Nerida Hansen is a creative force to be reckoned with. An absolute powerhouse of a business woman within the textile industry and the mastermind behind the fabric empire Nerida Hansen Fabrics, Future Folk & recently launched platform for textile designers Patternfield.
Nerida first began her career in textiles in 2008, designing her own sporting label for men and women. But it was at a two-year stint for one of Australia’s largest retailers, working as a junior buyer, where her passion for textiles and design was unleashed.
Always a supporter of independent designers, Nerida pitched some ideas to her bosses at the time, who like many big businesses were unfortunately not interested. But not one to back away from her intuition, Nerida chose to back herself and left her job to represent independent artists and turn her textile dreams into reality.
Her first sold out collection of digitally printed fabrics was launched in 2017, and she has never looked back.
Today she is a must know figure within the industry, supporting up and coming designers, and longstanding artists alike both locally and abroad.
Her passion for art, design and textiles is unparalleled, and her support for independent artists must be admired.
I have to pinch myself as today I have the incredible privilege of interviewing Nerida Hansen on her phenomenal businesses, her inspirations and the amazing empire that she has built over the years. Read on below.
Can you tell us a little about yourself, your background and what led you to becoming a Designer and then build this incredible textile empire that is Nerida Hansen?
I have always had a love of art and textiles, ever since I can remember. After meeting my husband and spending a year in his native Denmark I have been particularly drawn to the beauties of Scandinavian textiles and design. I have also been in the fashion industry in some way since I was 25, where I dabbled in my own brands including golf wear, women’s clothing and homewares / wall décor.
After the arrival of my second child, I found myself in a position as a buyer of kids and teens bed linen at Target Australia, and it was there I was introduced to the concept of art licensing. I always wanted to support independent designers for Target, but back in 2015 none of my managers would hear of it. Therefore, I took the concept out into the world myself and my current business grew from there.
Can you tell us a bit about your businesses and how they differ from each other? Patternfield App, Nerida Hansen Creative & Future Folk Design.
Nerida Hansen Creative is really a brand I have given to all the work I have done for many years including licensing artists work or designing for other companies, including jobs like Creative Direction for May Gibbs or finding licensing opportunities for my artists outside of my fabric business.
Future Folk was a bit of an accident. Some great friends of mine Dave and Jane Reid have a business that could manufacture products like decals, prints, labels and stickers but they didn’t have great art. Combining Nerida Hansen Creative and their business is a perfect marriage. Dave and Jane are actually taking ownership of Future Folk now because they can give it a lot more TLC than I can so Future Folk is going to be an exciting platform to watch!
As an agent who had visited many trade shows around the world prior to Covid to sell and license art, I always thought there should be a platform for agents and artists to meet designers online. I came up with the concept of Patternfield, which I liken to a “Tinder for the design industry” – where artists and buyers who are looking for the same outcomes meet! It was a massive undertaking and has seen a couple of iterations in its very first six months.
We have also built a fantastic resource for designers called the “Patternfield Community” which is a networking and supportive platform for designers in the industry and is free as part of their subscription. Peer support for independent design is so incredibly important and something I am very passionate about as it is a big industry that needs LOTS of talent!
With so many varied projects on the go, I just can’t begin to imagine how busy you must be. What does a day in the studio/office look like for you? And how do you balance work/life?
Right now, I am in reset mode.
The pandemic had me on my toes, and on edge for over two years. I have been faced with the most extraordinary challenges, but at the same time saw my personal and business brand boom.
The conditions around logistics of my fabrics from Asia got worse and worse, and my Patternfield App launch presented lots of challenges. This resulted in me working up to 16 hours per day for the last six months. I was trying to reset on the run, but just too overwhelmed so it has been one day at time.
As a result, I have recently been very unwell. I realised I could not reset until I really cleared the decks, which has happened in the past few weeks. All my decisions now are based on my health and wellbeing at the forefront, and so things will change.
Luckily, the joy for Nerida Hansen Fabrics and my creative agency is stronger than ever, as is my brand so I am very excited about the road ahead. But just need to take it easy and find that balance again.
What inspires your work and businesses?
Art itself is inspiring, but it is also the life of an artist and how we interact with the world. Art impacts everyone it is delivered to, whether it is in original form or on fabrics, clothing or other products.
Another incredible inspiration is seeing independent makers using our fabric and art is leading to a flourishing artisan economy worldwide. It is an exciting prospect that we have lucrative opportunities as artisans these days and it reflects well on sustainability – our planet desperately needs a change in our retail ideology.
Large format fast fashion has already run its course. It is not only not sustainable, it is already responsible for 5% of global greenhouse emissions (World Economic Forum Report) – one of the quickest things we can do as consumers is slow our fashion. And it is what my sewing and fabric industry is already doing, which I am so proud of. But there is a VERY long road ahead for all of us in this space.
What are some resources you use for inspiration?
As part of the fashion industry it is incredibly important to be across the trending motifs, themes and colours. but there is no better reference to colour than 20th century art. It doesn’t matter what is on trend, it has been done before when you look hard enough.
I am obsessed with discovering new exhibitions and artists that I have not known much about before – Sonia Delauney is my latest art crush, she is EVERYTHING I long for in a textile, colour, form, depth, shape and fun and I am so inspired by her textiles and how incredibly relevant they are today.
Another firm favourite of mine is Rothko, at least in his early career, and of course we can always turn to our mid-century inspirations of modern design houses such as Marimekko and Orla Kiely.
But it is also important to ensure you stay across the “now” trends. Pantone are definitely the leaders in this space, but I find a quick search on Pinterest and following up leads on other websites that you find through Pinterest is the best kind of rabbit hole to lose yourself in. If you can even access it, I find WGSN to be a bit too aspirational.
The past few years have been quite challenging for many industries. Can you tell us about how COVID affected your practice and what changes you’ve made if any?
The pandemic virtually wiped out my previous fabric business model and along with it, all financial, emotional and physical energy I had left was taken with it. I cannot explain how hard it has been, but as with COVID we know most other businesses are in the same boat and I am cautious about complaining too much. I do feel though that much of the success people see gives a false impression of the journey. I think it is a lot harder than what people see on the outside. The tears, the exhaustion, the extreme worry!
Fortunately, I have been in talks with the wonderful Left Bank Art Group from Queensland now for nearly a year, and we are excited to be warming up an incredible new Kornit presto fabric printer for me to print my fabrics on demand here in Australia that Left Bank have imported.
I am just so grateful for my beautiful team for all their hard work in keeping things going through the hardship. And I am super grateful to the thousands of followers who used sewing and my fabrics to bring joy to the Nerida Hansen world during the pandemic.
I am also incredibly grateful for the faith all the designers subscribing to Patternfield have had in my leadership here. Through my mentoring and artist courses I always ask artists to consider what their best lives look like. I think you need to work back from that, using that concept of the “best life” as your north star, or guiding light. COVID has literally bought me to my knees when it comes to my emotional and energetic self. I am practicing what I preach now and starting to make decisions based around my best life.
Tell us about some of the people in the industry who inspire you and why?
The artists who provide their incredible work for license and makers who are turning raw materials into a thriving artistan economy are collectively bringing inspiration to me everyday.
I am inspired every single day by the thousands of home sewers and the #memade approach to fashion and homewares. This is the kind of economic future which brings spiritual connectedness to us all.
I am also incredibly inspired by Australian Indigenous art. There is so much to be learnt from our Aboriginal culture in how they connect to country and people, and use storytelling to generate striking and meaningful imagery. The persistence of Indigenous artists through cultural misappropriation issues and societal expectations is to be admired.
I am working more and more with Indigenous art and artists. There are so many culturally sensitive boundaries that are so incredibly important to respect but it is so inspiring to be part of their culture. I hope our acceptance of using their art in culturally appropriate ways can help bridge the gaps in discrimination and inequity across other social channels.
You have collaborated with many amazing creatives over the years. What would your dream project/collaboration be for the future?
I have recently arrived at a dream collaboration – I have worked on developing some incredible new textiles with the lovely Indigenous artist, Emma Stenhouse, and I have had the absolute pleasure of designing new evening and casual wear for the amazing, Emma Donovan.
Seeing her singing at Hobarts MOFO stage in my first gown for her was breathtaking. I delivered over 20 pieces of clothing to her for Naidoc events and her tour with the Putbacks and Paul Grabowsky as well as some TV appearances. Emma’s music literally got me through COVID and I am so incredibly thrilled that I can connect with her in this way.
Emma’s collection is also driving us to with inclusive sizing so I am looking forward to bringing some of these beautiful pieces to the market at some point.
What’s next for you? What exciting things are on the cards for the year ahead?
Wellness is my priority. Bringing in troops from every angle is incredibly important to bring space and wellness into my life.
There are so many exciting opportunities ahead including developing my inclusive fashion collections with beautiful people like Emma Donovan.
I am also looking at new collaborations and I will be working on a Nerida Hansen Style Guide for 2024 / 2025 in the coming months.
It is an exciting time!