Steph Aman
Tales of a day dreamer, a fantasist, an embroiderer, an artist and fashion designer
‘You are only as good as your last performance’
A quote that has resonated with me for as long as I can remember.
I totally believe in the sentiment’
Steph Aman
Tales of a day dreamer, a fantasist, an embroiderer, an artist and fashion designer
‘You are only as good as your last performance’
A quote that has resonated with me for as long as I can remember.
I totally believe in the sentiment’
An obsession is born circa 1998
My introduction to embroidery was a complete accident.
On foundation I was introduced to batik fabric dyeing, I had a failed attempt at dripping wax over a piece of fabric and then dropping it into some dye. It was the most miserable looking sample and I was so not impressed with this technique, it was too messy, I got frustrated, I wanted to create something that was refined and had detail. Concentrate and try again but still to no avail. ‘Well go and try this then’ the tutor gave me an embroidery hoop and I started stitching, free machine embroidery.
That was it! How easy it is to find your path in life….
From that moment I was hooked to that machine and hoop, it was amazing. It just felt right, it felt as though I had found a missing link, everything weirdly now made sense. That evening the security guard kicked me out of college around 11pm, I didn’t want to stop.
Developing the craft
I kept practising and practising all day, all night, I became obsessed with developing this technique. I spent every available hour in libraries, pulling out books on embroidery, really old fashioned books for bored housewives mostly written in the 1950’s. According to the record stamp in the book they hadn’t been borrowed since the 1970’s, at last they had new readership!
They were mostly hand embroidery techniques however I would interpret them back on the machine. Now all I need to do was to start adding my own designs to my blossoming skills.
Free drawn embroidery on my Irish machine; creating the ‘Surreal Hands’ on silk chiffon
As a child I spent my time day dreaming and fantasising, I loved illustrated fairytales, playing with boys and Top of the Pops, not necessarily in that order! Looking for a source of inspiration I was drawn to the illustrations in the fairy tales. My gran had an early copy of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham. I would stare at these pictures for hours on end, working out how I could interpret them into design to capture the ethereal translucent feel on the the pages, the dirty washes of colour, the fine details of cross hatching. It took me several years of sampling, practising, playing, developing, stitching into then over, cutting away, adding on, washing, shrinking, stretching, thick threads, thin threads, heavy fabrics, light fabrics, combining and layering… I had a vision and I needed to reach it. These fairytales finally started to come to life, I was obsessed with them and still am today they will forever be a source of inspiration.
As a child I spent my time day dreaming and fantasising, I loved illustrated fairytales, playing with boys and Top of the Pops, not necessarily in that order!
Looking for a source of inspiration I was drawn to the illustrations in the fairy tales.
My gran had an early copy of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
I would stare at these pictures for hours on end, working out how I could interpret them into design to capture the ethereal translucent feel on the the pages, the dirty washes of colour, the fine details of cross hatching. It took me several years of sampling, practising, playing, developing, stitching into then over, cutting away, adding on, washing, shrinking, stretching, thick threads, thin threads, heavy fabrics, light fabrics, combining and layering…
I had a vision and I needed to reach it. These fairytales finally started to come to life, I was obsessed with them and still am today they will forever be a source of inspiration.
Signature style
It took me the next 7 years of obsession to fully develop my technique, my skill and finally my signature style. That was 7 years of constant research, practice and more practice.
‘I think it takes 7 years study to be a surgeon so at least I didn’t waste my time, life saving surgery and embroidery, pretty similar really I think’
Embroidering the applique wings for the ‘Madame Butterfly’ shift dress
Obsessed with lace, fairytales, Arthur Rackham illustrations, vintage undergarments coupled with my slightly dark and gothic personal tastes in music, furnishings and fashion, my signature embroidery was beginning to emerge in the form of silk chiffons draped off leather and layers of princess pleated organza. The embroidery work was intricate webs of lace like wings and skeletal structures.
‘I am always attracted to embracing the more scandalous side of life, I loved the gothic horror and fantasy of a Tim Burton movie, the intricate detail and puppetry in the animations of The Quay Brothers, sinister worlds full of shady characters’
Cut work
The Machinery
I first learnt to embroider on an old domestic Bernina sewing machine, still a brilliant machine to this day, they just don’t make them like they used to.
I must have clocked up thousands of hours on it, all through university and most of my masters. Along my journey I got hold of an Irish machine, an industrial free drawn embroidery machine.
I don’t know its exact age but its definitely older than me! I expect one of the reasons they aren’t manufactured anymore is a health and safety issue.
What makes this solid iron machine so wonderful is the speed it goes at, there is also a dangerous thrill to it, if you take your eye off the needle while stitching even for a split second the chances are you will stitch through your fingers. Something that I have experienced on a number of occasions usually at the crack of dawn or late at night when sleep hasn’t quite caught up with me!
I used to drag this beast from one rented room to another from studio to studio, it became an extension of my right hand, and it will come to the grave with me.
I felt like a race horse, a machine, pushing myself to work harder, faster, better, never missing a deadline.
One season I made 30 of these embroidered ‘Knight Rider’ dresses and that was just in one order to one shop in Japan… I made many more besides that season.
“and I do remember stitching through my fingers during some of the late night production runs”
The embroidery Archive
In 2006 I started archiving my embroidery designs.
It is an invaluable source of reference to me and I still use it to this day.
Its my Bible.
Embroidery archive
How to get your first job in the Fashion industry:
My first experience of working in the fashion industry was an internship for Cathryn Avison. The internship lasted a couple of weeks however she offered me a full time paid job as her studio assistant, her right hand man. The brand was high end luxury womenswear mainly featuring knit embroidery and silk wear selling internationally and exhibiting at London Fashion week. The collections were designed and manufactured in house.
‘Cathryn was the first person to ever encourage me to study further for a degree, she gave me the belief in myself and my abilities, at that stage of my fledgeling career it was exactly what I needed’
Through working at the studio Cathryn also introduced me to her Textile agent and a pathway to selling my embroidery samples. I designed collections of embroidered textile samples several times a year, they sold through the agent to high end luxury fashion houses and interior design companies across London, Paris and New York. This was my first taste of making money from selling my own designs. The satisfaction of earning money this way was life changing as it funded my studies throughout my degree or certainly my social life. I kept pushing and challenging myself season after season setting targets for how many designs I could produce and then sell. It was addictive, I had caught the fashion bug.
‘I still preach the same thing to anyone starting out today, get a job, an internship, you will be on the bottom rung but if you are good, reliable and willing to learn, you will get a paid job, its the process we all go through’
My degree at Middlesex University, 4am starts on Portobello market and a passion to make embroidery cool, contemporary and fashionable.
‘who needs another embroidered cushion cover’
I studied Womenswear Fashion, I absolutely loved every minute of it, I worked hard and played hard. Although my first love is embroidery and textiles, studying fashion meant that I would learn practical skills in pattern cutting and garment construction. I knew I needed to be able to create a real product to sell, fashion was the obvious choice to me. Best decision I ever made.
I continued to develop my embroidery and figuring out how I could combine this with fashion was trial and error but very addictive. I wanted to create a very cool and fashionable look, lets be honest embroidery can be somewhat twee! I had a vision for what I wanted to create and I just kept practising and practicing. I had to succeed.
As much as I would have loved to embroider from dusk till dawn I just couldn’t see how a wall hanging could pay the rent!
‘Fashion in my opinion should never be taken too seriously, I have always had a good laugh at it at times, you have to stay sane, the ridiculous things people come up with and funnier still actually wear, the hype, the hot air. However I thrived off the pressure, the deadlines, the all nighters, the run up to a show’
Portobello Market: even as a student I was ambitious to start my own selling collections, students always needed the money, London has many temptations!
4am starts, getting night bus to grab a good pitch in the fashion area, dragging suitcases, setting up stand at 5.30am. It was worth it and progress was made, I started designing and selling my collections to a boutique off Portobello road.
My tutor suggested I apply to RCA , I never could have imagined such a thing.
Confidence is such an amazing drug and mine begun to grow, cautiously!
Never expected to ever get beyond the first round of interviews
But I did.
I got in!
Royal College of Art
Its was 2 years of sheer indulgence in my art, taking my work to another level.
I studied under Tristan Webber, the womenswear tutor. I even began to win awards, the Levi bursary. It was the one project where I didn’t follow the brief like everyone else and work in denim. Denim is just so not me! so I created an abstract collection of embroidered t-shirts. It taught me to always work to your strengths and follow your beliefs!
The projects were mostly sponsored through industry so while I kept developing my skills as a designer and creatively pushing ideas further, it forced me to consider the commercial side to what I was doing.
My MA collection explored medieval armour paying homage to Joan of Arc, my muse. I created delicately embroidered chiffon Armour Suits
Launch of a Fashion Label
September 2006, I showcased my first womenswear collection at On|Off during London Fashion week.
Before I knew it I had fallen into the fashion cycle producing 2 collections a year and presenting them at London, Paris and Milan fashion weeks. All the production orders were made entirely by hand, I created all the embroidery work on my Irish machine and I employed a small team of machinists, cutters and outworkers. I sold to boutiques and department stores all around the world from USA, Asia & across Europe. I worked stupidly long days in those early years, starting at 4am working through to around midnight, 7 days a week, year in year out. I don’t remember ever having a day off during that period I think I even worked through Christmas Day some years!
Japan The Japanese market more than any other really embraced my collections.
The brand began to build a strong and loyal cult following. They always appreciated the hand produced embroidered pieces I created and loved the ‘subtle dark English’ aesthetic within the designs. It was the Skeletons and Cameo stories within the collections that most appealed.
I built up a close working relationship with Arts and Science, a chain of outlets in Japan and was invited to Tokyo to showcase my collections in store. It was an amazing experience. I loved Tokyo & Japan is a beautiful, fascinating and intriguing country. I have always had an enormous respect and admiration for their artistry and learnt a lot from their meticulous techniques and design details.
Following on from the success of my collections we also designed an in-house collection for Arts and Science.
Season on season, year on year, 7 days a week, we must have churned out 100’s and 100’s if not 1000’s of hand created silk chiffon embroidered dresses and jackets from the Steph Aman Silk wear collections. We painstakingly sewed, embroidered, cut out, hand dyed, pressed, packaged and dispatched beautiful consignment orders all over the world from our small London studio.
It was such a satisfying experience to achieve this and reach this level.
‘Business going great however I still managed to become homeless during this period!
Having had a fantastic season early on and needing to grade up the work premises from my rented bedroom, I took on a commercial studio space in central London. Fearful that next season may not bring in the required orders, I slept in the fabric basket under my pattern cutting table and took full advantage of my gym membership and made good use of their bathing facilities.
I never even properly unpacked out of cardboard boxes during this period incase I’d have to do a runner at the end of the season, in fact it wasn’t until I bought a house and built my own studio that I finally unpacked those cardboard boxes and have all the tools laid out on shelves!
Nearly 20 years on now from when I very first earned money selling my work, I have managed to stay afloat and solvent! Sometimes survival in this industry is a success in itself.
However the fear of failure stops complacency from ever creeping in’
Launching my Lingerie Loungewear collections, working and manufacturing in India
Circa 2009
As the business grew and the production orders increased I knew I needed to source an alternative way to manufacture the growing demand for my silk wear. My designs were now also being sought after by the lingerie and loungewear market and as this was a growing sector and a good move for me commercially I was quite happy for this to develop. ‘My embroidered silk wear has always been influenced by vintage undergarments and lingerie so the signature style & aesthetic remained the same’
Trials and tribulations of manufacturing in India
I was introduced to an Indian lady in London and by coincidence she owned a factory in Delhi, India, specialising in embroidery. In fact one of Delhi’s most elite and highly skilled embroidery factories. They were incredibly keen to manufacture my collections and production but as was explained it would have to be a case of me going out there to train and teach the workers how to reproduce my signature style embroidery.
Indian embroiderers are highly skilled and experts in copying and replicating designs however their skill set is not necessarily in tune with how my embroidery work is produced. Everything I create is ‘free machine’ embroidery so no 2 pieces are ever identical. This is part of the beauty and uniqueness of my collections. They had difficulty interpreting the nuances in my designs.
This was one of my most challenging experiences as a designer, teaching a factory floor of machine embroiders how to free machine embroider without a pattern from my designs. None of us speaking the same language, they did not speak English, I did not speak Hindi, I think the only mutual word we all knew was coca cola! It took about a month for the workers to get the hang of how to create the designs and then produce the first sample collection. When I think back it was quite incredible that we managed to produce that first collection.
‘I found the whole experience during this time really difficult on many levels. India is an incredibly challenging country, full of beauty, especially the nature and the wild life which I adored. Coming from the western world I really did for the first time truly appreciate how wealthy we all are. We all take so much for granted, we can have a free education, access to a free healthcare but the poverty I was surrounded by in India with domestic animals left limping in the streets was too hard for me to cope with at times’
As for other aspects of working and doing business in India and daily life in the factory, well lets just say ‘what you witness in Delhi stays in Delhi’
This was one of my most challenging experiences as a designer, teaching a factory floor of machine embroiders how to free machine embroider without a pattern from my designs. None of us speaking the same language, they did not speak English, I did not speak Hindi, I think the only mutual word we all knew was coca cola! It took about a month for the workers to get the hang of how to create the designs and then produce the first sample collection. When I think back it was quite incredible that we managed to produce that first collection.
‘I found the whole experience during this time really difficult on many levels. India is an incredibly challenging country, full of beauty, especially the nature and the wild life which I adored. Coming from the western world I really did for the first time truly appreciate how wealthy we all are. We all take so much for granted, we can have a free education, access to a free healthcare but the poverty I was surrounded by in India with domestic animals left limping in the streets was too hard for me to cope with at times’
As for other aspects of working and doing business in India and daily life in the factory, well lets just say ‘what you witness in Delhi stays in Delhi’
Quality control: Working in the factory and manufacturing the collections, especially the production, I needed eyes in the back of my head 24/7. While they were incredibly capable of producing the work to a good standard, they would try to take short cuts when ever they could, they would switch thread colours to an alternative or change the embroidery design. I permanently had to be on my toes checking quality. I found it infuriating. I knew that if the production was not 100% perfect, my clients would return the orders to me. My personal standards are very high and I was selling a high end luxury product, nothing less than perfection could be accepted.
Over the following years I went back and forth to India spending time in the factory creating the sample collections and overseeing the production, then getting back to London, adding the finishing touches to the orders that were now increasing season on season and shipping the consignments out to boutiques and department stores worldwide. New season, new collection and start all over again.
I exhibited the Steph Aman Loungewear at Salon International de la Lingerie, Paris.
Working with the factory and having the collections produced and manufactured in India had many advantages business wise, I could see the opportunities to grow and increase sales but more and more it was about working and especially designing within tight budgets, everything was counted down to the last penny. Having being approached several times I had also looked at the possibilities of taking on outside investment but I was most definitely not interested in giving away what I had worked so hard for. No Dragons Den investment for me, Not interested!
It was simple, I missed London, I missed my studio, I missed getting behind my Irish embroidery machine & being creative, I really missed this hands on approach.
Amazing experience India but for me its Bespoke, Couture and hand made products ‘being creative on a daily basis is my drug of choice’
Everything we now create is exclusively available from our own online boutique, www.gallery58.eu.
Working with the factory and having the collections produced and manufactured in India had many advantages business wise, I could see the opportunities to grow and increase sales but more and more it was about working and especially designing within tight budgets, everything was counted down to the last penny. Having being approached several times I had also looked at the possibilities of taking on outside investment but I was most definitely not interested in giving away what I had worked so hard for. No Dragons Den investment for me, Not interested!
It was simple, I missed London, I missed my studio, I missed getting behind my Irish embroidery machine & being creative, I really missed this hands on approach.
Amazing experience India but for me its Bespoke, Couture and hand made products ‘being creative on a daily basis is my drug of choice’
Everything we now create is exclusively available from our own online boutique, www.gallery58.eu.
Discovering Gallery58 London
circa 2008
I have a quite particular and unique way of working, designing & creating, it would seem. I don’t need to be surrounded by like minded people in fact I don’t need to be surrounded or meet anyone on a daily basis, small talk is not necessary, its a waste of energy. I have always had a very vivid imagination and being a day dreamer and fantasist was all I needed to create. Oh! and my music played as loud as possible. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Abattoir Blues at full volume at 3 in the morning is not to everyone’s taste it would seem!
Now desperate to move from the central London studio where I landed sometime late in 2007. The set up there just wasn’t for me, I didn’t feel there was any privacy away from prying eyes or nosey neighbours I needed my own space to think and create. Besides I got what I needed there, I met Paul, my husband, he had the studio next to me. ‘You will never meet anyone stuck behind that sewing machine, my friends always cackled at me, how wrong they were, thats exactly where I met my husband, the love of my life’
Having lived in the Islington area for most of my London years I knew there were little hidden treasures tucked away, you just had to search them out! One exasperated day and in desperation for my own sanity I scoured the N1 back streets off Essex road. I knew Southgate Road well from being a student waiting for the 141 bus, I always remember it being grey and cold.
However I also knew there were little studios and weird little set ups along that stretch of road.
I knocked on random doors and asked for studio workshop space and finally hit upon number 58, an old Victorian house with a ‘visibly decaying facade’ on the outside but on the inside was a hidden gem.
Within a year of renting the ground floor rooms and pulling Paul into the upstairs we ended up taking over the entire house and creating Gallery58.
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to create the most amazing location. Our studio workshops moved to the top floor, and the remainder of the house became a showroom, a boutique, a weird and wonderful venue. We had a dungeon in the basement with a dark decadent descent down to the Opium rooms, the Waterfall chain chandelier greeted customers in the ground floor shop after they waited patiently and with trepidation in the Monks lobby.
‘We knew when they entered the house and the door creaked closed behind them, they were ours and they always succumbed to the temptations on offer, no sales pitch needed here! They were just overawed by the spectacle so we just left them to it’
The rooms were hired out for photoshoots, meetings and bizarrely we had a regular coach load of Brazilian students visiting London tourist sites, I think it was just us, Gallery58 and the V&A they visited, strange memories they took home with them!
Each and every inch of the house, top to toe was decorated, created and produced by us, Paul and myself. It was our 3D sketch book, where we create pieces, sample ideas and install them into the walls and rooms. Sculptured and embroidered lampshades which would project intricate shadows across the wall as though it was wallpaper, spy holes which enticed the viewer to peek through to the installations on the other side, embroidered murals covered the peeling wallpaper and the silk collections hung from the ceilings like motionless moths. Words can’t do it justice, it was a living experience!
Having this opportunity to create in 3D on such a large scale was one of the most exciting times as a designer and something which I need to pursue further away from fashion. There were no limitations other than our imagination and the fun, laughter and sheer madness Paul and I experienced together while creating our bizarre showcase was magical. There were also tough periods and life changing experiences which we lived through. What doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger.
Having this opportunity to create in 3D on such a large scale was one of the most exciting times as a designer and something which I need to pursue further away from fashion. There were no limitations other than our imagination and the fun, laughter and sheer madness Paul and I experienced together while creating our bizarre showcase was magical. There were also tough periods and life changing experiences which we lived through. What doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger.
As a functional building it was useless, it was absolutely freezing, cold and damp, it was actually warmer to stand on the porch in the snow, we had no heating, no hot water just one dripping cold tap. Everything was powered off one jaded old plug socket.
We even managed to delude the landlord, hiding half the ground floor behind a curtain which we had used as secret sleeping and living space, Yes, times had got hard!
How could your landlord loose a room ‘I am sure we had another room on the ground floor he said desperately searching for the door’ it was insane. Not that anyone was aware when they visited, it a was a professional working enterprise, Gallery58 London was thriving.
Definitely a time and experience in my life which will never be forgotten.
‘Violet’
A collection of tailored Silk wear.
‘The first true collaborative collection of Gallery58, we designed and created this range together’
Classic styles with a fitted silhouette, definitely more tailored than my usual silkwear, but as always ‘with a decadent twist’.
Created in sheer silk with a functional ‘ceremonial embroidery’. This collection was designed to be stand alone individual creations and to both compliment and fit seamlessly with the leather collections.
‘Violet’
A collection of tailored Silk wear.
‘The first true collaborative collection of Gallery58, we designed and created this range together’
Classic styles with a fitted silhouette, definitely more tailored than my usual silkwear, but as always ‘with a decadent twist’.
Created in sheer silk with a functional ‘ceremonial embroidery’. This collection was designed to be stand alone individual creations and to both compliment and fit seamlessly with the leather collections.
The ‘Ceremonial’ embroidery
Gallery58 London,
defiantly born in the gutter in 2008 embracing the unique and the rebellious!
Creators of luxurious and decadent collections in Silk and Leather.
