Featured Designer - Kristen Doran

One of my favourite local fabric designers is Kristen Doran. Kirsten is Sydney based and produces some stunning screen printed designs that are both fresh and unique. 

FQ: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your artistic background? "I am a graphic designer/textile designer/mother (of two awesome little boys). I hope they will grow up big and strong, make their fortune playing NBA basketball and buy me a loft apartment in NYC. But until then I spend my days selling hand printed fabrics and trying my hardest to ignore the housework."

FQ: Everyone has a dream - what's yours? Are you living it? "My dream is to sell fabric to a store in NYC. In a few months a new craft store will open and... they have ordered some of my panels. Insert insanely wild happy dance here.

My next dream is to hand deliver fabrics to a craft store in NYC. I hope to be living that one soon. 

And then there's the dream of my own office and all the fabrics OUT of my house. A little gallery to showcase my work on the weekends would be nice too."

FQ: How would you describe your designs? "One of the hardest questions to answer. So I might just take the easy way out on this and direct you here: www.kristendoran.com 

FQ: Can you describe to us your design process? "Think, think, think. Procrastinate. Think. Sketch. Hop on the computer and work madly into the small hours of the night until a print is done. Look at it for the next few days. Make some changes and then send to the printer."

FQ: Your website showcases some of the wonderful things you create for yourself. Clothing, stitching, bags etc. Do you have a favourite craft? "Hands down, embroidery. That's where it all started for me as a kid and I've loved creating my own designs."

FQ: How do you juggle motherhood and designing? "It's both hard and easy. Hard because there's so many distractions. Easy because I get to do what I love and spend lots of time with my children. Before kids I spent many years working in offices and it has given me a great appreciation to be able to work from home."

FQ: What's next for Kristen Doran? "At the moment I'm at the thinking stage (procrastinating) about a couple of new yardage prints. And I have a few embroidery patterns on the boil, almost ready to get printed. I'm also thinking about running a few workshops locally and as soon as I've done a test run on some willing friends I'll get that up and running."

Kristen blogs at: http://kristendorandesign.blogspot.com/
You can find Kristen's fabric here: http://kristendoran.bigcartel.com/