Seven years ago Liisa Chisholm moved from the Canadian Rockies to London’s concrete maze. Billy Holmes meets her at a Brixton studio overflowing with mountain gear and vintage Japanese toys.
How did you end up in London, Liisa?
I grew up in Calgary, Canada where I was ski racing professionally. I broke my foot, forcing me to retire, and in a panic I applied to university in London to study textiles. I was doing the biathlon – cross country skiing combined with shooting – very Canadian. There’s pretty much no industry for textiles in Canada, I had to be in a place like London where there are loads of print design jobs.
When I was deciding where I wanted to move to I basically went up and down the Victoria line checking out areas I liked; I finally decided to move to Brixton because I was getting into skateboarding and wanted to be near Stockwell Skatepark.
What was one of the first things that got you into wanting to create pattern and design?
My mum always used to tell me about these Marimekko dresses her Mum used to wear. When I saw the really bold pattern style I thought ‘I want to be a Marimekko designer, that’s what I want to do.’ My great-grandmother was an Estonian weaver so I definitely had that in my blood. I mainly grew up around female engineers and scientists and didn’t realise it wasn’t normal for every woman in your life being a scientist, which is sick (obviously) but I wanted to make stuff, science wasn’t for me. Working with textiles is a great way of getting colour into this world in a natural way.
How does place inspire your work?
Moving to London and seeing the mix of colour and culture clash was a big inspiration for my work. Colour has always been around me; in the mountains Canadians love bright neon patterns. I still love to buss out the wild prints when I go home to mountains. I love how in London you don’t need a car – I walk to Central from South London, which no one from London would ever do, but for me the walk is interesting and different the entire way.
Colour has always been around me; in the mountains Canadians love bright neon patterns
Without sounding really poncey, all my work is energy-based. When I’m creating patterns it’s all about what feels right and more importantly ‘does it make me happy to be around?’ There’s so much depressing shit going on in the world, it doesn’t hurt to do some silly and fun stuff for a change. I want people feel a sense of happiness if they come across my patterns in the street, injections of this positive energy is what a lot people need.
What processes do you enjoy most?
I like to paint and use analogue techniques. It’s the reason I started doing all of this. I don’t want a job where I’m sat in front of a screen. More and more nowadays, I have to go through the digital process which is still fine, but I prefer the hands on approach. I have been recently been getting back into ceramics after coming back from 9 months of hard work at FIU Gallery in Shanghai.
It was a really different way of working in China, I was the first international artist they invited. It was great as they experimented with lots of big colourful public installations. Going back to ceramics was a really nice change to such a busy and crazy environment in China, it allowed me to breathe and get hands-on again with playing with materials.
What have been some of the most memorable projects you have worked on recently?
I worked on the She Moves Mountains project for The North Face which focussed on inspirational female talent across art, music and sport. I love The North Face. It makes me laugh how nowadays these sort of brands are ‘in’ now. When I first moved here I used to mocked for wearing my outdoor gear. Now everyone asks me ‘where did you get that jacket from Liisa?’
I worked in-house at Stella for six months and it was such a learning curve for me as I have been doing my own thing for three years since then. I had never seen my work really fitting into luxury fashion before. Going into that world in ripped clothes and burnt-out skate shoes was a big change. One of the coolest things for me was seeing how my warm-up drawings could actually be used for a luxury clothing item.
When I first moved here I used to mocked for wearing my outdoor gear. Now everyone asks me ‘where did you get that jacket from Liisa?’
Skateboarding must be essential for you after having to give up life on the slopes.
Skateboarding is incredibly important to me because it’s how I found my family in London. It’s a great way to physically express myself. I was heartbroken about not being able to ski race anymore but learning to skate in London allowed me to play through a completely different outlet to design. I met so many creative mentors, especially Matt Bromley, owner of Blast Skates. There are just so many different art cultures surrounding skating.
The word ‘play’ comes up a lot when concerning your work and life. Why do you think that is?
I’m trying everything I can to make my job as fun as possible. Although 90 per cent of the time I’m sleep deprived and stressed, I love doing it. I always think ‘what can I do to make this fun, how can I make my work as playful as possible?’ If the process is playful and fun then I hope it can be received that way by the people it’s really for. Its guess it’s my selfish way of me wanting it to be playful and never boring for me or anyone else.
