Orla Kiely - Contemporary Textile Designer

Orla Kiely.  Contemporary Textile Designer.

                          " To me, the home is where we can truly express our style and personality, where we can be playful . . ." 
                                                                
                                                                  Home, Orla Kiely.

Orla Kiely, 49, at her studio in South London (www.fashion.telegraph.co.uk 25.11.2013)

Orla Kiely grew up in the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland in a quiet undeveloped area of the region in the 1960's. She has one older brother and two younger sisters. Although she is a very private person and does not discuss her private life or her age often, she does mention early in her book 'pattern' that both her parents went to university, her father was an accountant and her mother had worked as a scientist in the state laboratory until having to leave upon marriage as was almost customary at that time. I feel this was a significant influence on her outlook in life, to have control of her destiny and later her creativity, as it is one of the few personal details she offers.

Growing up she was interested in many textile hobbies such as knitting and crochet and received her first sewing machine aged twelve, making clothes for herself and her sisters. Her development of colour seems to have started at an early age as she recalls a vivid memory of her childhood kitchen with olive-green formica cupboards and an orange painted gloss ceiling. Another influence was the browns, greens and blues of the natural landscape, the sky and sea surrounding her home.

After secondary school, she continued her interest in art and design and graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin where she specialised in textile prints. Her focus being on print for fashion as opposed to print for furnishings. After a short stint working for a New York wallpaper and fabric designer, she went to England to work for Esprit while studying for her Masters Degree at the Royal College of Art, London. This time her speciality was knitting. For her degree show she made a range of felt hats which were bought by Harrods.

As with Lucienne Day, being spotted at her degree show, Kiely was also noticed at her show. It certainly shows that even today talent scouts and buyers do consider these shows and exhibitions to be an important avenue for new talent and shouldn't be dismissed by any student.

A few years later, she credits her father for her slight change in direction and the start of something big. While  he was visiting her small stand at London Fashion Week he noticed that although a few people were wearing hats, the majority had bags. With this in mind, she began to look at the idea of laminated cloth bags which no one else had been designing as laminated cloth usually meant tablecloths.  Gradually she began to build up this side of the business having her bags made at a factory in Norfolk.

In 1997 she teamed up with her husband Dermott Rowan, with whom she has two sons, to establish the Orla Kiely brand . With his background in project management and financial industry experience he is able to bring valued knowledge to the running of the Orla Kiely company which aids in their already successful partnership.

The turning point came at the end of 1997 when Debenhams asked Kiely to produce a collection for their Designers for Debenhams collection. On the back of this success, she directed all her attentions to her own label. They moved their home office into a business centre in Battersea, London and the business was fully on it's way.

In 2001 her signature print Multi-Stem was born and proved popular. At this point she also began to add a small amount of clothing to her bags and accessories.

Multi-Stem pattern advertising on London Bus (en.wikiepedia.com)

Her collections and renown grew leaps and bounds.

In 2005, she was given the Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Award and opened her first showroom and shop, exclusive to her designs, in Covent Garden, London. She has continued to expand, with stores in Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong.

In 2007 she became, and continues to be, Visiting Professor for Textiles at the Royal College of Art. She is a keen supporter of fashion students and is a trustee for the Graduate Bursary Fund. As part of this she creates charity shopping bags for Tesco where a percentage goes to the Bursary Fund.

Owl Shopper for Tesco (www.ebay.co.uk)

   In 2008 HBOS named Kiely one of the 100 most entrepreneurial women.

In a busy 2010, her name and work appeared within a set of Irish Fashion Postage Stamps issued by ANPost alongside luminaries such as John Rocha and Philip Tracey. They were selected on the basis as having their own label and a successful Irish and international career.

(www.anpost.ie)

Her first book 'pattern' was published where she discusses the creative process, inspiration, ideas on colour, pattern and decoration.

In August she was asked by Puffin Books to create a new cover for the book ' Little Women' which would have be a limited edition of 1000 and came in a perspex slipcase. This was one of a selection made to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Puffin Books.

(www.puffin.co.uk)

(www.puffin.co.uk)

The year 2011 proved to be a stellar moment when Orla Kiely was awarded an honorary OBE  by Business Secretary Vince Cable for services to Business and Fashion Industry.

Orla receiving OBE wearing dress from S/S 2011 ( www.vogue.co.uk)

  Also in this year, she collaborated with the Citreon car Company and produced a special edition DS3 Hatchback, limited edition of 500 cars, with either Stem of Acorn pattern roofs. The have leather embossed headrests, carpets, coloured mirrors and her signature appears in the middle of the rear spoiler. (How great is that.)

(www.topspeed.com)

(www.topspeed.com)

Her fashion designs are also extremely popular and she has a loyal following, among whom is the Duchess of Cambridge.

I wonder if she might be tempted to have one of the cars .

Kate Middleton, Bird Print Dress ( www.uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com)

From a small office in Battersea she has grown her business to four units, stockroom and a central warehouse and distribution centre. She has her own Design Studio and Offices in Clapham, SW London where her husband also manages the complexities of managing the business side of the company.

Orla Kiely has managed to take owning her own creativity to a new level with complete autonomy over all her own work. This is a significant achievement in the world of pattern design. From clothes, accessories, furnishing and much more Orla Kiely has built upon the legacy made by Lucienne Day in the influence of autonomy and far exceeded this.

It will certainly be a challenge to top these achievements but Orla Kiely is still at the peak of her career with many more creative years ahead.

It will be a pleasure to watch and see what lies in the future.