Textile design brand Stardust Journey: using contrasting colours to paint a world of patterns

02 2019 | Issue 31
Text/Jasper Hou

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Jovinia António is the founder and designer of local textile design brand Stardust Journey. She returned to Macao after finishing her study of textile design in the UK in 2015, hoping to use her knowledge and creativity to build a world of beautiful textile patterns. In 2016, she officially kickstarted her online shop that sells original textile design products. During the early stage of her entrepreneurial journey, she mainly designed scarves. Up till now, her brand covers many different products used for daily scenarios. In August 2018, Jovinia opened a physical store and her own textile design studio.

 

Inspired by everyday life

 

Jovinia used to think graphic design would be her future career before going to the UK. But she later discovered that graphic design has many frameworks that would limit her expression as there is a set of visual language to follow. She believes that being able to express herself freely is more suitable for her career. Jovinia has a knack for designing combinations of colours. That’s why she chose to study textile design, a study that is not very popular among students. “Actually, textile design is the backbone of fashion design. All clothes use fabrics and have a textile design. So textile design boasts a lot of potential for future development,” Jovinia said, explaining her rationale in choosing textile design as a career path.

 

Using contrasting colours to build up different themes has become a major feature of Jovinia’s brand voice. “Design inspirations come from everyday life. I like to observe things around me and I am a traveller. I will use my designer skills to illustrate the interesting things I saw during my trips. The news is also a source of inspirations for me. I am used to using interesting methods to express my opinions on different matters. For example, I have previously rolled out two themed products that advocate for protecting greyhounds and elephants in hopes of raising the awareness of animal and environmental protection. They have been quite popular in the market,” she said.

 

Using the market to evaluate the products

 

From Jovinia’s perspective, scarf design was a good starter for her because even though there are quite a number of international brands in Macao, there are very few local brands that feature local elements and use rich colour blends to bring joy to the customers. “Textile design doesn’t have many limits. We can use textile design to express ourselves freely and abstractly. It enjoys more flexibilities,” Jovinia said. “A textile design can be used on most household items and fashion items. The development of printing technology has also enabled us to print textile designs on phone cases, laptop cases and food packages.”

 

Jovinia stresses that it’s very important to use the market to evaluate the quality of the products. “Everyone has his or her own aesthetics and preferences. Some people like simplistic design and they will think I am overdoing it with my design. But I also value the expressions behind my designs and I want my customers to be able to understand what I am trying to say with my designs. After all, commercial designs are not like artworks. They need to have functionality, aesthetics, and stories to tell. If these elements could merge together successfully, then they would make a successful product,” she explained.

 

Opening a physical outlet and workshops to build a world of textile designs

 

To penetrate into a broader market, Jovinia has set up a physical store. The store is a perfect showcase of the brand’s colour blends as each corner has a unique design but they fit into each other perfectly. “After opening a physical store, we have been having more exposure. We have had media interviews and customers are coming in,” Jovinia stated. “At our store, we have household items such as cushions, carpets, blankets and more. They all integrate our textile designs, which can build a world of textiles and patterns.”

 

In order to facilitate more offline interactions with the customers and promote textile design, Jovinia has opened a textile design workshop at her studio. The workshop mainly provides an activity called marbling art on fabrics, allowing participants to make simple patterns and designs for scarves, accessories, gift boxes, etc. In Jovinia’s opinion, marbling art is fairly easy to learn. It can be used to create diverse textile designs. In addition to that, the entire process is very relaxing and proves to be useful in releasing stress. Jovinia now organises eight to ten workshops each month. The workshop charge ranges from MOP280 to MOP680 according to the required materials. The workshops are incredibly popular as the tickets will all be sold out each time.

 

Cooperation beyond Macao

 

At present, Stardust Journey sells its products through channels such as online platform Pinkoi, consignment at the Macao Fashion Gallery, and its physical store. It’s said that the brand has achieved a break even. Jovinia’s impressive textile design has also attracted the attention of many designers outside Macao. “We are currently working with Studio Lim, an interiors brand from Taiwan,” Jovinia said. “We are making a 2018 Christmas card with Stardust Journey’s textile design together.”

 

Jovinia’s plan for the new year is to join design and interiors exhibitions in different regions to bring her brand to the world in an attempt to connect with businesses. In addition, she is hoping to put more efforts in improving the overall image of the brand and developing standardised packages and visual elements for her products. 

 

Stardust Journey

facebook.com/stardustjourney