Chloe Thurlow Designer Portrait

I love to create new ways of seeing things

Inspired by live music and a pick ‘n’ mix approach to fashion, Chloe’s knits are as colourful as her ever-changing hair, with collage and experimentation all part of the process.

my style

I love clashing bold patterns and colours

& classic silhouettes

My personal style is all about pattern clashing and autumnal colours. I love layering up different colours and patterns, but if anyone else was to describe me they would just call me the ‘orange lady’! I would describe my design style as vibrant and playful.

Chloe Thurlow Designer My Style
design icons

would have to be Cozette McCreery and Sid Bryan

the co-founders of the exuberant British knitwear label Sibling London

Whilst the label is no longer in business, the time I spent working with them as an undergraduate studio intern had a huge impact on my own design. Their maverick vision and subversion of the expected fashion format continues to inspire my creative process.

I am inspired by a mixture of styles

from music subcultures to vintage Hollywood glamour. I love to pick and mix from different decades and create new ways of seeing things.

Chloe Thurlow Designer Recent Design Left
Chloe Thurlow Designer Recent Design Centre
Chloe Thurlow Designer Recent Design Right

My favourite Rowan yarn from the current collection is Moordale.

I fell in love with Moordale as soon as I saw it. The rich autumnal colours are perfect, and I can’t wait to see more shades added to this range in the future.

VIEW

My favourite stitches are jointly intarsia and Fair Isle, I cannot choose between the two.

With colourwork there is a never-ending choice of patterns to play with and a pattern can change so much by going from two colours to six. My favourite part of the design process is playing with different placements and colourways to create endless variants from just one pattern.

The best advice I’ve ever been given was by a college tutor.

During our textile classes, if something didn’t turn out the way we were expecting it she would call it a ‘happy accident’. I always say this now when something turns out differently than I was expecting but I love it even more.

yarn stash

it's all over the place!

I live in quite a small flat in Yorkshire

so most of my yarn is still at my parents’ house, which my Mum is helping me work through. I have a vast array of yarns and gauges from very fine lambswool on cones to Big Wool in squishy balls, as I do both hand and machine knitting.

Chloe Thurlow Designer Yarn Stash
I collect Zines
Chloe Thurlow Designer I Collect

I have always been fascinated with the ‘cut and paste’ style of zines

each one is unique in its own way

and I adopted this approach for my knitwear design—always starting my process by creating collages. For me, the fabric patterns always come first and then I play with the placement of these patterns on simple garment shapes.

when I’m not knitting

I’m out at concerts and music festivals

music is a big part of my life

and I luckily share that love with my partner, so we are always on the hunt for new bands to see and they always make me feel so creative afterwards. Music has a huge impact on my designing, with every design I create usually having a specific song linked to it.

Chloe Thurlow Designer When Not Knitting
happiest when
Chloe Thurlow Designer Happiest When

spending time with my family (especially the animals!)

I’m the youngest of four siblings

and even though we now live all over the country, we are all very close, and nothing is better than when we can meet up altogether. My parents always encouraged us to do whatever we wanted, so we are all very different, but that clash is what makes our conversations interesting. I think being the youngest child has had a great effect on my creative style, as the amalgamation all of my parents’ and siblings’ different music and style tastes have shaped who I am as a designer.

If I wasn’t a knitwear designer, I would be a hairdresser.

I am constantly changing the cut and colour of my own hair and I think I have now been every colour of the rainbow! For me hair is an expression of personal style, so if I wasn’t designing knitwear, I would love to be styling people in other ways.

A successful design is when someone enjoys knitting your design

and wearing it makes them feel comfortable and confident. I love seeing how people have knitted different colourways and altered my patterns to suit their own style and make it unique to them.

The future of craft is all about sustainability.

I’ve been brought up to always be aware of how much waste we generate. Crafting clothes, accessories and homewares isn’t just a unique and creative hobby, it can have a huge impact on the future if we slow down and make things long lasting.