This summer Gregory Parkinson is in the Peruvian jungle, where he is about to begin working on an embroidery project in collaboration with Chicago’s Field Museum and Peruvian artisans. Traveling gives this talented British-born, Los Angeles-based designer the wonderful opportunity to discover new materials, what he calls “new treasures”, in the most unlikely places. Recently he found beautiful offcuts of bizarre prints in Gamarra, a filthy, bustling market in the heart of Lima.
They probably won’t get used for years but he thinks they will resurface every now and again to inspire current projects. “I do really love fabric”, says Parkinson, “and the endless ways in which to re-arrange and re-color are the source of my desire to make clothing”. “Fabric is the most important thing, the core of my vocabulary and what starts the design process”. Parkinson sources new fabric himself, searching “everywhere and anywhere” for new inspiration.
