Lawlor’s Masters degree show received great praise for his striking, heavily embellished dresses, with Vogue’s Sarah Mower crediting his collection as “fabulous knitwear”. Since my time in London is very limited, Lawlor was kind enough to come to CoutureLab to show me his full collection and inspiration. When I saw his unique pieces I immediately wanted to order one for myself and discuss a collaboration with CoutureLab.
Lawlor arrived at our meeting as all new designers do - armed with suitcases and books of sketches and pictures. With the anticipation of a first date, I was so excited to hear his story and where he draws his inspiration from.
Unveiling his unique lace cord cashmere dresses and wraps, I get stuck into learning more about his stunning designs: “It takes between two and three weeks to create just one piece - knitting the cashmere is actually the quickest aspect, it’s the cord lace work that is the most time-consuming part”. It took him 18-months of experimentation with his domestic knitting machine, which involved playing with different weights, structures and shapes: “I discovered the method by accident really – I’d already worked with lacing so it felt like a natural development.”
His eureka moment came late one night in December – what a great Christmas gift to receive! I asked him for further details of the technique he came up with but I was sworn to secrecy – I will of course of course keep that secret, just as I do with all of my designer friends.
Lawlor’s creations have the appearance of twisted licorice, but I ask what his inspiration is: “It ranges from body armor to sculpture and architecture”. He shows me all of the sketches and pictures of things which inspire him and adds: “At school we were always told to have back up material for all of our work. During this research I studied a lot of leather jackets and Japanese armour – I love the shapes and the structure.”
I flick through his portfolio and discover that there is more to knitting than I first thought – there are pages and pages of mathematical drawings where he’s worked out his stitching patterns. I am fascinated with the science of it all and through his explanations we end up choosing the colors and designs for some specially made pieces for me and CoutureLab. And what did I choose? That would be telling - you’ll have to wait and see…