Surface pattern and interior designer and Leeds Arts University alumna Charlotte Beevor graduated in 2014.
Life has been busy for Charlotte since finishing her degree in Printed Textiles & Surface Design. Almost immediately after graduating she won a host of awards for her distinctive, colourful textiles, including the prestigious BDC New Designer of the Year Award 2014 at New Designers in London, the Lululemon Athletica Prize at Texprint and the Texprint Award for Colour followed soon after.
As a part of her Lululemon Athletica award Charlotte was given the opportunity to take up a paid three-month internship at the Lululemon Athletica headquarters in Canada, and for the next few months found herself working in Italy, New York and Vancouver, however rather than accept a job with an established company, she took the brave step to go it alone and created her own brand. She has worked on collaborations with Surface View, Sofa.com, Hillary's Blinds and Made.com. We caught up with her to find out how things have been going so far:
After having the opportunity to work for an established company, what influenced you to start up on your own and what challenges have you experienced?
During my three years at the University, helped by the hardworking nature of our course, I really developed my own way of working. I became confident in who I was as a designer, something that has continued to progress after graduation. I always knew I wanted to start up on my own, but when I started getting the right opportunities I knew it would be possible to do so. It’s hard doing it by yourself, you miss being in the bubble of university, the amazing studio at Leeds Arts University and being around friends.
Starting your own business after university means you have to figure everything out for yourself again because you just don't have the facilities on hand, or studio space to carry on working, so you have to adjust. The financial side is always a struggle as you want to be able to put as much money into the business as possible!
Tell us about what inspires you?
I find it quite easy to find inspiration in anything, I mostly like to get outside to beautiful places or visit my favourite places to take photographs. I also find a good exhibition or show can be real source of inspiration, some of my favourite artists are from the surrealist period so I always gain inspiration from them!
What are you working on at the moment?
Last year I filmed for the new series of Interior Design Masters and it is due to air in February 2021- which is very exciting! Venturing into the world of tv has been a really exciting and completely different way of designing! I have also launched a project called Studio Janettie with Micaela from the show, we are working on a really beautiful collection of furniture that is made to last and be passed on from generation to generation as an heirloom. We are both passionate about quality and craft, so that has been really exciting! I am also working on a ceramic collaboration which I'm so excited about as I have a huge passion for decorative arts. It is also on my list to start running online lectures and webinars, so I'm currently working on that!