Purple Bike Design is always thrilled to discover amazing Baltimore artists and designers, so when we found Radica Textiles, a Baltimore-based design studio run by Sarah Templin, we immediately fell in love with their elegant hand-drawn, screen printed textiles.
Sarah has worked for over ten years in textile design, apparel design, material sourcing, textile-focused product development and design, and textile-related site specific installations. Her background in fine art and design, textile printing (including an apprenticeship at Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop and Museum), and over ten years of experience in museum exhibition design, installation and curatorial work shape her distinct approach to textile design. Sarah took time time out of her busy schedule to talk about her inspiration, process, and new projects.
Purple Bike Design: How long have you been designing and creating your own fabric? How did you start doing this?
Sarah Templin: About 10 years ago I was mostly interested in sewing clothes & sculptures. Slowly, I became more interested in how the printed fabric patterns could be changed by sewing them in different ways- using tons of darts or railroading the fabric in parts of the sewn object. Then, eventually, I ditched the sewing in favor of just focusing on the printed material.
It was a slow transition and hard for me to pinpoint where it really began, but by 4 years ago, I was primarily focusing on the surface design. A year and a half ago, I left my day job (at the American Visionary Art Museum) to formally launch Radica. The first line of hand printed and hand painted textiles was introduced last summer. I’m putting the finishing touches on the second line now, which will come out this spring.
PBD: Tell me a little bit about a few past favorite projects …
ST: The biggest, most satisfying project was of course formally launching Radica’s first line of hand printed and hand painted textiles. The first collection consisted of five patterns in a slew of colors, all entirely made in the USA.
PBD: What is the newest project you are working on? How is the process different than past projects?
Read the whole article here, on the Purple Bike Design Blog.
