Fleur Harris is a celebrated print designer, whose signature style echoes the whimsical and innocence found in nature. We were thrilled to work with Fleur Harris on a special dress design showcasing a floral print that was inspired by flowers collected from her Son, Baillieux.
Fleur Harris’s dress captured her timeless design sentiment and explored the deeper meaning fashion can have through the spirit of collaboration. Printed on our Cotton Voile, Fleur required a fabric that could showcase layering, gathering, beaded detailing and the refined print details only digital textiles can present.
On morning walks, young Baillieux would collect flowers that Fleur Harris carefully pressed in books. The flowers have been arranged to create a detailed and intricate artwork. Printed on our Cotton Voile here in Melbourne, the custom dress was then sewn in Brisbane. The final garment is truly one of a kind and a vision that Fleur Harris’s creative spirit bought to life.
Next State available fabrics https://nextstateprint.com/fabric/
It was lovely to have a chat with Fleur Harris about her creative practice as a print and product designer
How would you describe your design aesthetic?
Detailed, whimsical and timeless.
What is your creative process for print development?
My process varies depending on the medium I’m using, as my art practice isn’t limited to anything. I just work with what feels right to me at the time. From watercolour paintings to pressing flowers to digital illustration the way I create my art varies a lot.
The one constant is that my finished print designs always end up as a digital file, as this is the best way to provide it for printing, so I spend a lot of time at my computer working on very large files with hundreds of layers in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to perfect my prints. I’m very particular about colour, composition and detail to produce a high-quality finish, so many hours go into finessing every aspect of my print work.
How did it feel to wear the Voile in your collaborative designed dress with Baillieux?
To bring the pressings of flowers that my son had picked for me over the years to life as fabric and then a beautiful dress was truly special. The fabric quality is beautiful, every detail in the artwork was presented so beautifully through the digital print and my heart sang seeing how true to the original art all the colours turned out – it was perfect.
Then to have the fabric transformed by Amy from Scarlett and Fox into a beautiful dress to wear to a special family wedding was such a wonderful experience. It’s such a unique, gorgeous and comfortable dress to wear I had so many compliments on it and twirled the night away on the dance floor in it.
Having a young family and being an in demand designer how do you balance career and family?
Between being the best mum, wife, friend, sister etc I can be, while running a household, renovating, working across all the different aspects of my business, and then also making time for myself; it often feels like there are not enough hours in the day for me to give my attention to every aspect of my life in the way they each deserve. So my life is very much about prioritising and negotiating.
My husband and I talk through weekly and daily about our different priorities (he is also very committed to his own career) and we tweak our schedules to divide and conquer on everyday things like grocery shopping, and our son is always at the forefront of our considerations with our planning.
We take turns in taking on the bigger load of domestic responsibility to accommodate the changing needs of each other’s respective work, and then plan our weekends to be a mix of fun and productive activities and relaxation so we can spend quality time together.
I make time to look after myself in a variety of ways, particularly through exercise, and this plays an important role on staying on top of things physically and mentally.
Discover more about Fleur https://fleurharris.com/