Textile designer Laima Kaugure speaks with Sandra Krastiņa
Dizaina Studija: Is it a kind of national nostalgia that makes linen the foundation of your textile design?
Laima Kaugure: There is absolutely no national feeling to it. I feel as if I know this material and what can be done with it. Studio Naturals was founded in 2000, so we will celebrate our 10th anniversary soon. But I have worked with linen since graduating from the Academy of Art. Unfortunately I have less and less time to dedicate to the creative process and each individual project, because the guidelines for production in Latvia are very bureaucratic: requiring hundreds of reports, signatures etc. An artist ends up as an administrator.
DS: Who designs the products of Studio Naturals?
L.K.: I do, because this is my field. Although I have to say that quite often a client will make the most unusual suggestions, for example, a combination of some colour and texture. Why not?
DS: It is possible for new ideas to be generated as a result of the collaboration of a team of designers. Have new designers offered to collaborate with you?
L.K.: I am interested in teams and collaboration in the organisational aspects of production in the company, but not in the creation of design of the products. Yes, young people have come to me and also foreigners. But there is such a thing as plagiarism and stealing ideas. This is a significant issue which should be discussed.
I am not referring to this in an international context, because in other countries handwork, producing textiles in this manner is very expensive. Intensive spiritual effort has to be invested in creative work. You can smirk – what do you invest in that scarf? We don’t create mass-produced goods, rather items in one or two copies, and then a student comes along who will take note and make copies for a different price. I have experienced this. However I must admit that even these are conditions which constantly encourage me to think and to create something new.
Of course, everyone takes their inspiration from somewhere. And I didn’t invent weaving, it is historically in our ethnography, and you can read about the technique in books. In terms of plagiarism I am referring to the feel for linen which I attempt to incorporate in my design: not an archaic feel, but contemporary, not static, but alive. Linen as lifestyle.
DS: Does the name of Latvia help you in a global context or is it perceived as something exotic?
L.K.:Latvia is associated with traditions of weaving linen. People know this, and it is the truth – each grandmother used to have a loom at home, and in each family, coat fabric was home-woven. In ethnography we can see very fine drell weaving. However, we no longer produce this, because there is no more demand for drell weave. Studio Naturals has a much lighter and airier weave at its basis. We also weave the so-called heavy linen fabrics which can be used in the context of a minimalist interior.
DS: Where do you buy your flax?
L.K.: In Lithuania, because flax is no longer grown in Latvia. The flax that we buy in Lithuania is Belgian. During the Soviet era the best flax came from Russia: it shone like silk.
DS: Where is the market for your products – in Latvia or beyond its borders?
L.K.: We export around 80 percent of our production. In Latvia recently the preference for natural materials has also increased, in the search for a natural life style. But here you have to have a fine feel, you can’t make it archaic. In terms of export, it seems as if we export the same volume everywhere, but according to the statistics the largest percent of orders comes from Germany. This surprises me, because our textiles aren’t really made for the German mentality. We collaborate with America, Japan, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, and minimally with Russia. We have a different relationship with Scandinavia: we have practically no contact. It could seem that we are mutually close and foreigners from Western Europe see us this way – as Scandinavian design, but the situation is the opposite. I have to emphasise that our orders aren’t massive, because everything is made by hand. We also create individual collections for specific interiors. We have collaborated with such recognisable names as Andis Sīlis, Andris Kronbergs, Zaiga Gaile and Artūrs Martinsons.
DS: How often do you create new collections?
L.K.: Each year we have two collections. Seasonal collections differ in terms of colour. Each year we are informed about the popular shades of the season from the fashion shows, about which we have to smile, because professionals can intuitively feel what it will be a year earlier. It is the colour panel which we learned about at the Academy of Art. But buyers often need this kind of palette with which to guide themselves. For the last few years the most popular is our studio’s anthracite shade – also white and natural, of course. Personally I feel resistance to the use of bright colours in linen, because it seems like a violent approach to materials: the linen no longer seems as natural. Another characteristic of our collection is that all of our items can be worn in various combinations – as a result, the colours overlap, intertwine, shine and glisten.
DS: Are the packaging, stickers and informative materials of “Studio Natural” designed by a graphic designer?
L.K.: This is my responsibility as the artist, including all of the photographs in the catalogues and booklets. The photographs may not come out technically perfect, but I have the best feel for the arrangement and composition of the photos – so that the photograph can express the quiet nature of linen. I set up the items, and professionals photograph them.
DS: What would you recommend to Latvian design entrepreneurs, when participating in shows year after year?
L.K.: Firstly I would not recommend this to any woman. In actual fact you destroy yourself. To reach a high level, you have to burn up in your work, it's not possible to do it any other way. I think that in our time a work ethic has been lost, work with a capital W. In my opinion work makes a person. Today the thinking is different, and perhaps this is why I prefer to choose workers who are older in years, because they have a sense of responsibility. Although my young girls weave with dedication and then I renew my joy of youth.
That which I do is a thing of the heart. It may be that I have set the benchmark too high for myself. But the feel for linen which has been created by Studio Naturals over the years has made us into a brand.
