COLOUR ME BAD Get your Crayola pencils at the ready, as colouring books are back in vogue. Nina Chakrabarti talks about her life and her latest fashion book. Once you graduate you pray for a high flying job in the degree you have studied. Nina Chakrabarti on the other hand found herself staying on at her university working in the art shop, dodging awkward questions about what she was doing with her life. “I just slipped through the cracks a little bit. I floundered; I didn’t know what my ‘thing’ was. I ended up getting a third and almost failed.” Luckily for her she found her feet in the form of all things linear. She has just polished off her first ever book, My Wonderful World of Fashion and is currently adapting it into a German version, Eindrucksvoll! (That’s impressive in German, we do try). For any of you that are yet to Google Nina and look at her work, her fashion book is possibly the sweetest concept to have ever been covered. Featuring lots of fashion related drawings and tasks to do, such as colouring in vibrant leggings or cutting out badge templates to jazz up and outfit; Nina has provided the younger generation with a book to keep the creative juices flowing, teaching them about real fashion such as Vivienne Westwood and has given them amazing illustrations to revel in to their hearts content, at the simple opening of the cover. Working from her studio in Stockwell, London, she has plenty of time to focus on work as opposed to working at home. “I would just be sat thinking about the washing up and all sorts of things...I would probably go a little doolally.” Her studio is the perfect place to get set pen to pad, although she always opts to rip out a piece. “There’s something about sketchbooks that makes me feel really anxious and I’m not one for writing.” Working by looking at books, magazines, anything that interests her and manipulating it to how she wants gives Nina her own distinctive style. “My illustrations are very decorative and I’m really into line quality.” Despite having simple drawings, the line’s and thicknesses work perfectly alongside her distinctive design illo’s. She knows of her strengths and plays on it. Scattered around her stark white, pristine studio are a variety of portraits of famous rockers; the latest project Chakrabarti has set herself. “I’m just looking at a book of
rockers, trying to do some of my own drawings. It’s really nice because I haven’t done any personal work for ages.” These illustrations all go onto her website, the main archive of her work that she keeps tucked away on the World Wide Web; you won’t ever catch Nina forcing her work under the nose of any big companies. “I don’t feel comfortable approaching people in that way. I have done it, last time I did it was through the art director of Waitrose magazine, because they use really nice food illustrations, but I didn’t get a reply.” We can’t help but think little things like this may have knocked her confidence. Nina had always known she wanted to pursue a career in illustration, even once upon a time when she was living in Calcutta. “I remember very distinctly seeing a magazine when I was about 14 that said ‘Do you want to be a graphic designer?’ The page just stuck in my mind.” Much like anyone with a passion at such a young age, you can easily let it go astray. Nina lost her way, luckily Topshop came-a-callin’ and spun her back around and steadied her life. Offering her the opportunity to create some illustrations for their in store graphics, her dream was beginning. “It felt really good to work for a high profile company. I felt like I had said goodbye to that long period of time of me not doing the work I wanted to do.” Having achieved work for the famous Arcadia brand, numerous book covers, Marks and Spencer’s it is obvious that Nina Chakrabarti has the capability to impress. Her collections of work reflect her intricate craftsmanship, although we can’t help but feel it deserves more than being kept under wraps of another www dot. But maybe this just adds to her charm? Her desire to draw seems to override any need to get involved in the mass market, keeping her pad and pencil close to her heart. www.ninachakrabarti.com