Once upon a time, while Rebecca Ng was living in London, she had a dream of returning to Melbourne and starting her own shop called ‘Fabric Drawer’. “I’d source beautiful fabrics from around the world (and so would be able to continue travelling — another great love) and even sell my own collection. People who sew always have their own fabric drawer, cupboard, box or stash somewhere in the house… so the name ‘Fabric Drawer’ stuck instantly. Needless to say, the whole process of setting up a retail store seemed to be a bit overwhelming (but perhaps one day…) so instead, Fabric Drawer is for now just about my designs, illustrations and patterns.”
Starting in late 2011, she is mostly self-taught , building up her knowledge from books and the internet. “Being a graphic designer is a huge help, as I’m already familiar with the programs, but I still have more to learn.”
the fabric drawer – ararat peaks (blue)
Rebecca’s designs move between Memphis-inspired scattered abstracts and geometrics through to sweet florals, all with an emphasis on hand drawn shapes reinterpreted through vectors. Muted brights make for a gentle and happy mix of colours; darker blues punctuated with soft apricots and mustards is a favourite combination.
“I sometimes draw straight onto the computer, but most times I like to doodle in my book, scan and re-draw the motifs into Illustrator, to come up with a design that still looks hand drawn. I find the process of seeing designs come to life immensely satisfying. It can take many hours to put together a pattern and lots of time making small tweaks… colour is something that I feel is hard to settle on. Each time I come back to a pattern I want to change it!
the fabric drawer – petite arrows (green)
the fabric drawer – coral
She is a huge admirer of Beci Orpin – not only for being so multi-talented with a distinctive style, but also for the fact that “she has two children of her own and still does all these amazing things.” Elizabeth Olwen is also a bit of an inspiration. “She also comes from a graphic design background, so hearing her stories of continuing success in the pattern world really motivates me to pursue what I love.”
the fabric drawer – florals (green)
the fabric drawer – hop skip and a jump
Rebecca’s love of fabric first revealed itself while undertaking a multimedia degree at uni. She borrowed her mother’s sewing machine and started making bags for herself. “I remember looking high and low through fabric stores and op shops around Melbourne to find the perfect fabric to use. Back then; finding fabric I loved was like finding gold!”
“Years later, after several jobs in web and graphic design, I enrolled in a short course on screen-printing. Since all my jobs involved sitting in front of a computer for hours on end, I really missed being hands-on and working with something tactile. Learning about making a repeat pattern fascinated me, and I thoroughly enjoyed printing a short run of my own fabric. One such piece took me hours to print perfectly and I dare not cut this up! This led me to enrol in a textiles course, which I loved, and was a great way to balance the stress of the days work at my full-time job. I have yet to finish the course since I had my two little ones – but I’m determined to go back one day soon to complete it.”
Juggling motherhood and work is hard enough, but Rebecca also has the added pressure of constantly travelling between Jakarta (where her hsband works) and Melbourne. “Unfortunately a big studio space or room is elusive at the moment.
So my studio is my laptop and wherever I can find a spare space!
“I do dream of having my own studio space one day.”
the fabric drawer – lost in translation
She believes mistakes are to be embraced, because they provide useful lessons. Some years ago, while working as a graphic designer she worked on a print that she had measured incorrectly on screen, so that the final printout wasn’t correct. Another time it was a brochure that had numerous spelling mistakes in it, despite having been read and checked several times.”It’s not a great feeling when you realise you’ve made a mistake with something you’ve worked on, but I’ve always found that being up front and admitting your mistake is better received than trying to pretend like you didn’t do anything wrong, or worse – blaming someone else! But in the end I think mistakes help us learn to be better designers – because once we make that kind of mistake, we don’t want it to happen again!”
Of course, there are highlights too. Last year, she was thrilled to be judged the winner of the 2013 Printed Bolt Repeat(ed) competition. “Each round we were given briefs to create a repeat pattern – the feedback from the judges was so helpful and being part of the competition with such talented designers really helped push me out of my design comfort zone. But I’m hoping there’s more ‘icing on the cake’ still to come!”
the fabric drawer – new beginnings
Her favourite quote is one that many of us can relate to.
“A life lived in fear, is a life half lived.”
“This resonates with me, because I have been the ultimate procrastinator when pursuing my surface pattern design dreams. As with starting anything new, there’s always hesitation and doubt, but I really want this year to be more about doing and less about thinking about doing.
rebecca ng – sketchbook
You can find more of Rebecca’s work on her own website, fabricdrawer.com.au