ARKET NOTES | On translating colour • With a summer collection inspired by sculpture gardens – specifically, artist Barbara Hepworth’s garden at her studio and home in St Ives, Cornwall, in the southwest of England – our new seasonal print designs took root in research on opposites and contrasts: light and dark, round and edgy, natural and man-made. - A bright-pink print, custom-made for a silk dress, was hand-painted by our designer Elsa Esser, who wanted to evoke the garden without being too literal. ‘I ended up distilling the idea of a flower to its essential colour – fuchsia – and then started thinking about how the colour meets the underlying texture of the fabric. I was painting on watercolour paper, rice paper, and then on silk, and the silk had the most interesting interaction with the ink,’ Elsa recalls. - She worked with sumi ink and large brushes – the kind typically used to prepare a canvas – experimenting with wetting the material first to let the colour bleed in controlled ways. By diluting the ink or adjusting the moisture of the surface, she could gradually build up layers, adjusting intensity and creating a more nuanced effect. - The process leading up to the final print also sparked wider conversations within the team around the meaning of functionality and its connection to timelessness and longevity. Comfort, wearability and durability are essential – but what about the function of beauty, or the function of craft? - For Elsa Esser, working by hand is not just a way of making but a way of thinking. The physical process invites trial and error, offering a transparency that digital methods often lack. It also deepens the connection between idea and outcome. - ‘Many times, individuality is what make us keep a garment in our wardrobe for years. Essentialism and pure functionality represent a very strict narrative – and I think the idea of beauty as function adds something important to the wider conversation on sustainability.’ - #ARKET #ARKETNOTES