Becoming a Fearless and Authentic Creative with Louise Gray

Ceri speaks with polymath Louise Gray, whose creative career spans textiles, fashion, costume, sound, and writing. Louise shares her experiences in fashion, textile design, and education, discussing her bold aesthetic choices, fearless approach to creativity, and commitment to authenticity. Her journey from establishing her own fashion label to teaching at Central Saint Martins, and currently venturing into new creative areas, provides insightful guidance for anyone on their own artistic journey. This discussion explores sustainability, the significance of creative freedom, and the necessity of staying authentic to your own values.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Having grown up in rural Scotland, Louise learned to see extreme colours in nature, which later influenced her distinctive colour palette in fashion, combining contrasting hues that both clash and complement
• She deliberately kept her fashion label small and focused on high-quality, handcrafted pieces rather than bending to industry pressure to make more commercial products or use digital printing
• Louise views collaboration as essential for creative growth, seeking out artists and creators who challenge her while still maintaining her unique vision and voice
• Rather than trying to please everyone, Louise focused on creating work that excited her personally, knowing that authenticity would attract the right audience who truly connected with her aesthetic
• When teaching at Central Saint Martins, Louise rewrote the MA Fashion curriculum to emphasise sustainability and encouraged students to deeply question their identity and values as designers
• After closing her fashion label, Louise took delivery jobs to fund her creative work, choosing financial freedom over prestige to make art on her own terms
• She approaches textiles as a feminist practice, seeing it as a way to amplify historically overlooked women's work while pushing boundaries of what textile art can be
• Louise has learned to separate her sense of self-worth from her creative work, leading to more artistic freedom and joy in the making process

BEST MOMENTS

"I'm not trying to be you, I'm trying to be me. I'm interested in creating something that I know will talk to other people, because it's interesting."

"I've had to really detach my sense of value from my work because I thought that they were the same thing, and since I've detached them, there's so much more lightness to the work that I do."

"Joy is about connecting with other people, like true joy is always about other people.”

"I'm so grateful that I have chosen a creative path. It is not easy. I didn't need it to be easy. I haven't learned from easy."

"I liked making things which had multiple technique fabrics. I wasn't trying to make it accessible to people, I was trying to make the most beautiful things that I could dream of."

"Sometimes just saying this is who I am and this is how I want to do it is good."

"If you can make work that makes somebody feel something, you've won."

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.iamlouisegray.com
@louisegray__

PODCAST HOST BIO

With over 30 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

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