London-based knitwear designer Eleana Burrow’s design process based on her instinct

Eleana had a creative bent of mind from early on, but it was while completing her BA at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol that she discovered her calling. She went on to specialise in knitwear womenswear from the Royal College of Art. “I like to find ways to make things work and that is what excited me about fashion: having an idea of a garment and finding a way to make it real,” she says. She starts designing from scratch, going to the most basic elements – a line, a shape, or a feeling – and attempts to realise it into a garment. While the process is deliberate, she chooses to be guided by her instincts when it comes to selecting materials. The silhouettes are a natural step in the process too, as she tests the knits on the machine and drapes it on the body. “This unpredictable process was integral to the pieces that I made for my MA collection.”

“I decided to use instinctive line drawings as the driving force to my knitted pieces, placing a drawing in front of my knitting machine and allowing that to instigate my choice of shape, line and structure.”

Although she began her journey with a formulaic structure of knitting, for her MA graduate collection she switched things up. “I decided to use instinctive line drawings as the driving force to my knitted pieces, placing a drawing in front of my knitting machine and allowing that to instigate my choice of shape, line and structure,” explains Eleana. The details running through the pieces were driven by a collection of drawings created by the designer and her classmates as a response to a poignant memory she has. “I told them about a moment of calm, a personal memory of sailing, it was not necessarily the direct physicality of the sport but the freedom of being out on open water.”

“It has to have grounding even if that is just a feeling or a memory.”

For her, the challenging part about stepping away from constructed ideas of clothing and translating sketches into reality was that it needed to hold some practicality. “It has to have grounding even if that is just a feeling or a memory,” she says. The textures she uses play an important role in how the idea lives up to its potential in the finished product. “Understanding my material is so vital to this being a graceful transition, or equally coming to peace with the fact that a material does one job well but can’t perform in another scenario.”

The collection comprises fluid dresses and tops that combine rubber and knitwear, juxtaposing different textures that give it a duality between sheer and solid. This experimentation propelled her to explore further and use her technical knowledge of knitting to push forward into new territory. “The enclosing of the rubber within a knitted pocket has pushed my silhouettes into a direction that I didn’t expect,” says the designer. She uses navy blue and black as the dominating tones in the collection with a flash of lemon yellow in between. The dark colour palette allows the intricate details to be taken seriously according to the designer, grabbing the attention of the viewer from up close. As sombre as it may seem, the yellow adds a fun element into the collection, creating a balance. “Yellow is a colour that resonates strongly with me so it had to feature somewhere,” says Eleana.

Her collection is a response to her own lifestyle in relation to what she wears and chooses to design. “For me it is a reaction to certain moments or triggers and allowing that to be the driving force to a design trail,” she explains about her design journey. Although, there were moments of disappointment considering she did not get to finish her MA experience with the rest of her peers, the time spent at home gave her the opportunity to introspect about her collection. “I was able to join the dots between each process I undertake without consciously realising,” she reminisces.

“I am a big lover of the real. Real people, real objects and real interactions, so the sudden shift to a screen was a challenge for me.”

The change to digital during the ongoing pandemic served as a learning curve to her, even if it was not her preferred mode to communicate with her audience. “I am a big lover of the real. Real people, real objects and real interactions, so the sudden shift to a screen was a challenge for me.” While the physical aspect of showcasing is something she still has faith in, Eleana realised the importance of communicating her designs and thought process through images, words, and drawings.

“Being thrown off tangent can be where I find the nuggets that make most sense.”

Her time at the RCA taught her more than just technical skills: it was about trusting and developing her own instincts, which is a defining factor of her identity today. “I have learned much more about how I think, how that relates to my designs, and how I define myself as a practitioner,” she says. She finds that as a design student, the most important factors to keep in mind are to not get caught up in thinking about the end of the journey, and enjoy the learning process. “Being thrown off tangent can be where I find the nuggets that make most sense,” she admits.

The work she has done as part of her course, and working in the industry informs her own opinion about fashion. “Each designer or brand that I have experience with has taught me something new and I am sure that will continue to be the case forever.” According to her, fashion is emotionally disconnected today. She feels the wearer is detached from the pieces they choose to put on their skin, unaware of the backstory of items that are crafted with care and precision from an unknown source. Currently, the designer is engrossed in the process of creating her own line of knitted pieces, continuing on the journey of exploring the interaction between rubber and knit.