OPINION / NIC MONISSE
Pure trash
At their simplest, “crits” in architecture, furniture, fashion and graphic design studios are a four-step process. Firstly, drawings, samples, models and renders are pinned up on the walls and spread across the studio’s tables. Then a wider team or invited guests huddle around the proposals. The project’s designers then explain the thinking behind their work before finally opening up to the floor for questions, thoughts and feedback.
However, after touring the factory of Begg x Co last week for a recent episode of ‘Monocle On Design’, I’d like to add another step: combing through the design team’s bins. Inspiration struck after Lorraine Acornley, creative director for the heritage cashmere and knitwear brand, explained that some of her designs over the years have been “happy accidents” that might have otherwise been overlooked if not for a bit of, well, dumpster diving.
From the brand’s headquarters in Ayrshire, Scotland, Acornley explained that in looking for perfect solutions, creatives can often be too quick to discard their own work. The London-based designer argues that instead of binning the bolder, more adventurous – or even ugly – ideas that don’t seem perfect, everyone from architects to fashion designers should instead unpack them with the help of others.
“There will almost always be positive, exciting aspects to discarded designs, they just need to be reviewed through a different lens,” says Acornley. “Sometimes a designer won’t see their work’s potential until it’s pointed out by someone else.”
For proof, look to Begg x Co’s Cashayr blanket, and Higgins and Kishorn scarves – all make use of unconventional cashmere textures that, without a willingness to explore the results of “happy accidents”, might have been discarded.
It seems that, as the proverb goes, one designer’s trash really could be that same designer’s treasure.
