30th December 2015
Interview: Camille Walala’s Epic 2015
– by Ali Gitlow
Camille was born in France, where she split her time as a child between her mother’s home in Provence and her architect father’s Parisian flat. Her mum’s place was full of intricate African textiles and fabrics, whereas her dad’s was super minimal and full of strong angles. ‘I think that somehow I must have combined the two styles in my head and come up with a mix,’ she explained recently over a cup of tea in her impeccably decorated Hackney flat. ‘I think that’s what I love – architectural lines and also bright, vibrant colours mixed all together.’ As a child of the 1980s she had her eye on the Memphis Group’s postmodern furniture and interiors, too.
After studying Textile Design at the University of Brighton Camille moved to London, where she’s been making work across a huge range of mediums ever since. Within the past few years she’s become an Instagram queen, amassing a huge amount of followers who are eager to get a glimpse into her daily adventures. ‘Instagram has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me, for exposure and work,’ she admits. To celebrate Camille’s achievements and pay homage to her love of social media, we selected some of our favourite projects from the past twelve months and asked her to comment on her own posts about each one. Here they are in chronological order, starting earlier this year and coming up to more recent activities:
Cat Footwear collaboration: https://www.instagram.com/p/0i2IArzcng/
Caterpillar wanted me to do something on their classic shoe, the Colorado, which I don’t really wear personally. So I wanted to see if we could do it on something else, another model, and they had this one. They didn’t produce it in the UK but they sent me one. I’ve done two collections for them. They chose some designs they like that I’ve done which they’ve applied themselves and asked me to put my impact on. From the walls and stuff that I’ve been doing this year, they kind of get inspired and see what can be used.Originally they gave me the outline of the shoe and it was a playful way to work. I had to fill up the empty space and I played around with different patterns and saw what worked together. This is a black and white version, but there were different colours. My background is doing textiles so it was nice to go back to something I’ve done in the past and work on a smaller scale. Now, these days, I tend to work on a bigger scale.
The Walala Dream Come True Building, Old Street: https://www.instagram.com/p/1yPCquzciQ/
This is definitely my favourite project so far. It was really random. This woman called Jenny Lewis is a photographer. We’d been following each other on Instagram for a few years and then she sent me a message saying, ‘My husband just started renting this big office in Old Street. Would you be interested in painting it?’ And I said, ‘Uhhh yes please!’ When I went and had a look, I thought it was the best spot. It took me a long time to do a design that I liked, because I felt the pressure of doing something that I really liked. It was difficult to work with the restrictions of the building. It’s not like a flat, A4 piece of paper where you can do whatever you want. You obviously can’t draw on the windows, so it was narrow sections of wall. Actually it was amazing to work with these restrictions because I wanted to do something with a bit of dynamism, working with the volume and the angles.
I put on Instagram that I needed some volunteers. It took a week, pretty much. It was the best – first week of April, spring, really warm. It was amazing, people being so generous with their time to work on this dream project. We didn’t quite know how to make it work originally; the logistics were a bit difficult. The design was quite simple so it was easy to realise and produce. Every time I go by in a cab or on the bus, it’s really nice to see. It stands out because everything is kind of grey around there. That’s the goal – every time I see a building now, that’s what I want to get into more and more.
Alfa.k nails collaboration: https://www.instagram.com/p/4gszkTzcn_/
This was quite interesting – to apply a pattern on a different scale. A French girl who lives in Berlin creates these nail collections. She said she wanted to do something with me but we didn’t have much time for design. She said, ‘What about getting inspired by what you’ve done for this shop Third Drawer Down, and put it on nails?’ It actually works really nicely. I don’t wear nail [decals] myself, but it was funny to see that on nails. I’m quite classic on the lipstick and nails because I wear patterns already and think it can be a bit of a clash!
Swag My Case collaboration: https://www.instagram.com/p/5SEnqxzcuQ/
This was a project that happened via Jenny Lewis, again. It was just when we were doing the Dream Come True building. She said a guy wanted to do phone cases and was putting a group of artists together. We took some of the patterns at the time of the building. Some are quite simple, but they work nicely on an iPhone case. I should have a different one depending on my outfit. Because I wear quite a lot of pattern, I went for the monochrome black and white. I really like matching colours or changing my outfit often and trying to make sure everything is connected.
Queensbridge Primary School playground, Hackney: https://www.instagram.com/p/5b_NYBzcsJ/
Again, Jenny Lewis – that’s her kids’ school. She’s been like the 2015 agent for me! Just when we finished the Dream Come True building, I said that I’d love to do a school. She put me in contact with the head teacher of the school on Queensbridge Road. We actually painted when the kids were around, which was quite intense. They were primary schoolers with high-pitched voices screaming in your ears. But they were quite funny, and getting really excited. They would fly around you. They all had their own opinions. When we were painting, I was still designing. There was a really low table on the playground and I had my computer. Usually I take a photo and then do a mock-up on the computer to see the scale. The kids were all behind me, like, ‘Why are you doing this red?! Why a red triangle, why not yellow?’ Some of them said, ‘I’m going to come tomorrow and paint all over it!’ But at the end of the week they actually really liked it.
I was excited about it because I really wanted to get into painting schools. Before this, there were some dodgy fish and a dodgy worm. I think it’s almost nicer to make their imaginations go wild. Next time I think I want to do like … you know when you have shapes and you feel like it’s almost a face, but you’re not quite sure, like the way you look at clouds.
Field Maneuvers: https://www.instagram.com/p/7TBUYSTchV/
This was really good because it was like, applying patterns to different surfaces and seeing what you can do. The idea was that we had palettes, and we came up with the concept of doing a big box with light inside. Because my background is textiles and patterns, I thought it’d be quite interesting to do something with just one pattern and repeat it on the pallets. We didn’t have much of a budget, so it was nice to try and make something quite efficient. They put some see-through plastic film behind it and then had some bright lights, so in the night it was like a big box of lights. And in the daytime it was a big box with different patterns on it.
‘Walala in da House’ at Aria, Islington: https://www.instagram.com/p/7-N1sSzcvO/
This started from the shop approaching me and saying, ‘Do you want to do something with us for Design Week?’ It started really small; I was just thinking about doing cushions and prints. Because they said I could have the window and do something there, I thought that actually I really wanted to do something full on that I could imagine being in my house, or how my house would be – trying to make as much of the project as I could. It was amazing to make it happen; we did it really quickly. What freaked me out is that Elle Decoration wrote about what to see at London Design Festival and number 1 was ‘Camille Walala at Aria’. By this stage, I didn’t have a plan. It put on this massive pressure of like, ‘Shit, we need to make something really special.’
I really wanted to make this grid room. Aria said they wanted something minimal, but I wanted to do something quite pop. It was nice to collaborate with different people. I had Rosy Nicholas doing all of these fake plants. Julia Jomaa did a lot of set design and props. And then I had these proper collectors – Hopper and Space, I follow them on Instagram – they collect mid-century modern and Memphis. I contacted them 3 or 4 days before the launch and said, ‘I’m doing this installation and I’d love to have some of your pieces in there.’ With everything coming – Rosy’s plants arrived, these guys bringing their lamps – I was in tears. It was my dream come true house happening. Everything made sense, for me anyway. Aesthetically it was really pleasant.
Converse office wall, Amsterdam: https://www.instagram.com/p/7dWnAszcvN/
Converse have new headquarters in Amsterdam because they’re now owned by Nike. They opened this new space and asked us to come and paint. We painted while they were still doing construction and finishing all the work. They asked me to send them three designs. The two first ones I did I really liked, and they were a bit different from what I normally do. This one I did in ten minutes and didn’t really want them to choose it. Then they chose it and I was like, ‘Damn!’ because it was something I’d sort of done already. But actually, when we did it, it looked super slick and bold. And they were right, it looked better. I was really happy with the result at the end. In an office where things are dark and grey, it’s this big colour block.
Gorman clothing collaboration: https://www.instagram.com/p/95O4w-zctG/
Gorman is a big Australian brand, it’s probably like Topshop here. They are known for their prints and do collections with different artists. They saw my work because I’ve been going to Australia pretty much every year. One of my best friends lives there so I’ve been seeing her, and trying to find excuses to go and escape the winter! Last time I went I put up an ad on Instagram saying, ‘I’m coming to Australia, does anyone want me to paint a wall or do a collaboration?’ If I do that a few weeks or months before, usually people come back to me. It’s been a really good way to work.
With this one, they said, ‘Do you want to do a collaboration with us? We’re happy for you to give us some prints and then we’ll play around with the clothes,’ which was really good. That’s what I started doing years ago – my own brand – but I hated it. I can’t sell, I’m not really good at the marketing. It’s always a next level that I wasn’t capable of. I’d like to do it maybe again, but I’d need somebody in charge. When I finished university, I wanted to be like a Marimekko or Eley Kishimoto. Actually I’m much happier with the direction I’ve been taking over the past few years in the urban landscape. I’ve got this goal, this purpose, where I just really want to do bigger scale. But it was quite nice to see the prints small and then make it big and play with the scale or design. I’ve got a few pieces, but not the whole collection … I’d probably look like a bit of a twat!
Giant wall at Eastland Shopping Centre, Melbourne: https://www.instagram.com/p/-Qk2AwTcky/
This was definitely the biggest wall I’ve ever done – it’s like 30 metres long by 4.5 metres; that’s pretty huge. I was designing it before I got there in the morning to paint, so I kind of designed part of it while there. I think the design is really simple and works on a bigger scale. I think the colours are different than I normally do. I’m starting to use this pink, which I’ve never used, and mixing some different colours. This pink and mint I’ve never done before, and it’s quite summery. It was a nice challenge. Trying to work on a bigger scale doesn’t have to be complicated to be quite powerful. When we painted it had scaffolding. I was leaving the next day so I didn’t see it with the scaffolding down, so I’ve only seen pictures people have sent me. It’ll be nice to go and see next time.
1. Cat Footwear collaboration 2. The Walala Dream Come True Building, Old Street 3. Alfa.k nail collaboration 4. Swag my case 5. Queensbridge Primary School playground, Hackney 6. at Field Maneuvers in the sun 7. 'Walala in da House' at Aria, Islington 8. Converse office wall, Amsterdam 9. Gorman clothing collaboration 10. Giant wall at Eastland Shopping Centre, Melbourne
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