We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Lo Louise Tam ("LLT").
A Normal Hongkonger who falls into Fashion Design very much. Becoming a Fashion Designer is a dream since starting to study garment making. Knitting and crochet is the favorite part. To combine different textures and techniques, play with the colors all around the world, make all possible and impossible to become a garment. Handmade products are one of the special features in Apricott.
Lo Louise Tam Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Lo Louise Tam.
Lo Louise Tam Design - BlackSwan Womens Wear
Designer Interview of Lo Louise Tam:
DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
LLT : I dream to be a fashion designer when I was very young age. My mother loves Fashion very much but she didn’t have a chance to build up her careers in fashion industry. So she always made beautiful clothes for me and my brother when we were kids. I was so curious how to turn fabrics into a garment, so she taught me how to knit and crochet when I was 10, and I made my very first knitted scarf in that winter. I started to learn pattern make when my mother buy me the first Blythe doll in high school. This is how I started to learn everything about the Fashion industry and become a designer.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
LLT : Apricott is a Tailor-made brand base in HongKong. Design concept inspection by all fairytales stories- lyrics of the songs; a simple line or a beautiful scene. Focus on mixing and matching withe different transitional handmade skills and modern techniques, such as knitting, crochet and 3D printing.
DI: What is "design" for you?
LLT : “Design” is something give me the strongest feeling from what I see.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
LLT : It’s hard to specific what kinds of work I like to do the most. I love to try new things and work on what comes to mind at first.
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
LLT : The Dress in Red and the first time I used different techniques combined. I knitted the whole dress with red wool yarn and use the crochet lace for the fishtail edge of the hem. And add the Macrame for the color and sleeves. I spent 5 months completing the dress.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
LLT : A purple knit sweater. Mix with different tone of the purples and combined knit and crochet.
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
LLT : I love to play with yarns and threads. There are millions of ways to mix and match tools and techniques. It's fun and exciting.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
LLT : I will focus on which technique can provide an aesthetic looks for the garments and mix with some new skills that I didn’t use before .
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
LLT : Most of the times I am feeling
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
LLT : Keep thinking. Do not stop for what I had done before, keep thinking what I can do for the future.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
LLT : As a fashion t, I think pattern making is the most important skill for us. Even though we have a super creative ideas but if we cannot do the pattern making that mean this garment only can happen once.
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
LLT : I will start to making sample and start off drawing on a paper. Once I am okay with the sample, I will start to making the tailor with actual fabrics. For me, this way can save more time and make the whole process easier.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
LLT : It’s hard to say, for a women top, it can takes a few days to complete or a few months. Depends on the materials that I am going to use. For hand knitting pieces it takes much longer than sewing pieces.
DI: What was your most important job experience?
LLT : The first internship was the most important job experience for me. That was the first time I worked in designer’s house, everything to me was so new and curious. And it helped me to understand how a designer’s house run and what I needed to prepare. It made me see my future.
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
LLT : I really enjoyed making knitwear. I love the way that looking for different fibres and creative the patterns for the garments without machines.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
LLT : We will keep working for creative ideas and handicrafts. We hope to use more different handicrafts ideas for the garments and have more unique designs.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
LLT : Most of the time I work by myself. We do have an experienced sewing workers for help to do the sewing part. And sometime will also help for the embroidery.
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
LLT : We are working on our 2023 Collection- immigration It a collection with the colours tine with black and dark red. Signature pieces with knit and crochet designs and beading on top.
DI: How can people contact you?
LLT : People can contact me by IG or email: IG: @apricott.hk Email: Apricott.hk@gmail.com