Helene Blanche wearing a Black Vintage Mink Fur coat from the Jasmin Khezri Collection
We met Helene Blanche, a renowned Danish textile designer, at the Hotel Sander in Copenhagen, where she was decorating the hotel’s conservatory with her distinctive fabrics. Celebrated for her handmade rugs, wallpapers and fabrics, often with stripes, she lives just outside the city. Helene invited us to visit her studio for a chat.
IRMA: How does the place of your work influence your design?
HELENE BLANCHE: Essential elements when I work are the energy of the space, the light, and the beauty surrounding me. My studio atelier has large terrace doors where soft light glazes through and from where I can see the Japanese maple trees that I have planted outside. I sketch, paint, research, and collect my thoughts from here. Working without interruptions, being immersed, and focusing sharply and quickly on testing and outlining patterns is a privilege. I often include the floor space with materials and sketches all spread out, from inks, brushes, tissue paper, stacks of textile samples, art books, auction catalogs, paper samples, yarn samples, charcoal, and chalk.
IRMA: You are a master of organically designed natural stripes. How did this design become your signature style?
HELENE BLANCHE: I am instinctively drawn to simplicity, the beauty in a line, from a brush stroke, and materials with textures and organic sequences and forms. From this fascination, I have developed my style as a textile designer. Stripes are my favorite place to start when I build a pattern. A stripe can be a continuous line, hand-painted, or dotted. A fine stripe is forever stylish and timeless in the world of decoration with lavish textiles and decorative wallpapers.
IRMA: What does a typical day look like for you?
HELENE BLANCHE: Each morning, I meet my amazing, dedicated team in our office showroom to review urgent matters, solve creative or production challenges, or to oversee a new project that needs my input or approval. I also touch base with our production team and exclusive suppliers, and when things are signed off, I withdraw to work at my studio atelier for a couple of hours or the entire day.
IRMA: Tell us about a place in Copenhagen where you keep coming back for ideas.
HELENE BLANCHE: I love great libraries and can spend an entire day researching and reading. This means reviewing archive designs, reading old Vouge magazines, or studying Japanese textile history. In Copenhagen, my favorite library is the Danish Design Museum. It is brilliant, and I have visited it since my early twenties, dreaming about fashion, style, and textile design.
IRMA: How do you keep your creative energy flowing?
HELENE BLANCHE: I appreciate meeting with my creative community of friends, a talented bunch of creative souls, including artists, designers, and writers, to have great conversations and dialogues with strong, dedicated people who are also passionate about their work and lives. I also appreciate visiting art galleries worldwide, exploring fine exhibitions in company with my beloved husband, and traveling to explore new spots and feeling the energy and spirit of a place.
IRMA: What do you find the most challenging part of the fabric design process?
HELENE BLANCHE: The most challenging part of my design process is finishing a new design. I am very concerned about perfecting all the details, so leaving the design and declaring that a new pattern is complete is difficult.
Matching colors during production always takes considerably more time than planned. That said, hard work, double-checking, and patience pay off.
IRMA: Do you recycle some of your designs, or what happens to the fabrics that you no longer use?
HELENE BLANCHE: We minimize our production by always maintaining a good stock flow and never overproducing. We are selective about the designs that we produce and limit waste. If a fabric is discontinued, we offer it to clients at a special price or use small leftover fabric cuttings for decorative objects, such as clutches, small notebooks, etc.
IRMA: What are your plans for the future?
HELENE BLANCHE: My hope and ambition are to continue my dedicated work at Helene Blanche Fabrics and Wallpapers and to continue to bring beautiful prints and patterns to the world. In my personal life the most essential thing is to be with my family, husband, children, and friends.