An Interview with Rosebud Casson

Rosebud Casson

Rosie Casson aka Rosebud is a talented textiles and jewellery designer maker from my hometown Hartlepool. Not only is her work unbelievable in style and quality but she's an extremely lovely lass and I'm planning on adding to my Rosebud Casson jewellery collection very soon!

Rosie will be exhibiting her collection Natural Ornamentum at SEWN on Mach 7th.
I caught up with Rosie for a cheeky interview:

Your work mainly being focused on nature, how do you narrow such a wide subject? 

I love the fact that natural forms are so unique and diverse, which in turn allows my work to be as experimental and exciting as i want it to be. But narrowing it down is really hard! I generally like to go out and get primary research, for example going on walks in the countryside or at the beach taking photos, and look for surfaces and patterns that catch my eye. My collections are usually quite focused, and i like to keep a theme running throughout them whether its things such as flowers and beetles or shells and the sea. I then attempt to translate these patterns onto the fabric using print and embroidery techniques. I think my goal is to experiment with all aspects of nature, but that may take me many years!

What makes you look closer into to subjects such as insects and sea urchins? 
I am just fascinated with the microscopic beauty of sea urchins, shells and insects. They are so beautiful and wonderful, i want to make sure people know what they have right in front of their eyes when they visit the beach or rivers. I feel that the beautiful pattern and structure of natural forms are just screaming out to be translated into something beautiful you can wear! Nature has always been a massive passion of mine growing up, so its only natural to combine two of my greatest loves - nature and fashion textiles! 

You finished your degree last year, you sell your work and now you're preparing for SEWN, how have you kept your creative juices flowing?

It's been really hard to keep working on my art, as i ended up starting a full time job quite soon after graduating that has nothing to do with my work, so i've had to really keep on top of my embroidery to keep me inspired. I have a terrible habit of neglecting my embroidery as its so time consuming, and working more towards my laser cut jewelery, but i guiltily go back to stitch, and remember how much i love it in the first place! I constantly flick through Pinterest on my phone, and seeing such beautiful imagery on there is a massive part of keeping myself motivated to carry on creating my own pieces. I think the biggest part of keeping my creative juices flowing, is knowing exactly what i want to do with my career, so i'm quite pro active and passionate about working hard within my skill. 

Can you describe the core style of your work?
Combining techniques and a range of different media to portray beautiful detailed pieces.

What do you think about independent exhibitions and events such as sewn?

Exhibitions such as SEWN are incredibly important. There is so much artistic talent in the North East, especially within Teesside and you can see that from just how much talent there is from the undergraduates and graduates at colleges and universities such as Cleveland College of Art and Design. Events and encouragement from people such as King Crumpet are incredibly important to get artistic individuals, young and old, to step forward and say "hey! look what i can do!". From living in Hartlepool my whole life, i have noticed there is a constant lack of these sort of things, and i really feel there needs to be more of a focus on the art world, instead of people saying "the only way to make it in art is to move to London!" I begrudge moving away from an area that has so much potential, just because areas like London seem to have a claim over successful art. 

What is your dream project? 
Working in costume or fashion for tv and film projects. I would love to attempt historic and/or period embroidery within costume design and see my work up on the screens and being worn!

Professionally, what’s your goal?
My goal is to become completely self employed - making a living out of something that you love is such a rare thing these days, and i want to be one of the lucky few who can use their talent and skill and make it into something that pays the bills. Even if it doesn't work out in the end, i still want to be able to look back on my business and think - hey, at least i tried eh?!

 You can check Rosebud Casson out via her Facebook or Blog!

You can also meet and network with Rosie in person at SEWN.

Click here for tickets and info!

All images in this post are copyrighted to Rosebud Casson.