Espiegle
Look At Me
Look At Me
Today we had the honour of having a visit from hat designer, Espiègle, and got the opportunity to speak to her on her inspirations.
Hat decoration in the daily world has always played a pivotal but often easily ignored role. However, we need to remember that it is a focused, unique design process.A needle line contains the designer's delicate ingenuity, and each of the headdress are personally hand-made, which is unlikely in today's fast fashion culture industry, making it a particularly valuable craft.
Xin Wen graduated from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and went to study in the UK where she mastered the techniques of painting, sculpture, art design, craft and window and wedding display.
Her paintings and sculptures have won gold medals many times in national competitions. She has travelled to all parts of the country to teach the theme of wedding display courses. After 2 years of networking, she created her brand, Espiègle, in 2015 and officially embarked on the road to entrepreneurship.
Her paintings and sculptures have won gold medals many times in national competitions. She has travelled to all parts of the country to teach the theme of wedding display courses. After 2 years of networking, she created her brand, Espiègle, in 2015 and officially embarked on the road to entrepreneurship.
"ESPIEGLE" is French for ‘playful.’ The name is in line with the brand’s style and design concept. Her designs use a lot of use of different colours and interesting elements, which links back to the style of childlike interest. Wen wants to convey the idea of having a happy, childlike life.
Her studio reminds us of a small retro market, which presumably gives her plenty of inspiration. Xin Wen is very focused on environmental protection and material re-use, you will see a lot of recycling of small things. The shelves are full of different colours of blankets, glass bottles, dried flowers, antique dolls ceramic sculptures. She also has two cats to accompany her when she works, Wen Sibao and Wen Monet.
Her studio reminds us of a small retro market, which presumably gives her plenty of inspiration. Xin Wen is very focused on environmental protection and material re-use, you will see a lot of recycling of small things. The shelves are full of different colours of blankets, glass bottles, dried flowers, antique dolls ceramic sculptures. She also has two cats to accompany her when she works, Wen Sibao and Wen Monet.
Why choose hat design for this industry?
I used to do ceramic sculpture and wanted to move this idea to the human body. If I chose to do clothing, it may be too exaggerated, it should be nothing mainstream, so I chose to do hats; focusing on the body’s head to create decorative sculptures.
You are also a wedding and window display designer, what are the similarities and differences between these two identities and being a hat designer?
I think that the similarities are that these jobs both convey beauty and allow you to bring customers an interesting experience. The differences are that the banquet and window design go to the scene to view the venue so you need to understand the availability of space to do the creation and consider the factors such as space structure, location and materials, etc. and with hat design, you need to consider the head of the body, such as different faces, temperaments, hair and so on.
I used to do ceramic sculpture and wanted to move this idea to the human body. If I chose to do clothing, it may be too exaggerated, it should be nothing mainstream, so I chose to do hats; focusing on the body’s head to create decorative sculptures.
You are also a wedding and window display designer, what are the similarities and differences between these two identities and being a hat designer?
I think that the similarities are that these jobs both convey beauty and allow you to bring customers an interesting experience. The differences are that the banquet and window design go to the scene to view the venue so you need to understand the availability of space to do the creation and consider the factors such as space structure, location and materials, etc. and with hat design, you need to consider the head of the body, such as different faces, temperaments, hair and so on.
Your work is mostly romantic, where do you get your inspiration?
I get plenty of ideas everyday from what I see around me and like using different materials to express them. My inspiration will come from life, although my life is very regular I am not dry. I fill my days with designing, painting, reading, writing, chatting with friends and family, seeing movies, and so on.
Your products are handmade, does it take a lot of time? Do you consider using factories for mass production?
It does take a lot of time, but I enjoy it. For the time being, I do custom product development. First, I want to give the best to the customer. Second, the funding problem. I would like to gradually understand the customer base but do not want to have the phenomenon of inventory. However, I will gradually develop manufacturers to develop some non-customized models of products.
I get plenty of ideas everyday from what I see around me and like using different materials to express them. My inspiration will come from life, although my life is very regular I am not dry. I fill my days with designing, painting, reading, writing, chatting with friends and family, seeing movies, and so on.
Your products are handmade, does it take a lot of time? Do you consider using factories for mass production?
It does take a lot of time, but I enjoy it. For the time being, I do custom product development. First, I want to give the best to the customer. Second, the funding problem. I would like to gradually understand the customer base but do not want to have the phenomenon of inventory. However, I will gradually develop manufacturers to develop some non-customized models of products.
As an independent designer, what is the biggest difficulty you are experiencing?
As an independent designer, I personally feel that the "marketing" part is the biggest difficulty. Because I do not have a lot of knowledge on it so I don’t really understand how it works, meaning I rely on contact with customer bases or market research to learn slowly. In fact, I hope I can encounter a lot of difficulties, so as to hone myself and continue to learn and mature to face the market. If it is too smooth, it is very bad because I will not grow and I do not want this. So for marketing, I still need to spend a lot of time to learn how it works.
As an independent designer, I personally feel that the "marketing" part is the biggest difficulty. Because I do not have a lot of knowledge on it so I don’t really understand how it works, meaning I rely on contact with customer bases or market research to learn slowly. In fact, I hope I can encounter a lot of difficulties, so as to hone myself and continue to learn and mature to face the market. If it is too smooth, it is very bad because I will not grow and I do not want this. So for marketing, I still need to spend a lot of time to learn how it works.
Espiègle designed a series of fruit headdresses for S/S15, which were inspired by warmth. Xin used the new techniques she learnt, from hand-sewing to dyeing technology to create her collection, which was enhanced through her understanding of shapes and colours.