The Fabric of Miranda Sinclair

Miranda Sinclair’s world is one of nostalgia, humour and charm. The renowned creative director and stylist’s signature style, with its heady dose of whimsy and eclecticism, has garnered her a beloved following in the artistic community and beyond. What sets Sinclair’s creations apart, aside from the sheer vivacity of imagination behind each endeavour, is its combination of immense playfulness and unparalleled artistry.

As Liberty’s artist in residence, Sinclair undertook the task of crafting a celebration of Liberty’s expanded Dress Fabrics department, and the resulting creations – crafted by Sinclair’s network of skilled makers and craftspeople – adorn the windows and shop floor itself. From a supersized pair of scissors in shimmering Belgravia silk satin (made by Melanie Williams), to a cascade of Tana Lawn covered buttons, and an intricate quilt (crafted by Clemency Calkin) – each piece celebrates the art of making and, crucially for Sinclair, the inherent collaboration creativity that connects us.

For an insight into her world, Liberty sat down with Miranda in our Tudor flagship, to hear the tale of this project first hand, and discover an insight into the fabric of Miranda Sinclair.

Tell us what you’ve worked on with Liberty as artist in residence?

The project I've been doing with Liberty has been a celebration of the expansion of the Liberty dress fabrics department and their haberdashery as well. I’ve been thinking about that, thinking about its history of pattern and textiles, and the concept of haberdashers and crafting. Researching that, was really the starting point. Thinking about designs for the window displays and displays within the store to celebrate that moment.

We created two window displays and three in-store displays within the dress fabrics department. Thinking about the art of display, fabrics and how to make fabrics a joyful, celebratory design on display.

When you first started this project, where did you look for inspiration?

Liberty sent me some great fabric books with lots of designs, some of their new collections and some old ones as well, just full of colour and pattern, some on the gorgeous Tana Lawn cotton, some on silks. So that was the starting point: looking through these lovely big books of fabrics, pattern and colour.

Being asked by Liberty to do a collaboration, the starting point for me really was the idea of collaboration itself, and how a lot of what I do is a collaborative project. I began by thinking about how craft is often a collaboration: it's often something that brings people together. You might work on something all together, or enjoy working together on something that unifies you or that you have shared interests in.

I liked this idea of a society of craft, or a community of craft, and we explored that further: thinking about how Liberty is a community of artists, crafters and makers. All of that was the starting point and inspiration for the project, and what we wanted to do.

Thinking about that idea of community and an artistic network, how did that come through when you were creating the pieces?

The whole thing was working within a community. Being an artist in residence at Liberty, you're welcomed into a community that already exists, with a network of makers and crafters.

I had this brilliant person, Laura Beckett, who worked really closely with me and was able to put me in touch with different crafters who already had a relationship with Liberty. And then I've got my own kind of team of people that I work with regularly, who I feel really supported by, and who I know and trust can make things a reality from my sketches and drawings. So I think that all came together - it all naturally flowed.

What was the inspiration behind each of the items you chose to make?

The inspiration for each of the different pieces, and I suppose the starting point, was quite nostalgic. Doing a project with Liberty, and it being to do with fabrics, textiles, archive textiles, a haberdashery department: all of that brings up quite nostalgic feelings in me that connect back to childhood, my personal history with fabrics, fabric design, haberdashery departments, even my mum's sewing box, which I was obsessed with as a child.

She used to have a button box that was like a treasure box to me. She'd have old buttons, vintage buttons, shiny ones. She even used to make her own buttons.

I think also, when I get asked to do a project like this, I love the idea of making something that's really recognisable but then twisting that and making it out of a crazy pattern, or something joyful, or making the scale crazy. It makes you look twice, but is still really familiar, nostalgic and relatable

Another piece that was important to me was the quilt, which connects to the idea of community and crafting. The quilt was made by a brilliant maker called Clemency Culkin, and I was thrilled that she agreed to work with us.

It was a real collaborative process. I designed it and passed my sketch over to her along with the chosen fabrics. Then it was over to her: trusting in her skills, her knowledge, our friendship, and her ability to make something. I love the statement on it, 'United in Craft', because that feeling – that crafting brings us together – was important to me.

You mentioned working with colour and prints. What was your approach to the fabrics, and how did you select the ones you wanted to use?

Choosing the fabrics for the project really felt like my comfort zone. I love putting colour and pattern together, so it was a treat, a delight and a joy being handed four big pattern books full of dress fabrics and being asked to really see what I liked. It's like being in a candy store!

It was quite an interesting, new experience for me, working on the window displays – you have to think about how each window is being used for something, maybe this window is a continuation of another one. Again this, reconnects to the idea of makers and collaboration.

It's really a gift being given a jumping-off point like that, and I really enjoyed that part of the project: picking the fabrics, putting them together, thinking about colour, pattern and texture as well. Picking the fabric for the scissors, which were created by Melanie Williams, was a long process, because it was important to me that the scissors were in the shiniest silk, so that alongside their connection to metal, they also felt glitzy and shiny and glamorous.

Nostalgia and childhood memories of crafting are important to your work – were you creative as a child?

I was very creative as a child. I grew up in a very creative house – my mum's an artist, and my dad's really an artist too, in his way. He was the stylist of the house. I remember him always, if we had a boring weekend, rehanging the pictures or moving the furniture around. Aesthetics, display and craft were constant in the house, and I loved it.

If you were bored, or it was the summer holidays and you felt like you didn't have anything to do, the answer was always: make something, do some drawing, do some painting. My mum was brilliant at sitting down and getting all the kit out, letting us be messy, letting us paint, doing papier-mâché with us, letting us cook. I think that was my way of being entertained as a child – making the everyday extraordinary.

My job still feels like play. It feels like an extension of the things I enjoyed doing as a child

What's your connection to Liberty as an institution, and what are your memories of it?

I was very aware of Liberty growing up. My mum used to love this shop. We'd almost make a pilgrimage of it: I grew up in Kent, and we'd get the train up and visit different places that my mum loved and wanted to show us, and we'd always come to Liberty.

Coming to Liberty as a child is really exciting: there's no other shop like it. The architecture, that beautiful wooden staircase, wandering around, and the fact that everything is very luxurious and high quality. It's a unique space – there's an atmosphere when you enter, which I think is particularly effective on children.

I had a very glamorous grandmother, who I didn't know very well because she lived in Australia. She had beautiful long brown hair that she used to wrap into a bun and she wear. When she passed away, one of the few things that was sent over to us from Australia was a Liberty scarf, a beautiful red, gold and blue one.

Liberty is very much at the heart of the artistic movement. What does that mean to you, and how does it align with your own work?

It connects back to that idea of collaboration. Liberty, right from the early days, had these collaborations with amazing, important figures in art and design such as William Morris.

I think that connects to how I work, because every project I take on is also a collaboration — there has to be a degree of research into the company, what their values are, what the starting point for a textile collection is, what inspiration they're looking at, talking to the designers. So there's a connection there with researching, and always making sure that the artist, or the collaboration, carries through the whole project and is evident in the final displays.

Why do you think it's important to continue that culture of collaboration? Both for you personally and for Liberty as an institution?

I think it's really important, because what's great about collaborating is that you have to bring something, you have to show up, you have to prove that you've got ideas, that you've got things you want to express, an input that feels personal, so you feel represented by the project and by what you enjoy making or doing.

What's great about collaboration is that you have to be open for it to evolve, for it to go on a journey, and for you to be inspired, or to have to change direction, or take into consideration something different. You're always learning when you do that, you're always travelling with your eyes open, seeing how different people do things, and that approach might change what you do, or how you do it, in the future. It allows you to evolve, and Liberty to evolve too.