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For the past decade, London-based designer Orla Kiely has been bringing
a much needed burst of color, whimsy and practicality to the too often too
serious world of fashion.
Her objective has been something greater, though, than
making the pouts of the runway turn upside into smiles. Ms. Kiely has been refining a design
vocabulary that is as unique as it is familiar.
Its strength, in fact, seems to be that we feel we have seen it before,
when nothing could be further from the truth.
Try to name the sources of her inspiration – they seem tip of tongue –
and you will find it can’t be done.
There is a global truth to her designs, and this is why she has gained
worldwide distribution so quickly.
Now, her patterns are available to a much broader audience
than those shopping for clothes, accessories and homewares in boutiques. Orla Kiely stationery, launched this month,
extends the designs into the everyday object – the simplest object, really –
and further proves the translatability of her designs and the continuing power
of her visual language to drive a brand.
To make a notebook or card seem new is harder than it sounds: look at
the sea of sameness on nearly every shelf at nearly every retailer.
Her largely nature-inspired patterns strike us as memorable
as anything from Lilly Pulitzer, though infinitely more fun and modern, and as
indefatigable as Louis Vuitton’s canvases.
Ms. Kiely has found the near-magical mix of the organic, modern, playful
and handcrafted, with a very current sense of design history gleaming
through. We’ll take that on a note card
any day.
We have not before written this sort of celebratory piece on
any one person or product, though the series on Mad Men is close, except for the sarcasm.
But, then again, we have not recently seen anything that seems quite so
capable of breaking through the noise and establishing a new design-driven
brand either. One more painfully cool
(cold), self-conscious (solipsistic) design object is not what is needed in
today’s market. Save those for the
tiresome hotel-chic crowd. A complex yet
accessible design language – one that can morph, play, laugh and last – seems
the freshest thing in a very long time.
Sure, the newest objects may just be notebooks and cards,
but they are vehicles for spreading the humanity and joy of Ms. Kiely’s vision
to more people in more places in everyday ways. More Orla Kiely, please.
All images and designs © Orla Kiely 2008.
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