Copy of ExpressionEl Interview


A BTS interview with creator of ExpressionEl, Eloise Clarkson 💖🌈🧶
 
What led you to make your own brand?
So my first infatuation turned love was actually crochet, I started crocheting in the march of 2021 but only for myself or loved ones. I developed such a deep and unwavered appreciation for the art that I knew going forward my life would be altered from the day I picked up that hook. After a strong 3 months of having no outside influence affecting my creative process I created my instagram in the July and started sharing my creations online with no intention of it being a business. I was selling to my friends but it was still solely a hobby just for me that I loved with my entire heart. Before I could even knit, ExpressionEl had been growing slowly and organically to get to this present moment, mostly selling my creations as I made them but more recently taking on a lot of custom orders, even from as far away as Washington and Norway! Put simply, this was never meant to happen. After observing peoples interest it reaffirmed that what I was doing could be made into a business, whilst still approaching it with the joy I did at the beginning. It has all been born from pure and unapologetic love, moving forward that will always remain and be at the forefront of everything I do.
 
What was your very first knitted design?
Okay so my first hand knit was a halter top that I made in the March of this year. I had no idea what I was doing but the unknown only sparked my curiosity further, very much the same way crochet did. Not soon after I invested in a circular knitting machine and started crazily cranking out tons of sleeves so I had loads of tubes not knowing what I was going to do with them. It was harder to knit panels so I put it off a little to begin with but once I mastered them it opened up the world of jumpers, tops and just about anything else I could think off. I then had some use for my tubes because I could attach them to the panels and make some wearables. After learning the panels I knitted a duck egg blue long sleeved top, it had loads of mistakes weaved throughout but each thing that goes wrong is a learning curve that you take into your next creation, just the same as anything in life. I’m still very much learning the intricacies of hand knitting. After neglecting my needles for the knitting machine I only properly threw myself into the hand knit world roughly 2 months ago yet the sense of achievement it’s given me is invaluable. The feelings that arise feel so primitive, as if you’re honouring the legacy of every knitter and crocheter that came before you, no feeling compares to finishing a project and being happy with it. I’ve been on a bit of a raglan craze the past few weeks, top down is my favourite construction method and I just can’t stop knitting them until I achieve my desired fit. I’m currently 4 raglans deep, each one a step closer to a garment that feels just right. Crocheted top down raglans are also a big love of mine, I’m starting a custom one this week!
How long does it take you to knit one design? (Sweater, tank, bottom, etc?)
From the get go, let’s just say it can be very chaotic to say the least. Sometimes I can have 5+ orders on the go in one day that need to be flitted between usually because of wrist pain, deadlines or running out of materials. There are so many variables that are filtered into one given day, no two are the same. I try to give myself 9-5 work hours for a structured day but often find myself working from when I wake up about 8 to maybe 11 o’clock at night. Sometimes something needs attending to otherwise I won’t be able to rest, which I know is unhealthy but sometimes it’s just the way the cookie crumbles. In regards to production each garment differs massively, depending on yarn weight, needle size and garment size it can take from a few hours to weeks, sometimes even months for bigger projects. A maxi skirt knitted on my machine can be made in a day if I spend the entire day on it but if I knit it by hand it would take longer than a week, nearing on 2. A lot of my designs have multiple layers to them which are usually 50/50 machine knit/hand knit so depending on the size it’ll at least double the production time. Roughly, a jumper will usually take me between 40-50 hours for a size small using large needles, if using between 8-10 mm it’ll speed the process up compared to a 5-6mm. The largest project I’ve knit took me a week, a pair of hand knit trousers, working almost every minute of my awake hours, roughly 15 hours a day for 6 days straight. It was very intense but is one of, if not my favourite piece of clothing that I’ve made, they’re so experimental, fun and bright, it’s hard to not love them. Ultimately my process is very intuitive, it can only be organised to a certain extent until I have to face the uncertainty, something that fibre arts continuously teaches me to be okay with. It’s always accompanied by multiple cups of tea throughout the day, a good entertainment source and lots of hand stretching.
Where do you source your materials?
Anywhere my little hands can get hold of them, within my own desirability’s. It feels almost essential to touch the yarn before I make any, often impulsive, financial decisions.  This tends to make me steer away from ordering online if I’m
not familiar with a particular fibre or brand. My local yarn shop recently closed down so in person buying is unfortunately very limited most of the time, the turnaround in new fibres doesn’t happen very often so it’s hard to find inspiration in the one yarn market that’s left in my town. I’m always on the look out for independent little shops as I adventure further afield and pass through smaller towns. I love supporting indie hand dyers, their yarn is always of such high quality and intricately thought out. Having tried many fibres from a wide range of suppliers, you can physically feel the love poured into their art. There’s something really special about that transition from quality save yarn to yarn dyed by people and not machines. Once I dipped my toe into that world I never went back, so much so that I now dye my own yarn to use in my creations but also for my customers to use in theirs. Sometimes I buy carded batts and/or roving from friend’s I’ve made on instagram and then hand spin them using my drop spindle or spinning machine. It’s very meditative and only heightens my sense of pride further having spun the yarn to make it possible for me to use it in the first place. It’s really beautiful learning about the process fibre undergoes from source to finished product, it has made my decisions a lot more intentional and well informed, both for myself and the planet. Always keep your eyes out in charity shops, you can drop on bargains most of the time if you’re open to experimenting with unconventional texture and colour. If presented with a chance to source your materials second hand definitely consider grabbing it. One day I hope to have my own yarn shop stocked with beautiful yarn for me and my fellow yarn lovers to bask in.
Where do you gather your inspiration from?
I’ll never have a definitive answer for this question. I suppose the fact I’m human and I can experience feelings, to then embody intangible ones.
Wether I see a flower, listen to a song or see someone painting an easel in the park, the fact I have the capacity to then react to that that with either a positive or negative feeling is what makes anyone do anything. To see a flower and think “oh wow what a beautiful flower, look at those colours” to then figure out a way to create something inspired by that then perceptible by touch, or overhear a persons conversation and think “I never thought about it that way”. Taking a fleeting moment and eternalising it. The most mundane moments can be deeply poetic, and often are, I take poetry, colour, pain and turn it into a beautiful concoction. Music, In Rainbows by Radiohead, people, water, photos, feelings, people again, colour, oh how I love colour, senses, touch, a rainbow when it’s raining, existentialism, perception, comfort, discomfort, a need, a want, joy, the human condition, Candy by Paolo Nutini. To name a few. My heart often speaks before my head, what inspires me is that my heart knows it needs this to be fulfilled and therefore drives itself to attain that joy. I tend to use fibre arts as a way of being face to face with my fears, I’m confident that my love for knitting and crochet will always outweigh whatever comes up in the creative process. Inspiration will indefinitely change, for me and for you, the same way duck egg blue was my favourite colour in March and now it’s not, how you’ll return to your favourite song two years from now and wonder how you went so long having forgot it was once your favourite song. It arises from the must unsuspecting of places but I love going anywhere knowing that I could potentially be presented with something, or I couldn’t, and if not then that’s okay too.
How would you describe your knitwear style and/or aesthetic?
As if a rainbow exploded over a ghost town. Daring, vocal, experimental, poetic, bright, adventurous, memorable, unafraid, eccentric, a bit in your face, playful. A physical extension of my being. My yarn is paint and my hooks are paintbrushes.