Despoke

Say hello to the clock that knits the time and which by the end of a year has produced a 2 meter long scarf, perfect for the January freeze.

“I am fascinated by everyday incidents, unconscious ways of acting and invisible processes,” says Norwegian designer Siren Elise Wilhelmsen who has just graduated from the University of Arts in Berlin. “I like to observe and challenge the things we take for granted… like time passing.”
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What made you want to become a designer in the first place?
When I was 16 I travelled up from my family home in Cornwall to visit 100% Design. I was just about to go to Art College and trying to decide what I wanted to do career-wise, after sessions with the school careers advisor usually ended up at the conclusion of “I just want to make things!”. As I walked around the show and visited designer’s stands I knew that I wanted to be a designer-maker. I was always making and drawing as a child and after hours of messing around in my mum’s sewing room with her vintage sewing machine and fabric remnants, I knew that textile design was my thing.

Where did you study design?
I started studying art and design back home in the West Country. I went to Art College in Plymouth and did my foundation studies there and then went onto Buckinghamshire and Chilterns University where I did my degree in Textile and Surface Design.

What was the first thing you designed?
I think the first actual finished product that I made was a silk screen printed tabletop set at college. I still have photos of it somewhere I think. Looking back at it now there are many similarities in the style and formation of the pattern to my work today. It was a nature-inspired repeat pattern combining graphic elements and organic motifs which is a theme that continues to run through all my designs.

How do you define good design?
Simple, functional, honest and aesthetically beautiful.
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