Amy Lay (Laychen) is a London Born and Based BA Fashion print student at Central Saint Martins. Specialising in Print, she aims to extend the softly sculpted human form into a reflection of the conflict between contemporary surroundings and natural comforts as a form of resistance to looming feelings of existentialism in the world.
Research is approached with caution and consciousness, with Reflective practice, nomadism, recovery, and the importance of remaining optimistic in harsh environments serving as key references in her work. Laychen brings her perspectives on cross class and cultural thinking to a unique pattern cutting language that layers the abstract with the nuanced and practical.
Laychen’s upbringing has instilled the northern European approach of daring to dream underpinned by functionality in order to withstand harsh environments, finding similarities in north and east Asian creative practices to understand the collective human culture and our purpose.
Her designs provide the body with a freedom of movement and celebrates expression through wear and tear, carefully sourcing fabrics designed to weather with grace and truth. She fosters meticulous processes using natural dyes and fibres wherever possible, making the construction of a garment itself solace from the outside world.
An enthusiasm for earth materials means the hardware she uses is handmade wherever possible, paired with natural and impulsive dye techniques to achieve supple, yet enigmatic colour patterns. Versatility is Laychen’s approach to sustainable design, encouraging her work to be styled interchangeably and evolve over time.
Laychen believes excess must be justified conceptually, and employs experimental yet efficient draping & cutting techniques to make the most out of her materials. This allows her to scrutinise details and imprint the clothes with odes to the world within which Laychen is trying to build.
Working interchangeably with digital and artisanal practices ensures handwork remains relevant & accessible. Wool is an underlying language throughout her work, its local availability and reassuring feel pairs well with its endless potential for shape, allowing seams to be minimized whilst shape and natural connotations are preserved. These garments then treat the body as a vessel with a dogmatic belief that an outfit composed to reflect a natural environment is the most effective way for design to empower the mind.
She insists a radical approach must be taken to keep textile & cutting skills alive. Working in one of the few remaining couture ateliers in the UK has made Laychen hyper-aware of how time is currency held within a garment’s process. The wearer reflects Laychen’s garments in the sense that they are gentle yet have an unquestionable sense of self and aims to provide an experience in which her muses become sculpted forms where their psyche and practices spill out in the medium of cut cloth.
Research is approached with caution and consciousness, with Reflective practice, nomadism, recovery, and the importance of remaining optimistic in harsh environments serving as key references in her work. Laychen brings her perspectives on cross class and cultural thinking to a unique pattern cutting language that layers the abstract with the nuanced and practical.
Laychen’s upbringing has instilled the northern European approach of daring to dream underpinned by functionality in order to withstand harsh environments, finding similarities in north and east Asian creative practices to understand the collective human culture and our purpose.
Her designs provide the body with a freedom of movement and celebrates expression through wear and tear, carefully sourcing fabrics designed to weather with grace and truth. She fosters meticulous processes using natural dyes and fibres wherever possible, making the construction of a garment itself solace from the outside world.
An enthusiasm for earth materials means the hardware she uses is handmade wherever possible, paired with natural and impulsive dye techniques to achieve supple, yet enigmatic colour patterns. Versatility is Laychen’s approach to sustainable design, encouraging her work to be styled interchangeably and evolve over time.
Laychen believes excess must be justified conceptually, and employs experimental yet efficient draping & cutting techniques to make the most out of her materials. This allows her to scrutinise details and imprint the clothes with odes to the world within which Laychen is trying to build.
Working interchangeably with digital and artisanal practices ensures handwork remains relevant & accessible. Wool is an underlying language throughout her work, its local availability and reassuring feel pairs well with its endless potential for shape, allowing seams to be minimized whilst shape and natural connotations are preserved. These garments then treat the body as a vessel with a dogmatic belief that an outfit composed to reflect a natural environment is the most effective way for design to empower the mind.
She insists a radical approach must be taken to keep textile & cutting skills alive. Working in one of the few remaining couture ateliers in the UK has made Laychen hyper-aware of how time is currency held within a garment’s process. The wearer reflects Laychen’s garments in the sense that they are gentle yet have an unquestionable sense of self and aims to provide an experience in which her muses become sculpted forms where their psyche and practices spill out in the medium of cut cloth.