A Life Coloured In by Ken Done

Author:Ken Done [Done, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2016-02-26T05:00:00+00:00

By the late 80s, the business had expanded still more and we’d purchased a beautiful old warehouse in Thurlow Street Redfern. It had a huge airy attic that I turned into the studio, and we added a balcony from which you could look to the city and across to Moore Park. All the parts of the business were there: my studio, a gallery, the graphic and fashion design studios, all the administrative offices, warehousing and dispatch, and we were even printing our own t-shirts and silkscreens. In 1993, after graduating from university (Visual Communications, with first-class honours, I’m proud to say), Camilla came to Thurlow Street to fill in for someone who was on holidays and get her portfolio in order.

Camilla is a perfectionist and has a great eye, and during those years at uni she hardly asked me a question – for no other reason than she wanted to achieve things with her skills. And she did. It was a joy to see her receive her degree. Both the children have been exposed to the media from a very early age, and they learned not to take anything too seriously. Even when I was surprisingly named Father of the Year in 1989, and they suddenly found themselves being interviewed on TV, they seemed to take it all in their stride.

Camilla has a great sense of humour and is the most loving and generous person I know. She and Oscar have a very close bond, and it’s a joy to see them working together. They grew up with the business, and they drive it now. Oscar has developed an amazing ability to see opportunities for us, and has become very entrepreneurial. He was born about five years after Camilla, so there’s never been any sibling rivalry. They are best friends and by far the best thing Judy and I have ever created.

When Oscar left school, he had no real interest in becoming part of the business. He worked for a very smart ad agency, and then travelled to the US and Europe. When he returned, he’d still not really decided on what to do, so he came to the warehouse and eventually got involved in the business. He learned fast: he’s now the managing director. He’s great. He’s inventive and bright and, with Camilla, he’s building the business into a much more diversified group than I ever did. They are both clever, good people. I think working together we have each found our place in the team and we see all the people who work with us as part of the extended family.

As I’ve said, our licensing in Japan began in the late 1980s. Tokyo is a fascinating city at any time and in the early 1980s had a real boom. A Japanese critic once commented that I showed Japanese people what they were not, and suggested the freedom and brightness of my work elicited a strong response from them. Young Japanese girls especially responded to the designs we showed in the first little shop and I’ve always been grateful for their enthusiasm about my work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.