Discover the daily rituals of Furious Goose Creative Director, Patrick Morrison.
Meet the designer behind the cult British label Furious Goose as he shares his proudest achievements and creative process. Plus, shop Furious Goose AW17 at Temple Muse.
What is your favorite part about being a designer?
I absolutely love seeing other people strutting their stuff in Furious Goose, taking energy from the fierce colours and shameless attitude. That’s the moment when the designs finally come to life for me and it’s magical.
How would you describe your personal style?
Eclectic and eccentric. One of our brand straplines is ‘Dress Like an Aristocrat. Accessorise Like an Anarchist’. Essentially, the Furious Goose style is a fusion of hipster edge and classic Italian sprezzatura with a sprinkling of punk and new rave thrown in. I like to call the look ‘hooray-hipster’.
What inspires you the most?
I am a very mixed bag when it comes to my sources and draw a lot of inspiration from science, and mathematics as well as history, art, architecture, and music. Whatever it is it must be beautiful, surprising, funny, cool, shocking, uplifting or (my favourite word) exuberant.
Describe your creative process.
It all starts with the concept of the collection. Something exciting, curious, and challenging. Something that will translate into a stunning design. Then it’s pen and ink time as the designs are sketched by hand first. The next stage is the careful digital reworking of the sketches in Adobe Illustrator. By hand-crafting the motifs and designs in vectors you get the crisp-edged, flat-colour look that is our signature style. Next, we move on to colour selection, balancing a myriad of options. Finally, we work closely with our printers to tweak the colours to achieve the best print possible.
If you could go back and tell yourself one thing before beginning your career what would it be?
Take risks, never give up and follow your heart.
How is working in fashion different today than when you started out?
The ability to cut through to buyers and decision-makers with social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. This has made it possible to grow a brand through hard work and consistently good creativity rather than big advertising spending and a well-connected address book.
What's your favourite piece from the current collection?
The Foxes, Sunrise, and Pocket Square are such beautiful and intense prints. It always makes people smile when they see it.
What’s your proudest achievement to date?
Seeing Furious Goose scarves on sale in just our second year in Mayfair’s Bruton Street, opposite the Hermès flagship London store.
What’s the greatest lesson that you’ve learned as a designer?
Only stop working on a design when you know it can’t be improved. And don’t be afraid to throw everything away and start again, no matter how painful that might be.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in the industry?
Find something you love doing and it will never seem like work. Be open to every opportunity. Don’t hide things from competitors, share your knowledge and others will share theirs with you. Finally, enjoy yourself…it’s fashion, it’s supposed to be fun!
Shop Furious Goose at Temple Muse.
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