Fred is a captivating figure. You’ll spot him in London, dressed in his sharp designs, worn by icons like FKA twigs and Traviss Scott. We’re thrilled he joined Dream Unit. We sat down to chat about his childhood, the toys that shaped his style, and how Robert Rauschenberg’s Combines flipped his whole perspective.
Afterwards, he went on a family hike and raided his parents’ attic for old drawings and notes.
Evy:
Could you maybe share a bit of your backstory? Like, when did you first start designing? Was it something you were already doing as a kid, or did it come later?
Fred:
Yeah, I guess I was always creating things as a kid, using whatever materials I could find. It was usually cardboard, bits and pieces, making weird little sculptures or whatever was around me. That was great fun.
When it comes to working with textiles and fabric, though, that started a bit later probably around the age of 16. I was in college at the time (the stage between high school and university) doing my A-levels. I studied textiles, art, and photography, but I started to focus more on textiles and art.
I was doing a lot of sculpture work too, especially where sculpture and textiles overlapped. That crossover became a big part of my creative process.
Evy:
When you look at your clothes, what parts of yourself do you recognize in them?
Fred:
Oh, that’s such a good question. I mean everything. I make my clothes for myself.
Not that that’s the only reason I make them, but it’s a big part of it.
I heard someone say recently that, “If you’re a musician, you wouldn’t just listen to your own music.” And I get that, I respect it but I think it’s different when it comes to wearing your own clothes.
Evy:
Do you only wear your own designs, or are there other brands you like to wear as well?
Fred:
I typically only wear my own stuff. There are very few other designers whose work I really enjoy wearing.
One of them is a UK-based brand called Lowig they make really beautiful bags. They work a lot with raw cotton and hand-dye everything, which I really love. It feels very special.
I think they’re great.
Evy:
What is the weirdest compliment someone has given your designs?
Fred:
There are a couple of things that come to mind.
Sometimes when I wear my pieces out, I get some pretty bizarre reactions.
One time, I wore this jacket that I had appliquéd with individual green leaves all over the surface.
Someone walked past me and just said, “You alright, swamp thing?”
Which was… weird but also kind of great at the same time.
So yeah, I guess that’s my weirdest interaction. Maybe a compliment, maybe a snub who knows?
Evy:
Do you believe in originality?
Fred:
It’s interesting, because I don’t really believe in the idea of original thought.I don’t think it exists I don’t think it ever has.
There’s this fallacy that people often cling to, but honestly, everything is influenced by everything else.
You might not always see it directly, but it shows up in so many different ways. That’s just the natural order of things.
If you compared something made 50 or 60 years ago to something created today, of course it would seem like a huge leap.
But in reality, there are countless small steps and influences in between that have shaped it along the way.
That’s not to say I don’t believe there are incredibly talented people out there.
There’s so much fantastic design happening people creating things that feel really unique and special.
So while I don’t believe in pure originality, I absolutely believe in original concepts and expressions shaped by all those layers of influence.
Evy:
Do you ever look back at things you made as a kid and realise your style or voice was already there even in how you designed or expressed things? Like your creative fingerprint has always been present?
Fred:
Yeah, definitely.
There are probably a few things I can’t think of all of them right now but I know that I was sewing from a really young age.
I learned to sew when I was about eight. It was very simple stuff at first, but more than anything, it was the sculptures and the toys I made back then that really carried a certain design language and I think you can still see traces of that in my work today.
I was just completely obsessed.
And that obsession really bleeds through into what I do now.
I’ve always had this huge love for nostalgia for the things that shaped my childhood.
There was a strong imagination at play, especially around the toys that meant a lot to me growing up.
And I think you can see that influence in my designs in the silhouettes, the shapes, the use of color, and even the way I think about building pieces.
There’s definitely a playful spirit I try to keep alive in my work.
I want it to feel striking and imaginative, the same way those toys felt to me as a kid.
That impact has never really left it’s always been an underlying force in everything I create.
It’s pretty cool when I think about it.
Evy:
What font would you be and why?
Fred:
What font would I be? Oh, God that’s a hard one.
But I think… an old typewriter font. That’s the one I’d love.
I was obsessed with typewriters when I was a kid.
Actually, I remember working at Topman once a high street fashion brand where I was the Sunday shoe salesman.
One weekend, we somehow made minus £30 in sales.
They pulled me aside and said, “How are we losing money on a Sunday?”
It turned out people were just making more returns that day, and there was nothing I could really do about it.
Still, they told me if the numbers didn’t go up, they’d have to fire me.
At that point, I honestly didn’t care anymore.
So I went home, pulled out my typewriter, and typed out my resignation letter.
I put my name and the date at the top and right in the middle of the page, I typed something really obnoxious like, “I quit.”
Then I handed it in.
It was so dramatic but honestly, so satisfying.
Yeah, definitely an old typewriter font. That’s me.
