We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lindsay Cowles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lindsay, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

The first stepping stone to my creative/artistic career was when I moved to New York after college. I knew I wanted to be in the city and knew that I wanted to pursue a career in the fashion industry. Ever since I was a little girl, I had always loved fashion, art and design. This was the perfect place to get into fashion. My best friend suggested I start out interning for a family friend. So, I hopped on the opportunity and dove right in. Working with clothing, fabric and mixing and matching pieces, patterns and textures to create a cohesive look really was thrilling to me. After working for Piazza Sempione, I found my dream of a lifetime working for Alberta Ferretti. Her clothing was artwork for the body. From draped chiffons, to shibori prints, to botticelli masterpieces recreated on clothing, I was in heaven. It was then that I realized that fabric could be art. That was the spark that launched my career as a designer. Literally anything could be art. If I could dream it, I could make it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

After leaving Alberta Ferretti in 2009, I moved to LA during the economic downturn. I was at a loss as to what to do professionally. I knew that I didn’t really want to be in the fashion industry, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I did a lot of soul searching. Tried a lot of different avenues. But what really launched into my current profession was getting back into creating art. My sister was in her senior year at Furman and she was working on her senior art project. We happened to be home visiting family at the same time. She was in the basement painting. I felt this gravitational pull toward the canvas and asked if I could join her. She said yes, so I went out and got my supplies and immediately dove in. It was what was missing in my life. I felt a sense of wholeness working with paint. And thats when it came to me. I need to make fabric out of my paintings. But I knew that I didn’t want to start by creating fabric for clothing. I wanted to create fabric for the home. But that didn’t come easy. Not many artists were doing this. It wasn’t an easily searchable thing to find production facilities for private label, small batch fabric designers. It took me about 3 years to develop my collection and to find my production sources. During that time though, I realized that wallpaper would go hand in hand with a fabric collection. And actually, wallpaper ended up launching first. Fabric, because of my background in luxury textiles, was a bit harder because I didn’t like the options that I was finding, so I had to do more research and dig deep to find the grounds that I wanted to make up my collection. Through my years of research, I was able to find production facilities that aligned with my vision– high end– luxury materials–exquisite production quality–attention to detail. Of course everything is always evolving and never stagnant. I continue to seek the best materials, the best quality and to stay current and relevant to my clients evolving aesthetic.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

To see the happiness that art and design brings to people. To see the impact that it has on peoples lives. There is nothing better.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started my business just before the start of Instagram and a few years after Facebook had launched. So I instantly hopped on facebook when I started painting and posted images of what I was creating. People instantly were interested in seeing what I was doing. Thank goodness for so many wonderful friends, colleagues, acquaintances that gave me the confidence that I needed to keep going further. From there, I joined Instagram and started positing on there. I soon realized that I needed to put out more consistent information, photos, newness. Consistency is key on social media. I also wanted an authentic set of followers that were truly interested in my work. So, I posted daily and grew my social media following organically.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lindsaycowles.store
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaycowlesllc/

Image Credits
wendell powell studio headshot dark room hw interiors and native house photography bunk room hw interiors and native house photography blue room with elephant lindsay cowles llc red draperies jill white designs white bedroom DAG Design and Sarah Winchester mural butler’s pantry jill white designs