We are thrilled to welcome the talented Eugenia Tsimiklis to our Artwork Library. Eugenia is a professional textile designer who’s work spans across commercial projects for a variety of clients and professional education. She blends hand illustration with digital platforms to create her intricate, nature inspired designs.
Eugenia is one of those creatives who enjoys working to a structure with a methodical approach of, who is the client and what are they wanting. She then decides the best way forward. Combining her unique talent of hand drawing and painting, with digital programs like procreate. Eugenia has a vintage signature style, with a nod to the opulent and delicate detailing.
Spending the time to create original illustrations is a celebration of the history of print design. Many hours and days are spent working by hand and planning out how the repeat will match with intricate line work. Made all the more powerful is the ability to colour and trial the aesthetics of a print with modern software.
We had a chat with Eugenia to find out more about her journey into textiles and her process.
What initially drew you to textile design?
From the moment I could pick up a pencil, I’ve been drawing and painting flowers, girls, dresses and patterns. I studied a Bachelor of Visual Communications at the Uni of South Australia and upon completion I moved to London in the early noughts and started working in a busy fashion textile design studio in East London. It was a dynamic and fast paced creative role and I loved creating beautiful prints used across womenswear for labels all over the world. Since moving to Melbourne I have worked for a range of retailers and labels and have created textile designs for a vast array of products from homeware collections to kidswear to menswear and underwear. I lecture in print design and mentor students and hope to convey my enthusiasm for the industry to fashion students. Textile design is an ever evolving creative industry and it embodies all the things I love; colour, drawing, painting and digital art used to enhance beautiful commercial products.
Do you plan a print or does it organically evolve?
I feel like I am a true designer in that I need the confines and structure of a brief to create my best work. I conduct research and get a feel for the technique that I feel would best suit my design brief. From this point, depending on the brief, I will sketch, draw or paint my motifs, or for a more graphic project I may work directly digitally using the Adobe Suite or Procreate. I generally have a visual concept in my head but designs definitely evolve and change from concept to finished art.
Your prints feature themes of native flora and fauna, what draws you to express nature in your print design?
Native flora and fauna feature prominently in my Next State collection because during Melbourne’s lockdown our immediate environment became an important escape from the four walls of our home. I loved looking at all the bird life and native flowers in our area during our allocated hour so they featured in all my drawings and paintings that I incorporated into my print designs.
What is your dream creative project?
My idea of the dream creative project is ever evolving, too. I love collaborating with different labels and designers and have definitely found myself working on some left-of-field projects for people over the years. (Men’s underwear design was eye opening) Much as I love working with retailers in my day to day life, I would love to develop scarf prints for Hermes, prints for Richard Quinn, Johanna Ortiz, Anna Sui, Mary Katrantzou, Vivetta, Erdem, Zimmermann and little known labels such as Dior and Gucci as I love their print stories. (You did say dream creative project) I would like to create my own products too, and just live my best creative life.
Check out Eugenia’s print collection in our Artwork Library
