Fashion designer Ed Curtis creates wearable art inspired by his own action paintings

It’s one of the hottest days of the Summer when fashion designer and artist Ed Curtis invites us to step inside the equally dizzying world of colour at his studio in southeast London.

Nestled within the creative community of Peckham Print Village, Curtis’ workspace acts as an experimental laboratory for the designer to bring his visual fantasies to life.

Best known for his one-off, hand-painted garments, Curtis has fast-gained momentum with his eponymous brand which successfully blends the two mediums of fashion and painting.

His latest debut collection and lookbook shows the artists’ signature clashing prints and brazen aesthetic confidently come into its own. Manic swirls of neon meet with blocks of solid pattern and monochrome, resulting in an optical explosion of energy sent from a psychedelic world.

Curtis seems to produce a constant stream of artistic output, working at an uninterrupted pace that probably feels akin to breathing. A quick scroll through the artist’s Instagram account gives a glimpse of the raw magnitude this one-man powerhouse exudes. He takes control of multiple aspects of the production process which not only includes making artwork and designing garments but then also the self-styling, art direction and modelling for the final photoshoots which he confesses is the part he “enjoys the most”.

As an experienced fashion designer, Curtis has spent a number of years working at high-end fashion labels including Hillier Bartley and Calvin Klein. Outside of his full-time design positions, painting became a means of creative expression away from the technicality of producing garments.

“I started painting after I finished studying,” he explains. “It was a way for me to express myself creatively with the small amount of free time I had.” 

Curtis’ distinct painted work saw him land commissions to create large-scale paper installations for the likes of clothing store Dover Street Market and fashion magazine Novembre. As he transitioned from full-time design-team-member to self-employment, he started applying similar abstract visuals to simplistic items of clothing, referencing his own artwork to translate as painted outfits and accessories.

 “I always wanted to bridge painting and fashion, it just took me five years to work out how they fitted together.”

Away from his clothing designs, the artist has completed a number of paintings including his Paper Works collection, a series of ‘action’ paintings comprised of intuitive brushstrokes that are manipulated using a screenprinting squeegee. 

He also occasionally produces painted-paper installations when given the opportunity and emphasises that “some ideas just go beyond the body.”

His current fashion line sees a wild offering of trippy and totally one-of-a-kind pieces, all painted and made by hand. Each fearless design proposes a small taste of the artist’s hallucinogenic palette, providing its recipient with an original wearable artwork to enjoy.

“Colour just makes me happy so I put as much of it into my work as possible.”

“Designing print and artworks comes very naturally to me but designing garments has been a bigger challenge, there is so much more to consider but generally I keep the garments fairly simple, I like the garments to be easy to construct.”

Curtis admits that after planning how the size and fabrics he’ll be using, everything else is “decided on the go”.

Since going solo, the artist explains his approach to working hasn’t changed too much, “it’s a mess and that’s the way I like it”.

See Ed Curtis’ paintings here.