From bath mat bags to kitchen roll clutches: Clara Chu’s high-fashion homewear
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
Courtesy of @clarachuu
NAME CLARA CHU
AGE 25
LOCATION London, England
STAR SIGN Aries
BIGGEST PET PEEVE People who decide to walk down the escalator, but do it REAL SLOW, holding everyone (me) up.
They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. So the next time you want to throw out your shower mat or your sieve, think of the turtles but also think of Clara Chu. The designer, born and raised in Hong Kong, can reconstruct your crockery into kitsch accessories, translating everyday items in your household, from kitchenware to the cleaning cupboard. Hello fashion industry’s favourite buzzword beginning with S. Turning the mundane into the magical, Chu describes her vision in three words: “fun and fun.”
Residing as one of the Sarabande Foundation artists, Chu’s provocation of the banal objects in our quotidian lives gives a platform to the trusty objects we take for granted and go unnoticed despite assisting us in our daily pursuits. But remember what happens in Beauty and the Beast and Sausage Party - objects have feelings too.
Talking on her creative introductions and her fixation with household items, Clara Chu interrupts the monotony of lockdown 3.0 by reminding us that inspiration really can be found everywhere. So take a leaf out of her book, grab your spoon from the sink and perhaps consider that the utensils around you are, in fact, the wardrobe you never knew you had. Just remember to wash them first.
Scarlett Baker: How did you get your creative footing in design? Was it something you always wanted to do?
Clara Chu: I painted and drew a lot as a kid. It was something I thought I would always end up doing. I had a chance to go to New York for a fine art degree 7 years ago but decided to move to London in the end. At the time, I was building these absurd and abstract forms around the bodies out of old yoga mats. I called them clothes and decided I’d go into fashion. My Dad also had a background in design. He would build things out of absolutely anything around the house and so I grew up being very influenced by his creative mind.
SB: Tell us about life since graduating from the LONDON COLLEGE OF FASHION in 2017.
CC: I had much more fun making these detachable bags than the clothes I was designing for my graduate collection at LCF, and so I went to do my MA at the ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART, where I specialised in accessories. It was a lot of fun and opened myself up to learning many new technologies in ways of making. After graduating in 2019, I did a traineeship in handbags at Sophia Webster until Covid hit. Since then, I’ve been in a couple of artist residencies where I could focus on my own practice and develop my brand.
SB: What’s in the pipeline for 2021? Any exciting projects?
CC: At the moment, I’m working on a new capsule collection which will be finished in a month’s time. I’m looking forward to introducing some workshops on sustainable production in bag-making and I’m also excited to join this year’s Fashion Revolution Week with Fashion Open Studio to promote the importance of upcycling. There are also exciting collaborations coming up with filmmakers, 3D artists and photographers on promoting tutorials and educational projects I’m hoping to carry out this year to encourage the reuse of everyday objects.
SB: How does your creative process take place?
CC: It always starts with recovering the discarded materials I find or collect, sometimes dismantling and ‘preserving’ the most interesting parts. They overflow in my studio and so are stored in colour-coded boxes. I almost never sketch before I design, rather, I go through these boxes. I experiment with what the object can do and can imagine it as a handle, a pocket or a fastening when I see it. The next thing is finding clever ways to assemble them together with materials also from these piles, rather than turning to threads, glue or fabrics right away. If you can use a telephone wire rather than threads, why not, it’s funnier this way and works better.
SB: You re-imagine mundane objects in the home and re-birth them into new and exciting accessories. But what’s the most mundane thing about life right now?
CC: Netflix.
SB: Weirdest object you’ve used so far in your designs?
CC: A toilet seat with a fluffy toilet seat cover.
SB: Lockdown 3.0 is....
CC: More books and more tutorials on how to trim your mullet.
SB: Dinner party dates - you’re allowed 4 people dead or alive. Who would you pick and why?
CC: I’d fly my best friend Julia @el.cool.j over from Moscow, together we’d invite @lilmiquela so we can see ‘who’ shows up, how she eats and ask her about life. Third person would be Pandemonia @therealpandemonia who will share her inflatable cutlery to dine with and tips on staying cool in latex. The whole dinner party will be streamed live with our last guest Yu Masui @yumasui who will taste the food I’ve prepared and most likely make fun of it whilst telling us his top 3 over-the-top handbags.
SB: What’s the weirdest compliment you’ve ever been given?
CC: A pimple on my elbow looked cute.
SB: Influences in your work often come from kitchenware. But what’s your go-to recipe?
CC: Tofu pad thai.
SB: Most embarrassing moment and why?
CC: Served pork to a vegan thinking it was mushroom, at the restaurant I work part time. I was more embarrassed when she was very nice about it after.
SB: Biggest pinch me moment and why?
CC: A hot spring onsen bath at the bottom of a cliff after a freezing cold winter hike with my family in Hiroshima, Japan.
SB: Crocs: yay or nay?
CC: LOVE them.
SB: What’s your party trick?
CC: Rainbow shots.
SB: Whose inspiring you right now and why?
CC: Juno Birch and her funny yet confident drag persona inspire me by challenging what the mainstream perception of beauty is, and of course that dramatic and colourful housewife look. She makes me laugh and we all need to learn not to take things so seriously sometimes but enjoy being your own character.
SB: Favourite Instagram account?
CC: @uglydesign
SB: The biggest thing I achieved this week was...
CC: Rescued some chestnuts’ plastic nettings from a Chinese supermarket in Peckham.
SB: I’m absolutely obsessed with...
CC: Platform shoes and leopard geckos.
SB: Don’t talk to me about...
CC: Marmite.
SB: This year I will...
CC: Give TikTok a chance and learn a new 3D software.