MERYL PARDOEN

TEXTILE DESIGNER

Meryl Pardoen is a textile surface designer, creating stunning prints for fabrics used globally. She’s worked with some killer brands – think Bonds, Zulu & Zephyr, Three of Something – and now freelances from her home studio in the French Alps.

We had a chat with the talented creative about how she landed in the industry, her pivot to freelancing, invisible statues selling for thousands of dollars and the challenges of having to market yourself.

Meryl! Tell us a bit about what you do!

I am a textile and surface designer. I design prints for businesses and brands, mainly swimwear and apparel. I studied commercial interior design, so I want to go back to that and create designs for wallpaper, upholstery, that kind of thing – I think that’d be cool.
I’ve actually sold my designs to quite a few Australian brands, because I was working with an Australian studio.

Cool! Which studio?

Kukukachu in Byron bay. Studios have agents that will go to the headquarters of Bonds and Billabong... those kinds of places. Sometimes other brands who have seen my designs will say ‘I really liked your print for this brand, can we have something in the same style?’

I was also working with two studios in the USA, but they didn’t tell me where my prints ended up – it was all secret, which is quite standard for the fashion industry. So I have absolutely no idea who they sold to! I think they probably have ended up in places like Target and Kohl’s, but I just have no idea.

Wow! So you don’t get a say in where your prints go?

No, not usually. Sometimes their clients like your style in particular and ask for custom prints, which is then when you find out who the brand is and that they’ve requested more of your work.

Studios are good to work with to build up a portfolio. It was good in the beginning when I didn’t know what people wanted – they give you briefs and you work on different styles, which is great for experience. Then I was like ‘ok now I kinda know what I’m doing’. In the end I stayed with Kukukachu because they were very open about which client had purchased your print and there was more of a team vibe.

Studios take a big cut as well, because they have to pay the agents and pay for samples, so there are a lot of things to consider!

So how does being represented by a studio work?

Every week or month you get a trend brief, which you then create your designs to. It depends on the studio how many prints they expect of you.

Do they then buy and own your prints?

You get paid once [the studio sells your design]. If your print sells, you’ll get paid for your design and the studio will take a percentage which covers the printing of fabric samples and the agent’s fee.

That must be frustrating in some instances…

Yeah… obviously it’s up to everyone individually, but I decided to stop working with studios and branch out on my own. I wanted ownership of my designs. It’s why I want to move to interiors, where I think it’s normal to keep the license or the copyright for your print. Whereas in fashion, most companies want to buy the copyright and it’s very fast moving. I really like creating for swim and surf wear, but in interior design the prints have more longevity and diversity within the field.

I guess a lot of people don’t know that that’s how it works, that a fashion house isn’t actually designing every detail, they’re buying a lot of prints and designs from freelancers...

Yeah, that’s exactly what they do!

You would absolutely want to see your print come to life on the products!

There are more than 100 prints that I’ve sold and I have no idea what happened to them. So I changed the way I work. Working for myself is quite a lot harder as you have to network and build client relationships, but it’s also more rewarding.

Instead of selling my designs outright, I now license them for a set period of time which can be extended, with a possible buyout of the copyright.

Brands add prints to their products in order to sell more and it’s important to be fairly compensated for that, as well as the time you spent creating them.

I’m getting better at the business side of things very slowly. When I started this, I already had a background in programs like Photoshop and Illustrator; and I did a couple of textile design courses online for more specialised knowledge. After working with studios for a while, I went travelling and sort of put it all on the backburner, just doing work for some studios here and there. It’s only since I’ve settled in France that I’m seriously doing it myself… like properly.

I’d love to know what your creative tools are – how do you create your prints?

I’ve changed it over time. Before, I used to paint or draw by hand, scan it in and then Photoshop. Now I have this wonderful iPad and
I use Procreate I still sometimes paint and draw, but Procreate… I mean, it’s the same, and the workflow is a bit smoother. You draw by hand and it’s already digital. It saves a lot of cleanup. When you scan, there is a lot of cleaning up to do on all of the edges, it needs to be perfect. If you put it on a background you can’t have any speckles or noise in there. I also have a graphic tablet, just to get the finer details in Photoshop. I think it’s good that I had quite a solid foundation in Photoshop, so I didn’t have to learn too much... because it’s SUCH a big program. There were things I didn’t know, but it was very easy to pick up and roll with it. 

So, back to the start, where did you study interior design?

In London. I was working in commercial interior design, mainly in hospitality design. I was the AutoCAD person, so I did technical drawings – floor plans, electrical plans, spec sheets. I liked it, but it wasn’t that creative and there were so many people involved. It just wasn't that fun. The fun parts were picking materials, keeping the material library and talking to reps that came in with their products.

So you were exposed to a lot of people selling their products?

Yeah, and I was like ‘I think I'm more interested
in their product than I am in my job.’

How did you make the jump from interior design and your love of drawing to textile design? Did you know anyone in the industry?

No. I didn’t know that I was going to be a textile designer. I just rolled into it!

After I quit my interior job I went solo traveling around the world and when I got back to London I was just scrolling on the internet one day and I saw something about textile and surface design…

I went into this rabbit hole and it was like
‘THAT IS WHAT I WANNA DO!’
You know?

I think that’s what I had always liked about interior design, the details. Like the wallpapers, the textiles, the upholstery… all of that.
I thought, I can draw and paint, and I’m ok at these computer programs. That’s when I started working with studios – that really made me draw and paint a lot. I’m still not the best painter, my drawings are ok. With working on an iPad it’s so handy as well, because you can just take it anywhere!

Meryl! It is wild that you think your drawings are just ‘ok’...

Haha! I’m not that great at selling myself either.

Few creatives are. It’s a skill.

Some creatives ARE! I need to be like that! Sometimes I see creatives sell themselves and they do it so well and I’m like ‘how do I copy that?’ Marketing is everything, isn’t it? I mean, you saw that thing recently where an invisible sculpture was sold for $18,000?!

I hate that.
I hate it too! It’s wrong on so many levels. There was more than one bidder!
Dark times we live in…

So Meryl, if somebody approaches you for a print, do you have a library of things to show them or is it usually commissioned?

So I have an online print shop that has a password, because usually brands want a print that hasn't been seen by heaps of people and other brands. When someone contacts me to request the password – I only give it to them if they can prove they are an actual legit business and don’t just want to copy things or just have a nosey. And then there are people looking for something specific and want something custom made, so I will ask them a set of questions to see what they are looking for, for example the style and what they’re going to print it on.

Then they’ll give me a brief, I’ll make a moodboard… and we go from there!

What's the turnaround time on something like that?

That really depends on the labour intensity of the job and then the client's feedback. I’ve had clients where the next day I’ve got feedback. Others can take a week or two weeks. It also depends on how many projects I've got on... if it’s just one, obviously it’s a quicker turnaround. But if it’s three or more then it takes longer. It also depends how big the company is – I’ve had one contact person who had to talk to a whole team, then they needed to talk to the board of managers… it took forever! Juggling client feedback and different projects can be hard.

Have you had any experiences with plagiarism of your work?

Not so far, no! I haven’t seen any! To be fair, realistically it’s probably just a matter of time. That’s what they do, and they get away with it. 

Did you find it hard figuring out what to charge for your work, and how and when to update costs over time?

Absolutely. It’s so hard, and was really hard in the beginning. People aren’t transparent with it at all, and I don’t know anyone in this industry, not personally anyway. I just had to check other people’s websites and studios. When I did the course, they told us what the standard price in the US is, so at least I had that to work from.

It’s cool to be compensated for your time,
but it's actually about the value.

I’ve seen a few people who just just don’t charge enough. I once had a client ask me to lower my fee and said and that she’d found someone who would do it for half the price. I know that my price is literally industry standard. So I just wrote back ‘well they clearly don’t value their work’. The client ended up hiring me, so that might have been just her negotiation tactics.

I think a lot of textile designers don't realise that
we add a lot of value to the client’s product. 

What’s the difference between selling someone a print with or without copyright?

What I’m doing right now is licensing – they can use a print for a set amount of time. If they want it for longer, they have to renew the license. They can buy the copyright, but at a much higher price.

I guess you kind of live and learn, right? I learnt this the hard way. A couple of years ago a company commissioned me for prints, and they’ve just started producing new, different products to their existing products – like accessories – with my prints [on them].
So if I had given them a licence, they would have had to extend the licence and pay me again.

They are getting more value out of your print, so you should absolutely get compensated!

Exactly, they launch new products, and my design adds value because it matches the original product. But I only get paid once, you know? It’s taken me a while to figure out how to make this sustainable, business is not one of my talents. I really think that people, especially in the beginning stages of fashion and design, do not get fair compensation for their work.

What has been the biggest learning curve in your career?

A BIG one! I once didn’t charge a returning client a big enough deposit, which came back to bite me in the bum. This was for a project that I charged per hour and was under the impression that they only wanted one design, but then they changed it to seven, after I’d been paid the deposit for one. I didn’t ask for more as I felt like there was a bit of trust. Then the client realised they didn’t have the budget when I was midway through the work process, and that was the end of it.

Ughhh Meryl, what a nightmare, we’re so sorry!

Yeah, I now see what I did wrong there. I definitely should’ve asked for the deposit of the six extra designs.

And sometimes I think it’s necessary to educate people about the amount of time the entire process takes.

So how did you pivot after that?

Well, the thing is I usually do charge a deposit, I just...you know when you let go of the reins a bit? And then people just kinda… 

Seize the opportunity to walk all over you!?

Yep! You’ve always gotta stand your ground – you have to be really in control of everything and communicate clearly when it comes to that kind of stuff. You do learn from those experiences.

You live and you learn. On a more positive note, what have been some of your favourite projects/brands to work with?
Gas yourself up a little bit for us PLOISE!

Well, there’s one I’m working with right now, they made me sign an NDA so I can’t really tell you… but it’s in the homewares industry.
I like the fact that I’m doing interior stuff now.

I worked with an Australian surf brand who do sustainable swimwear with recycled material. [They were] really cool to work with, so easy! We got it done in like 10 days.

You know when things flow?
I liked what she wanted, she liked what I did!

The design was a bit different from what I usually create, but I made it in my style and really like how it turned out. I think it will be released in your summer. 

I’ve also been working with a luxury luggage company, Steamline Luggage. I think I’ve done about 15 of their prints. And a large variety of styles – geometrics, florals, tropical and conversational prints (a novelty print that features recognisable objects). It’s all been really fun!

They are amazing!

They were my first client, and I just finished another print for them maybe a month ago. It’s awesome to have done such a big range. I think it’s kinda cool cos it’s completely different to apparel, they’re beautiful suitcases. I have one!

What would you say is your style and aesthetic? What do you most like to draw?

I feel like it’s a bit of everything. In the beginning it was a lot of paisleys and boho prints, then it got very floral and tropical. Now I’m doing slightly more abstract ones, like looser florals and flat colour ones. It’s definitely maximalist. My prints – they’re usually full. They’re quite fun! I am working on making my style a bit more recognisable though. 

We touched earlier on marketing and how hard it can be for creatives to promote themselves. How much has social media helped your brand?

I think I need to be more active on Pinterest… I haven’t really tried it. Instagram is usually where people find me. On my website form I always ask where people found me – it’s always Google search or Instagram.

I feel like I haven’t quite figured out the algorithm, because in the business insights you you can see the reach, right? When it does hit the algorithm (which has happened very few times), I am reaching 26,000 [people] and the pic I posted yesterday was like 600… that’s a big difference!

How does that work?

I have no idea. Some of my friends are like ‘I haven’t seen your prints for months’, and I’m like ‘well, I am posting!’. I’m not a big social media fan, but it’s part of the job and you just have to do it. I’ve committed to trying to do more. Apparently you have to post videos… 

As well, your work is so visually stunning that it sells itself to a massive degree. Do you have any dream collaborations?

Do you know Matthew Williamson? He was a fashion designer, and now he’s gone into interior design and home decor, and I think he’s got a house in like… I think it’s Ibiza, somewhere in the Balearic islands. It’s pretty cool, he’s come from fashion and now his designs are everywhere.

I would also love to design for Anthropologie, especially homewares, they seem to collaborate with designers a lot. That would be really cool. Or wallpapers for Milton & King!

You love travelling and are really well-travelled – did that play into what you wanted to do?

I do think it’s had quite a big influence. I was in Sapa in Vietnam – the Hmong people have really cool textiles… My dad’s from Indonesia, so that side of my family always had Batik stuff and are all super creative. When I say I’m not very good at drawing, it’s because I see what they can do.

Asia has a lot of really cool fabrics. Every place has a different style of art. I think I have always loved prints.

Also it’s so transportable... you can just draw on your iPad. Technically, you could just pack up and go, right?

That’s a big thing. But then when I went travelling, I sort of forgot about the business side haha! Now, I’m like ‘no, no, no, I need to do this first and then I can take off again’. I got very distracted when I was in Canada. I was like ‘I’ll go to Toronto and make some connections, maybe even work in-house’, and then I ended up in BC, and then Whistler haha.

Hahaha you’re just out snowboarding and you like… hang on!

Haha yeah, so I got into all of that. Now I’m in the French Alps in the same kind of environment, but this time I’m focused and prioritising my business. Just doing things my way and loving it. Hopefully it will pay off!

We KNOW it will!

Peep Meryl’s talents over on her ‘gram! Or if you’re
looking for the next incred textile design to adorn
your products, head to her site!

Interview Haylee Poppi and Grace MacKenzie
Edit Grace MacKenzie