why would you invite them? what is it about each one that turns you on?

I really respect Christopher Kane.  He built his company up from studying an MA, and every collection is really different from the next.  Louise Goldin is a wonderful knitwear designer, and the person who inspired me to knit, and that there are endless possibilities.  Ricardo Tisci is doing the most beautiful couture out there at the moment - extremely modern but so delicate and gorgeous.  Nicholas Ghesquiere is doing an amazing job at re-defining Balenciaga.  His work is futuristic and very forward thinking, which I admire.  Alexander McQueen inspired me to start fashion.  I love how his work was as much about art and beauty as it was about fashion.

What are you working on at the moment?

My next collection inspired by saturns rings and metropolis.  So I’m knitting swatches and trying to finalise designs.

What online hangouts are you currently frequenting?

I love Another magazine’s blog, they have lots of lovely images.  I just got onto Pinterest, which I'm excited about.  I love looking at Joe Roberts and Laurie Stansfield’s blogs, and yours to make me happy!

Ah, merci Amber :) Oh my too, their blogs are beautiful (I am lucky enough to be friends of these good people from when we all did Art Foundation at UWE 5 years ago when we were young and fresh!)
Favourite hangouts in Bristol?

Renatos-pub where all the theatre crew go, really excellent place. Start The Bus for some dancing.  Mark’s Bread Bakery.  Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant.  My friend Lydia’s Sue Ryder vintage charity shop.  And my living room when it’s tidy and has people in it.  Oh and the Tobacco Factory Theatre, really fun!
 
What's next for Amber Hards and where would you like to be in 10 years time?

Just trying to keep myself afloat financially and keep working on my stuff and portfolio.  I want to apply for the Saint Martins MA in Fashion, specifically Knitwear, but I am very poor.  In 10 years I'd like to be designing and getting paid to do it.
 
And you will my friend.

YES indeed.  ALWAYS.
 
And finally, When you're not creating futhermuckingly brilliant knitwear, what else do you do?

I watch a lot of theatre. It’s the best job I’ve ever had working at the Tobacco Factory Theatre.  I see some amazing stuff - and also some TERRIBLE stuff.  I’ve just seen some opera which I really enjoyed.  Coming up is an amazing cabaret sketch show piece called Variety in the Factory.  Really funny, interesting, exciting comedy and circus and really random pieces.  Alsoooo I love finding new music to listen to.  At the moment I am loving PJ Harvey’s new album. SO beautiful and different. And Laura Marling is wonderful.  And mixed in, some old school Peter Gabriel to keep the tummy happy. And Lykke Li.  She is just SO cool!
 
I like to drink.

I LOVE cooking, Especially for other people. I’m now on my 4th Jamie Oliver book. He is my hero.

Otherwise I just live my life as a Knitwear Designer disguised as a Barmaid.



Check out Amber’s gorgeous blog, Things I Like
And her beautiful website
And her work appearing in fashion editorial “Lost Ones” for As You Are Magazine.
Thanks for chattering with me Amber, you have been a great Conversationee.  I wish you the bestest luck with all your great projects and very much look forward to seeing how your forward-thinking ideas manifest themselves in your new creations. XX