Lisa King’s Personal Prints

LONDON, United Kingdom — Hibiscus blossoms from the lush Indonesian tropics; clipped angels' wings from Exeter Cathedral; neon lights advertising sex shops in Soho. These are just a sample of the seemingly endless array of references that print designer Lisa King draws upon to create her striking printed scarves and accessories.

“From the outset, I had a very mixed cultural bag of influence,” said the affable designer, who was born to an Indonesian mother and an English father and grew up in Thailand. “My father’s from a small part of Birmingham, so you can imagine the contrast of going there and then going to Indonesia and seeing my mother’s family, [where] there are like a hundred people living in one house!” she laughed.

King’s father, who originally moved to Thailand “for six months, to get a suntan,” quipped King, went on to launch the Thai branch of global law firm Linklaters, while King’s mother is a textiles expert who has worked with The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Saks Fifth Avenue. “I was raised with the encouragement to be very creative but also to be pretty academic,” she said.

Indeed, King approaches print design with an almost academic rigour. Each collection is formed through a painstaking process that starts with a deep-dive study of specific topics. “I did literature at A-levels and really enjoyed absorbing something and writing a study on it,” she explained.

Her debut Autumn/Winter 2014 collection, 'A Study of Stars', encompasses her interpretations of astrology (star signs), film ratings (five stars), literature (star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet), and mathematics (star polyhedral shapes). Each print is rendered in a stunningly bold palette through art techniques – line drawing, painting, collage work and digital manipulation. First-season stockists include My-Wardrobe and Coggles in the UK, Figaro in Japan, Arlequin Concept in Africa, and online at lisakinglondon.com.

Lisa King A/W 2014 scarves | Source: Lisa King

The journey to launching her own label took King on a highly unconventional but fortuitous path. While studying print design at London’s Central Saint Martins, she met and began assisting William Baker, stylist to pop star Kylie Minogue. She even helped create the printed portrait gown that Minogue wore to promote her 2007 exhibition at the V&A museum. “I have a couple of Lisa's scarves as staples in my wardrobe,” said Minogue. “I love her designs, particularly her use of colour.”

Soon after, Baker launched his own men’s underwear line and tasked King with producing it. “It was a crash course in setting up a business from scratch,” recalled King, “and dealing with everything to sampling to producing to press to working with a sales agent.” With help from her mother, King struck production deals with Thai factories and learned the ropes of supply chain, logistics and taking products to market.

That “invaluable experience” helped King establish a niche assisting start-up fashion businesses with production after Baker decided to shutter his label. “I would do a year’s contract with people and then it would move to them running themselves,” she said. “You’re essentially fast-tracking people, because they’re probably transitioning from doing something else to launching a label.” One of her clients, swimwear brand Myo, was launched by two brothers who formerly worked in insurance and finance.

At the same time, she refocused on design. After selling three of her prints at fabric trade fair Première Vision – a difficult task, given that most mills buy through agencies – King drew the attention of Julius Schofield, a headhunter and producer who was then chairman of the non-profit textiles group Texprint. Through him, she sold prints to clients like Diane von Furstenberg and Calvin Klein.

Lisa King 'Love Braids & Chains' scarf from pre-A/W 2014 | Source: Lisa King

With funds earned from consulting, King created a small run of scarves with a graphic screw print, inspired by the riveted fuselage panels of a decommissioned fighter jet at the Tate Modern by artist Fiona Banner. She sold them through a pop-up shop in Shoreditch alongside other merchandise cleverly stamped with ‘Fancy a screw?’ and other cheeky slogans.

Paper Mache Tiger showroom took notice of her on Instagram and began working with her in September. “Lisa King's contemporary and vibrant prints are what drew us to her brand over a year ago,” said Pip Maloney, the showroom's sales director. “It is interesting to see Lisa's portrayal of stories and themes within her designs.”

“Print is so personal. Not everyone is going to like every print, but you might like the idea it came from and you might wear it in a different way,” King observed. The silk scarves are made in Worcestershire by a factory she has worked with since her university days, and her cashmere and modal ones are made in Italy.

King’s custom take on the BoF logo features her signature screw print in a vivid fuchsia for summer. “It’s basically like a polka dot,” she said. “The idea is that I could use it as a vehicle for playing with colour because how I scale it or colour it, in the purest way, speaks to your personality.”

Although she plans to expand into other product categories, King wants to be remembered for her prints. "I quite like the idea that print should have longevity and if you use something in the right way it should become like a classic, much like Vivienne Westwood's squiggle print," she said. "It's so iconic. Everyday I wake up and I'm like, 'How do I get there?'"