Concept For Living magazine » June Swindell

June Swindell – Designer maker profile

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

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June Swindell founder and lead designer of Salt, a contemporary design practice creating beautiful bespoke 100% handmade fabrics, tells us about her design heroes and current projects for the future.

june-swindell Tell us a bit about your background.

I studied a fine art based textile degree at Liverpool Polytechnic, which gave
me a great sense of conceptual visualisation but left me lacking in technical
knowledge. Having fallen in love with constructed textiles I then went on to Nottingham Trent University to hone my skills and completed a MA in Woven Textiles. When Salt was set up in 1996 it was almost a natural progression that the product we created should function using these aesthetics, so blinds and shades became the vehicle for the textiles and their development. My parents still live ‘Up-North’ in Cheshire in an old mill town. My escape from work is going back home and walking in the surrounding hills looking down onto the valleys, that are still home to these amazing old Victorian structures that are reminders that England was once such a textile force, its in my blood.

What does an average day entail for you?

My days can be really varied. An average office day means that I have a lovely walk from Waterloo along the south bank of the Oxo Tower this is the northern girl in me. I answer emails, of which have been alerted through to my blackberry which I love, it’s not intrusive and means that I know what’s going on even if I am out of the office. I carry a notebook everywhere and have lots of lists ,which I really try and stick to. Once the phone starts the distractions begin, whether it be a client, installer or production questions that need immediate attention or just making sure that everyone has what they need for the business to run smoothly. At 6pm when everyone else has gone home here at the Oxo showroom and in the production studio in Brixton, I usually get back to a list and find that I haven’t ticked everything off, from then I start a evenings list of priorities.

An average day on site is a whole different thing. I usually meet the fitter at Oxo at 8.30am where we up load the van and grab a coffee for the journey. There is always something that you did not foresee on the installation, so we try and resolve this there and then. Although we have already done a site survey prior, dimensions may have changed or ceilings and walls may not be the surfaces we expected.

june-swindell-1 What inspires you?

I am inspired by textual designs. There are patterns and forms in so many things from peeling paint to tarnished bronze and icy surfaces. Like our work it’s anything that might inspire you to look again or reach out and touch.

Who are your design heroes?

Jack Lenor Larsen, an obvious choice for a woven textile designer but he was really ahead of his time. I also like Eileen Grey she is so diversely brilliant.

What projects are you working on at the moment?

We have recently delivered some really beautiful metallic drapes to a hotel in Hollywood and are about to complete a spa project that has been going on for two years. Alongside this we are completing a number of domestic projects with some really lovely clients.

You can contact June Swindell of Salt by phone on: 0207 593 0007, or by email at: enquiries@salt-uk.com. Or visit the Salt website on www.salt-uk.com

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