Q&A With Claudia Catzeflis

After completing a BA and MA in Fashion Womenswear at Central Saint Martins the Shoreditch based designer Claudia Catzeflis ran her own shop on Redchurch Road, London, selling clothes, books and accessories bynew designers. Fast forward a few years and you now find Claudia one of theBFC/ELLE Talent Launch Pad 2011/12 winners. Now known for being one of the most exciting emerging design talents Claudia has her first collection for Spring/Summer 2012 and more in mind for the coming seasons. With such a buzz being generated by her designs I decided to catch up with the designer herself, to ask about inspirations, places and future collections. Q: Have you always wanted to be a designer and if not then what? A: Before Fashion I was interested in photography but later I found I wanted to make more 3 dimensional things and working with fabrics came very naturally. Q: Are there any designers that you aspire to be like? A: I admire so many designers. Modern designers I love are Rodarte, and Mary Katrantzou among others. Q: As a designer, what do you hope to gain? A: I would like to have a business for the future that I can be proud of. Q: What defines your collections style? A: Hand crafted silk fabric and special finishes. Q: If you could only pick one piece from your collection as your favorite what would it be & why? A: My debut collection is a series of hand worked blouses, I like a mint green one with transparent chiffon sleeves. Q: What do you find inspirations and how do these things influence your work? A: I was inspired by a recent Madame Gres exhibition in Paris. Q: Where do you go to relax? A: I love to travel and see new things. Or just Sunday morning at a market somewhere always works. Q: Name three key trends for SS12. A: I don’t make my work dictated by trends. But soft layering and draping a big part of my SS12. Q: What kind of creative direction do you want to take your next collection in? A: For my next collection I am just exploring ideas at the moment. Q: In the next five years where would you like to be? A: I would like to build my business to be selling international. Images from: http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/