Fashion label Common Hours’ founder on creating for collectors, and the themes that inspire its limited-edition, numbered collections
- Common Hours’ founder, Australian fashion designer Amber Symond, explains how she comes up with the themes for the label’s collections
- She talks about working with Indian master embroiderers Chanakya, not working to deadlines, and her mission to offer clients ‘the rare and the exceptional’
Amber Symond says her fashion label, Common Hours, which now includes slips, cloaks and gowns, and has collaborated with artists from around the world, appeals to collectors with a discerning eye for detail.
What is the meaning behind the name Common Hours?
“It is from a quote taken from the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau. For me, for my usage, it represents the notion of a shared human experience – feeling, memory.”
Your most recent collection was titled AlleyCat, which was the name of a wine bar that your parents owned in the 1970s. Why was this such a formative source of inspiration and how did you interpret this in the collection?
“Common Hours collections are always within a theme, a memory, a moment in time. This underground bar, the characters that inhabited it and the laneway scenes surrounding it became a mythical universe from a child’s perspective.
“In the fabulous, carefree exuberance of the revellers, the exotic beauty and ‘costumes’ of the women who seemed to delight in their charm and power, there seemed to me to be a glorious gloss of confidence and possibility.
“It was a ‘come as you are’ mentality and a sense of utter freedom – even if just for the night.”
What kind of person is drawn to your pieces?
“Collectors of the rare and the considered, with a sense of fun.”
“We engaged Chanakya for our very first produced piece, and since the first collection we have continued to include at least one exceptional artisan piece ever since.
“Discovering and working with Chanakya has been an extraordinary experience in my journey of discovery and search for savoir faire among all areas in creating our collections.
“Their eye for detail and enormous care factor in delivering extraordinary hand-produced craftsmanship have been some of the great joys in this creative process.”
You’ve said that everything you do with the brand takes time – why is time important to you, and how long does it take to craft your pieces?
“The premise of the brand is to develop a collection and within it we rely on the best mills, designers, cutters, makers, printers and embroiderers. And each collection has an artist or we borrow works from their estates. All this takes time, they are ready when they are ready.
“Each item is numbered and will be produced over time within a set edition, which will be different from piece to piece, with no more than 50 items, and occasionally maybe just one.”
You’ve worked with a number of amazing artists, writers and musicians, including the Cure’s Robert Smith and the estates of Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka and French artist Paul Colin. How do you decide which artists you’d like to work with, and what is this creative partnership like?
“The theme comes first, then I seek out what speaks to me within the theme, whether it’s poetry, music literature – fine art. The intersection of creative imagination – to challenge, to stretch, to elevate an idea or thought – is the most exciting, hopeful thing I can imagine.”
You keep your production lines incredibly limited (50 max, and they’re numbered). Why is this important to you and how do clients respond to this?
“As a collector of fine goods myself, I wish to acquire the rare and the exceptional – I want to offer this to our customers also. Also, it sits well with me that a considered purchase over quantity is best. It takes a lot of time to produce our pieces and I won’t make many.”
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How do you think the Asian market will respond to the brand. What kind of resonance have you had in it so far?
“I think more of what I am creating rather than distributing. I am always delighted and moved to witness different markets take up the brand and to see the different ways pieces are styled and worn by our customers. I am very excited to see Common Hours closer to home and within Asia.”
What are your hopes and goals for the brand?
“To take more risks, to search deeper into themes and ideas, to collaborate to an ever greater degree within those themes and to be able to continue to take the time to do so.”
Common Hours is available in Hong Kong at Lane Crawford, tel: 2118 2288.
