Laura Oakes' treasured designs

Artist, illustrator and designer, it is difficult to label Laura Oakes, but one thing is for sure, her work has a bigger audience than ever before with the launch of a homeware collection for department store Debenhams.

The Brighton-born creative who lives and works in Winchelsea Beach near Rye took inspiration for the 15 pieces, which include wall art, a mirror, lamp, and cushions, from the idea of lost and found treasure.

She describes her style as ‘digital decoupage’ and works from a mixture of drawings, photographs and found objects. In this case, some of the artwork also stems from a poem that Laura wrote.

“I usually write something down, stories or potential stories around the idea or concept,” says Laura. “I start going through a backlog of things I have collected, then start drawing and scanning in images.

“A lot of designers, when they go high-street, they decide to water down their collection, but from the very beginning we decided it was going to be the very best I could do, and not a watered down version.

“The team at Debenhams were really supportive with that because it was more work to get it just right.”

Laura is particularly pleased with how the mirror has turned out.

“It has been really successful; simple, but really pretty so people can use it in any room.

“A lot of the other stuff is really intense with colour or pattern. It’s definitely a marmite situation; you will either love it or hate it.”

Laura describes seeing the collection as a whole for the first time as an emotional experience.

“I was quite tearful,” says Laura. “It was quite overwhelming, and also a sigh of relief – it was a long time in waiting to see it all as a collection.

“If someone had said to me, after your degree you will be designing for Debenhams in 10 years, I would have laughed,” says Laura. “I don’t think it’s properly sunk in.”

Laura studied illustration at Westminster, graduating with a First Class degree, before going on to complete an MA in film at St Martin’s College of Art.

After graduation she turned down a job with a leading advertising agency to start her own business. Initially she moved to Kent before ending up in Rye. Laura is a rising star with her designs stocked by Liberty and Amara at the luxury end of the market.

“I think a lot of people are inspired by being around stuff, but I need to be quite quiet. I love nature and walking the dogs. I love the sea,” says Laura.

“It was always a case of getting back to the coast and being a bit more peaceful.

One benefit of being off the beaten track, says Laura, is not being swept up in the latest trends.

However she retains a soft spot for her hometown. “Brighton is very close to my heart and very much inspired a majority of my work; I used to photograph the pier constantly.”

For four years Laura ran a studio and gallery in Rye, but she says she has taken the decision to step back from that for a year to work with Debenhams, and on her other projects.

“With the shop and studio, there was no time and I was working seven days a week. It was really sad letting go of it, but I think it was a really good plan to take that step back.”

She started work on the Debenhams project in 2013 and says she worked closely with the design team throughout.

“It took a lot longer than anticipated,” says Laura. “But for them, using someone like me is so unusual because my work is so layered and the colours are so important. There was a lot of dedication from the team.

“It has been a really amazing process and I have learned a massive amount.”

One significant challenge was keeping the project a secret, especially for someone like Laura who has always been proactive in promoting herself and her work.

“I went off the radar last year. It was really difficult, even with social networking I just went quiet.”

This is just the beginning of the relationship between Laura Oakes and Debenhams, and she has already working on new pieces as an add-on to the collection, to be launched next season.

“My aim is to make artwork accessible to the general public, that’s kind of the reason I went down this route.

“I’m an artist, but I have never really liked galleries. I like the idea of people having something affordable, and not being elitist about it.”

Laura has been working concurrently on her own one-off furniture-based pieces, involving printing on materials such as wood, leather and silk, ahead of a show in West London, as well as to commission and on limited edition and bespoke fashion pieces. Her website is due to relaunch this month.

A longer term goal is to build an interesting studio space at her Winchelsea Beach home, which she says will be the place that clients visit.

In terms of inspiration, it is everywhere – music, film, literature and the outdoors. Laura admits she is partial to “having a bit of a wander”, particularly around the antique and junk shops of Hastings which contain objects with unknown stories. She is similarly fascinated by people-watching.

“I never feel like I have got a lack of inspiration,” says Laura.

With many sources of inspiration, Laura also has many creative outputs “I have been writing more and more, and drawing over the last year, which has been really great. I’m very much into film as well; my MA was in Moving Image.”

Laura has also studied art psychotherapy, and at various times harboured the ambition to be an art director, therapist, and she tells me, generally to make the world better.

She has always found it difficult to settle on one thing, and says that her school reports highlighted a lack of focus, while her first artist portfolio was criticised for not having a definitive style.

“Lack of focus has been my saving grace and my enemy, my mind is very open to how to express something,” says Laura. “I think a style has emerged, I just had to give myself a bit of time.”

• The collection is available now at Debenhams stores nationwide and online at Debenhams.com.
• Visit www.lauraoakes.co.uk