Collaboration
Timeless Design: An Interview with Alisa Benfey
Alisa Benfey, an artist and designer based in Los Angeles, is interested in the patterns, colors, and motifs that endure across time and cultures. “Some design just feels right in every era,” she says. “It’s my selfish wish to want people to live with my work for a long time.”
Part of this interest in timeless design lies in her cross-cultural experience. Benfey, who is half Japanese and half American, was born and raised in Tokyo then moved to the United States in high school. She studied graphic design at CalArts and after working in environmental graphics at Sussman Prejza Inc. she decided to return to Japan to learn about the tangible, material side of design and earned a master’s degree from Tama Art University in textile design. There, she researched geometric patterns—particularly on textiles from Marimekko, weavings by Anni Albers, and products from the Japanese brand Heartart—and concluded that there isn’t an aesthetic formula. The deciding factor, she learned, is intentionality and thinking about how people interacting with the work will feel. “It’s important to have that quality, especially in the time of fast trends and disposable culture,” she says. “It’s designers’ responsibility to create products that can shift users’ moods and nervous systems in a subtle way.”
Benfey applies this philosophy to everything she creates, which has included patterns based on vividly hued circles, grids, and overlapping triangles. “My goal with my work is to be authentic to myself and to let the design ingredients do their thing,” she says. Recently, her attention has focused on softer-edged nature motifs. “Softness, the texture visually and physically, is something that we’re all craving now,” she says. This led to studying natural dyes and how she could bring the colors and textures that have appealed to humans for millenia to textiles.
The Slow Color collection brings the texture and tonality of hand-dyed fabric to high-performing applied materials. Produced on demand in Designtex’s Portland factory, the patterns are digitally printed with colorfast ink and are available on multiple wallcovering and textile substrates.
Where do you call home?
Currently, my home is Los Angeles, CA. But I was born and raised in Japan, and I still feel at home there.
How would you describe your creative practice?
I treat design elements and materials as “ingredients,” meaning I try to use them in a way that’s appropriate for each one. Like cooking, you prepare each ingredient at the right temperature, or with the right tools. When I approach a design problem this way, I can design honestly, because I’m not forcing the materials or design elements to be anything other than what they naturally are. Approaching design this way, I find many surprises.
What do you keep circling back to and exploring in your work?
Repeated geometric shapes and color combinations found in nature. They’re everywhere, in every culture, and hold infinite possibilities.
What processes, materials, and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
Right now, I’ve been exploring and focusing on various natural dye techniques, using local, seasonal plants to create color, and found blocks and rocks to do shibori on textiles. I also use my computer to digitize my handmade textile patterns and turn them into seamless repeats.
What studio item can you not live without?
An iron. I use it constantly to set dye and flatten finished textiles.
What is your earliest memory of making something?
Drawing with oil pastels, and folding origami, around age four.
What is your relationship to pattern?
Pattern is a tool for me to think with. Patterns are repetition, and in that way, they’re like time. They have rhythm, and when you take a moment to notice it, they give you a new perspective.
One artwork or song you cannot get out of your head?
Anni Albers, Study for Nylon Rug from Connections, 1983.
What are some small pleasures you have been including in your life?
Going to the farmers’ market for fresh, seasonal vegetables and fruit. And going to the beach.
How can our clients see and learn more about your work?
alisabenfey.com
