Fab fabric

Lara Cameron makes textiles that are handprinted and environmentally friendly

By Megan Martin
Published: September 26th, 2008 | 3:15pm

Lara Cameron is ironing out the kinks of finding the perfect fabric. After lending her eye to the design of visual identities, promotional materials, and websites, Cameron extended her skills to something more tangible: textiles.

By taking her designs to a new medium — one that is used as a springboard for other designers — it expands the creative process, creating a multi-medium through textile design. “With screen printed textiles, I love the fact that the medium has limitations and you can get really creative working within those limitations,” Cameron wrote in an email. “I also love selling my textiles and seeing what other creative people make with them.”

Cameron, based in Melbourne, Australia, has built her business out through various outlets, utilizing the Internet and blogosphere as a powerful platform to inform the world about her designs, and advise others on how to create DIY design projects. The majority of her business has come from referrals and word of mouth, and the rapidly-growing interest in her textiles comes mainly from her blog, Kirin Notebook.

Her Web site includes a list of tutorials, such as how to cover a lampshade frame or how to print a repeating pattern using a Print Gocco. Aside from her build-it-yourself ethos, Cameron takes an active interest in the environmental aspects of design and fabric.

“I think there are a lot of people who value sustainable, short-run, hand-printed textiles as an alternative to the mass produced and imported textiles that dominate the market here in Australia,” Cameron wrote. “Despite low import restrictions on the mass produced stuff, people are becoming more and more conscious of where a product comes from and how it’s made, and of course it’s impact on the environment.”

The designs themselves are a personal touch from a creative girl-turned-woman, with touches of nature, childhood, weather, and earthly elements. She uses several muted tones, pastels, and light colors mixed with black or a strong repeated pattern.

“Admittedly, a lot of my inspiration comes from cruising blogs and seeing what everyone else is up to,” Cameron wrote, “But I also feel inspired by walking in the bush, through parks, or inner city and urban laneways. We have some fantastic laneways here in Melbourne full of all sorts of treasures.”

Always ready to expand into a new forum, Cameron isn’t just sitting pretty on her newly-found fabric success. She is currently starting her own yardage screen-printing business with friends Bianca van Meeuwen and Tegan Rose called Ink and Spindle.

“We have begun the journey of creating a yardage screen-printing business, with an environmentally friendly focus," she wrote. "Our gorgeous studio is located in Kensington's famous Younghusband Wool Store building — lucky us!”

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View more of Cameron’s work at laracameron.com.