Audrey Mifsud is a down to earth Michigan girl you need to keep your eye on. Growing up in the US, studying at Central Saint Martins and now living and working at design houses in Paris- this young designer is doing big things (and making us all feel pretty unaccomplished). She’s a creative oxymoron with her determined, relentless work ethic and phlegmatic ‘zero-fucks-given’ mentality. Gynosome spoke to Audrey about her SS15 collection ‘Ori ‘ and her take on design and nature.

 

GYNOSOME: What is it that led you to a design career?

 

Audrey: Through my adolescent years, I lived in the deep countryside of a small village in Michigan. This allowed my down days to be running around on the tractor with my dad. He was simply a creator by instinct, building houses, cars, boats, and engines, pretty much anything actually! He was the inventor of the family, while my mother did botanical gardening; she balanced my ‘making’ mindset with aesthetic. I never decided to go into the design and art industry, it was actually a very natural transition. I didn’t blossom in my school years sitting in a classroom, that’s for sure.

 

GYNOSOME: What’s been your biggest struggle as a designer/design student?

 

Audrey: The hardest thing for me is balance, I definitely have the mind that jumps and leaps and twirls. I am thankful for it as it keeps me open minded, but it is difficult when a design project takes weeks to complete. I sometimes come up with a new twist to my concept and it is becomes a must for me to change my direction. I won’t continue with a project if I don’t feel completely satisfied with the result.

 

GYNOSOME: What is it that brought you to Paris?

 

Audrey: Paris fell into my hands actually, I was offered a few positions with companies that I respect. The first half of the year I was at Damir Doma’s design studio, and the second half I’m at Lemarié, which is the couture embroidery company behind Chanel. 

 

GYNOSOME: Can you give us a description of your SS15 collection?

 

Audrey: Ori is a mini collection attempting to translate the words of my daily journal into fabric and shape. The three women are acting out the internal conflict of society within the boundaries of the city. I feel, as humans, we need to embody nature into our lives much more. Two are framed by the palms expressing a very genuine and fresh outlook on the external world with nature part of there daily perspective; while the third woman is trapped in a cage of frustration and distrust, with rips of fabric tied around her.

 

From a deeper look at the silhouettes: the trouser side seams and center details of the top have woven palms securing the 3 folded layers. Slits were cut and palms placed to create stability and to tighten the garment to fit the woman. Here the leaves become a necessary element to keep the garment intact.

 

My experimentation to this project lies in the inspiration from Japanese origami art. This allowed me to test the properties of palm weaving to fabric.

 

GYNOSOME: What was the inspiration to incorporate nature with your design?

 

Audrey: Someway or another, nature is always in my work. Nature is what I crave on weekends or after a stressful day. By doing a project with nature, it allows me to really connect with something I know and care about. To me, nature has sculpted my life.

 

GYNOSOME: Are you happy with the outcomes of the collection?

 

Audrey: I am indeed, I was lucky enough to work with a great photographer called Yuvali Theis, and she was able to understand the meaning of my project. She captured my work beautifully.

 

GYNOSOME: What do you find the hardest part of the design/creative process?

 

Audrey: My mind responds very quickly to my own questions, so digging through my thoughts is probably the most difficult part, but also the most exciting!

 

GYNOSOME: If you could give one piece of advice to anyone what would it be?

 

Audrey: Just do it! Care less and follow your natural instinct. I think I danced around for too long trying to push myself away from what makes me ‘me’.

 

GYNOSOME: Do you feel a connection to nature?

 

Audrey: Absolutely, Nothing else connects me to my inner self more than the mother of all growth! And I will admit, I didn’t know this until I lived in some of the cement capitals of the world. Here in Paris, it is very difficult to find grass; parks are scarce and nobody has flowers around here! The wilderness is the freest source, as humans we love to compare and judge, but I’ve never walked into the woods and questioned why the sycamore’s leaves weren’t more orange, or why the bushes looked so fat today. It is a good inspiration to take and run away from the superficial human perfection, we all come from nature, none of us are perfect.