Vikki Lafford

Vikki Lafford graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2002, with a BA (hons) in Embroidery. After working for four years in industry as a Computerised Embroidery Designer, she relocated to London and returned to full-time education. Vikki graduated from the MA Textile Design course at Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2006. Since then, she has worked as a freelance Textile Designer and in 2008 she launched her new label Liliia. To view the collection please visit www.liliia.com.

Like many young girls, I always wished to be a princess from a fairy tale, with sparkling crystal slippers and beautiful, flowing gowns of the most sumptuous fabrics, adorned with exquisite embroidery and embellishment. I imagined a world of fairies and woodland creatures inhabiting the gloomy depths of garden in which I spent most of my childhood. Then at night when darkness fell and dreamland encroached upon reality, I would hide in fear of the monsters of the fairy tales.

Now as a designer-maker I am inspired by the fairy tales, folklore, romanticism and nature I appreciated as a child. I create feminine, elegantly detailed, hand crafted clothing and accessories in luxury fabrics.

I find further inspiration in the older versions of popular fairy tales. I am fascinated by the hidden depths of the original tales, where lurks a dark and sinister world of emotion and scandal. Using subtle symbolism I like to suggest glimpses of a sinister world creeping out from within. I also explore the underlying themes of femininity and sexuality, common to many popular fairy tales. I concentrate on colour, embroidered detail and placement of the detail around certain body sites, to suggest sensual arousal and reaction to emotions central to the tales.

I like to use a variety of techniques and my work usually develops through a series of processes, always starting from initial drawings and paintings. I combine traditional methods of hand-stitch with digital embroidery, hand-painted fabrics and digital print.

Email:
Website: www.liliia.com
Tel: 07813 154781