LCF Stories caught up with Faye O'Brien, a BA (Hons) Fashion Textiles: Knit alum. Faye is the founder of Effluroscent, a London based knit studio. Described as "an umbrella of different projects", Faye shares insight into her process, along with a look at themes of dystopia, nature and plans for the future.
Throughout my degree, Effluroscent evolved into a form of designer identity with themes of dystopia and destruction feeding into a consistent 'Man vs Nature' narrative. This exploration produced the moody, punky aesthetic in my designs today while allowing me to attract clients with aesthetics and brands that I want to design for. ‘Effluroscent’ is currently an umbrella of different projects, from working on knitwear productions, designing fabrics for brands and developing knit pieces for Gundog Studio’s E-Commerce.
The name Effluroscent means ‘the action or process of developing and unfolding as if coming into a flower’. It originated from my first project and followed me throughout LCF and into the industry. So throughout collaborations, projects and internships over the past 3 years, it has accumulated to what it is today.
Throughout developing Effluroscent I became obsessed with the high contrast between natural imagery and artificial, structural ones often imagining my own apocalyptic landscapes. I believe this fascination comes from living in outer London growing up, being surrounded by an urban landscape with constant new developments.
As I am currently juggling different avenues of the knit industry there’s a lot of potential for it to develop. There are some exciting projects in the works with Gundog Studios, a menswear brand with a strong emphasis on textiles. I’m also in the works of developing a collaborative knit focused brand alongside Corran Green, creating made to order garments and would love to get this kickstarted in the coming months.