SUNDAY BEST Emily Forgot

1.What's your favourite #IFSundayBest look and why?
I’ve been embracing a lot more colour in my wardrobe of late so I’d go for the yellow Ursula Button-Down Top, I'm a big fan of the sleeve shape too.

2. Whose style, past or present, do you covet the most?
Very obvious but women like Jane Birkin, Françoise Hardy & Anna Karina… the ladies with a bit of 'je ne sais quoi'.

3. You work as a designer and illustrator, tell us about your career journey so far.
It’s been very enjoyable and varied, starting off more traditionally working in print for magazines & books and slowly moving into the 3D realm through window displays and installations. Since I had a solo show of personal work two years ago I have added more of a fine art discipline to my studio practice. The personal work I do is always inspired by one of my first creative loves, interior spaces.

4. What does your typical work day look like and how does this affect your personal style?
Recently I’ve been painting a lot in the studio as I have been working on a new series of assemblage work. Typically, this means my scruffiest clothes but it makes it all the more enjoyable when I do have a meeting and the opportunity to get into something a little smarter. I often worry that people think I am younger than I am and won’t take me seriously so I do believe clothes can give you confidence and help people to take you seriously… even if there is paint on my fingernails!

5. Where do you look when you're looking for inspiration?
It used to be the internet but I think it has changed a lot in the past few years. Many creative people are looking in the same places which means that work is often looking similar and homogenous.

I still love looking at blogs, Instagram and Pinterest but I make sure I get away from my screen too, visit exhibitions, travel and go to the library. I could spend hours in the archive at the RIBA Library and always come back with a name of a designer I had never heard of that I can put into Google and hopefully go some way to breaking my own algorithm. It scares me looking at my home page of Pinterest sometimes - the fact that AI knows me so well, I don’t want a computer to make me feel like a cliché! It’s taken me over 10 years but I do like to think there is a way that I approach things as a creative thinker and maker that makes my output unique to me.

6. Tell us three Instagram accounts we should be following.
There are way too many to mention! But as I am completely obsessed with interiors and architecture here are a few in that realm, @okoloweb @auktionstipset & @ad_magazine…if i’m allowed a 4th it has to be @decorhardcore.

7. The last book you read and loved?
The last book I read was Emma Gannon’s Multi Hyphen Method I feel I have been working in that multi-disciplined way for a long time so it was nice to read something that celebrated having lots of strings to your bow.

I like not knowing where the next project will take me and I think the book has encouraged me to follow my curiosity more and give things outside of the typical design arena a go, I’m actually planning a podcast with a good friend so we’ll see how that turns out!

8. Your top three London hotspots - cafés, restaurants, museums - anywhere you love to visit.
On my travels I’ll often include a trip to visit an interesting building and we are lucky to have some wonderful ones in London to snoop around. Eltham Palace is an absolute dream, as is 2 Willow Road in Hampstead.

Recently I visited Dorich House which is a real hidden gem in Richmond. Food wise I love Black Lock in Soho and, although I have been eating less and less meat recently, their sides are so yummy. As I am based south east I have to big up my area too, so Taco Queen in Peckham never disappoints and my neighbourhood museum the Horniman is a delight.

9. What's your favourite country to visit?
That’s too hard! But I do love going to the south of France. My mum is French and I have a lot of family there so it’s nice to be somewhere that feels familiar but new in so many ways every time I return.

10. What's your Sunday ritual?
Is it terrible that I actually love to come into the studio on a Sunday? I think the beauty of being freelance is that the typical work week doesn’t really exist so I’ll often take a day off mid-week instead, it’s nice to see exhibitions etc. outside of the busy weekend and avoid the queues.