RICHARD QUINN . . his STUDIO, PECKHAM
The industrial printers inside Richard Quinn’s
studio, which sits snugly in an archway in southeast London, never seem to stop running. They line the walls, stamping bolts of glossy fabric with the 28-year-old designer’s vibrant prints – bold, bright blooms that have fast become his signature, seeing him rack up a number of high-profile stockists, and collaborations with brands from H&M to Liberty.
There’s a family feel here – not just among the team, but also the designers, students and clients he invites into the space. ‘We develop and colour-test all the prints, and do all our fabrics in-house,’ he says, ‘but we do other people’s printing as well. It’s fun having them come and go.’ It feeds his creativity, too; a sense of community is crucial to Quinn’s work. At his SS19 show, the front row wasn’t lined with editors (or, as in previous seasons, the Queen), but with students from his Eltham school and Central Saint Martins, where he completed an MA in 2O16.
Quinn’s creative process begins an hour before he gets in each day, with the commute from his home in Greenhithe, Kent. The first threads of each collection come to him during the drive in, as he listens to a playlist of pop’s power women: Robyn, La Roux and Gwen Stefani. ‘Every day I get in and I’m like, “I’ve just been thinking in the car…” That’s how my shows usually start – with the music.’ This contemporary energy permeates his opulent silhouettes, making voluminous skirts and embellished flapper gowns feel modern.
But it’s in his studio, printer whirring, that his ideas reach their apex. Being so close to the process is important to him. After all, ’Prints are so integral to what we do,’ he explains, gesturing to his SS19 collection hanging on rails along the walls. ‘We’re using the utilities we’ve got here to make something amazing happen, to break that perception of what it means to be a young designer today.’