LIVE 24-SEVEN “ 14
WHILST I WAS WORKING, I WAS SCULPTING EVERY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
Do you think sculpting helped you step away from fashion, because if you hadn’t had that, there might have been a huge void after such a fast-paced industry? Maybe I would never have left fashion if it wasn’t for sculpting, [laughing] because I was pulled from fashion because I loved something else! I really loved fashion until the day I left, I was empowered, I enjoyed doing it, I loved my team, I loved designing clothes, I even think that my last shows were better than the ones before. It’s only because I know sculpture was really calling me, that I needed to do it full-time, that I wanted to go and do it.
Did your two worlds ever collide, did sculpting ever influence or help with your designs and be an inspiration? No, I can’t say it helped at all with my designs, however it probably helped me to be serene. I left a fashion show and the next day I was in my studio and I was happy there, it was a wonderful balance in my life, I had something to fulfil me next to fashion.
Nicole, as someone who has worn many of your designs over the years, it really is a pleasure to talk to you. Aww thank you, thank you Katie.
My first question has to be how and why did you make the move from the world of fashion to the world of sculpting? I have to tell you Katie that I had been sculpting throughout my years in fashion. I started sculpting 35 years ago, maybe a little bit more. In the days when I was drawing clothes, in the evening I was going to sculpture classes. Whilst I was working, I was sculpting every Saturday and Sunday and taking days off work to sculpt in my studio, but I’d decided that I would only show my work the day that I stopped fashion, because Katie you can’t come out with two things and sculpture was very important to me, I didn’t want people to think it was just erm… Something on the side; a hobby on the side? …Yes, it was something I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. And seriously! So, when my company was sold around eight, maybe nine years ago now, I can’t even remember [laughing gently] that was when I decided I’d make my move and stop fashion. I had to stay a year and a half to do the handover to the next designer and after my last show, 13 years ago I think it was, the next day I was in my studio full time. Fantastic!
You were mentored by Eduardo Paolozzi, a very famous sculptor, what was he like as a mentor and a person? He was a wonderful man, I miss him terribly and I think about him all the time and I think how pleased he would be that I became a full-time sculptor, because he believed in what I was doing. He never criticised what I was doing, he was always introducing me to new ideas or showing me what existed in this world, the different shapes, and that was really his teaching to teach you to open your eyes to the world around. Also, he thought that anything that anybody did in art was of value; that gives you great, great confidence. There was never criticism, he liked the fact that I had another career and that when I was sculpting I was totally immersed in and concentrated on sculpture, and I think he appreciated that. How lovely.
You’re embarking on your first ever solo museum exhibition at the lovely Gainsborough House… It is lovely isn’t it? Beautiful! Are you nervous? Is there the same crazy preparation that takes place behind the scenes? I have two shows early next year, the first which is a series of work I’ve done called ‘Folds’ at Beaux Arts, London and then it’s followed two and a half weeks later by ‘The Heads and Hands’ exhibition at Gainsborough. So, I am a little bit manic to tell you the truth at the moment [giggling] because they are so close. I’m busy sending photographs to one journalist and something else to another – it’s fantastic. I’m so lucky! I’m on cloud nine really.
How does the process of creating a piece start for you? It depends what it is. For example, at Gainsborough House I’m
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CE L EBRI T Y INTERVI EW NICOL E FARHI
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