Mirador’s Wearable Moments
From the beach to the ballet, Mirador’s latest collection, Clay, is a masterclass in casual elegance.
Lauren Jones is the inventive mind behind Mirador, and she approaches textiles with a fresh perspective, considering the ways in which fibres can marry with art, and be worn.
As a painter, Lauren scans and prints her finished works on large cotton sarongs (“the dreamiest of canvases,” she calls them), to create unique garments that look equally beautiful hanging on the wall as they do draped across your shoulders.
Clay, in particular, is a dedication to the gifts the land provides; “to the pots we make with the earth and the flowers we pick to put in them,” says the artist.
The collection is ripe with rich earthy tones, lush brushwork and bold suggestions of femininity. Flowers, vessels, rivers and stones dance together in free and joyous abandon. The collection is rounded out with a handful of unique prints and woven linen and hemp twine bags by New Zealand maker, Marta Buda.
Currently based in Melbourne, Lauren is in her final year of a Masters in Art Therapy where she will be doing trauma-informed art therapy work with children in the foster care system. “Making art is powerful, but I had no idea just how healing it can be until I started this course. It’s going to be quite a year.”
The city is only a temporary home for the artist. “I like space and a view around me, not many houses,” she says.
She currently works from her home studio, her easel set up beside a beautiful window that looks out over a large grey gum, “I could almost be anywhere,” she says.
But the true magic happens when out in nature, the artist’s constant inspiration. “I’ll go for a bushwalk on my own, carting my sketch book, pencils and watercolour paints” she says. “I then return home and finish off the painting in my studio, and once I’m happy with the range of work in front of me, I’ll send them to print.”
Lauren is not one to follow the grinding fashion timeline; each piece is lovingly and ethically made to last a lifetime. Her choice of soft, sumptuous cottons asks the wearer to slow down and be present, mindful.
Lauren will hold her first solo show of paintings early this year. “So currently I am painting every day, which is beautiful, but exhausting!” she tells us.
“The ultimate purpose behind Mirador is to introduce a moment of peace to the customer,” says Lauren. “Often, a slow moment is captured in my paintings, because when I paint, I am always still.”
Credits: Mirador
