Design Notes

Physically, where are you right now? Are you at home, on holiday, in the office or elsewhere else?

Right now I'm at my desk in the Bohemian Traders design room.

How does your current environment inform your creative process and what is inspiring you right now?

We're working on Q2 2025 right now and I'm throwing myself into researching embroidery techniques throughout history. I'm also working on an exciting new project that will be launching later in the year. It's all action stations for the design team right now!

For every good idea there are many more we reject. Do you ever salvage ideas that didn’t come to fruition at a later stage or do you just move on?

YES Absolutely!! We have a huge catalogue of silhouettes and prints that we revisit season after season. Some make the cut on their first iteration while others are archived for a season or two until they feel 'just right' in a collection.

Emily with her husband and co-founder Dave.

What have been some of your most profound personal challenges and have they ever informed your creative process or interrupted it?

Raising my children to be really fun teenagers is a personal milestone. They might not be consistently compliant but they are interesting and playful and have a natural rebellious streak which will serve them well in life.

What have been some of your most profound personal challenges and have they ever informed your creative process or interrupted it?

Personal challenges come thick and fast in this busy life. The strain of running a business whilst simultaneously parenting, wife-ing, running a home, being a good mate to my treasured friends, and overcoming the ever present societal expectation of slimness, is exhausting. It's literally impossible to succeed in every area at all times. Life informs art and one of my roles within BT is to advocate for size inclusive fashion that actually works for daily life. So in that sense, my creative process is very much informed by the complexity of daily life.

If you analysed the most important factors in your success, what would say these have been?

I'd say true success is a game of endurance so patience would be the most important factor for me. Personally, I feel like BT's journey to success is in it's infancy - we have so many hurdles to jump and we're approaching them with much excitement and anticipation.

What are your personal and creative rituals, if any?

Creatively, I love to flick through art history books. I'm inspired by female artists like Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman. Personally, I like to drink wine and eat cheese (that counts, doesn't it?) 

Where do you go to find creative refuge?

ITALY!

Our Wave Fire Screen in Emily's Home.  

If you could go back in time and begin again without knowing what you do now, would you?

Without a doubt. I love my job, I love our brand and my life is so much richer for it. I feel incredibly privileged to be able to work with my husband Dave (a true legend and the real backbone of BT) and our team of brilliant creatives.

What piece of wisdom currently resonates with you and how does it inform your approach to life right now?

'Wear the outfit, you are the occasion'- it's tongue in cheek but a playful reminder to find joy and beauty everyday.