‘Lola and Bailey‘ is a partnership between Cheri Uppal and Theresa Nguyen. It was established in 2006 to create beautiful designs and they have lived up to it. Their designs have a lot of elegance and their every design speaks for itself. So, here is what the ladies have to say:
Q. My, first question is, what drew you towards designing?
Cheri& Theresa -We both studied design at the College of Fine Arts (COFA) fine arts. COFA enabled us to study multiple design areas, we both studied textiles, jewellery and graphics as majors. This training has given us a foundation to design within these design areas but has also opened our eyes to other design areas such as object, environment and interior design. After finishing COFA, we’ve worked in affiliated industries, such as graphic design and advertising, which have refined our design skills yet we wanted the freedom to create our own designs, build our business and establish a unique design aesthetic.
Q. Your jewelry designs are very contemporary and different. What inspires you to make such brilliant designs?
Cheri& Theresa -Our first collections ‘When Lola met Bailey’ and ‘The First Kiss’ are based on the idea of a fictional romance between two characters. The story of that romance unfolds though the series. Our inspiration is drawn from the idea of wanting to tell a story through design. We like the idea of people walking away with a slice of that story - as though they are apart of the story.
Q. Each of your designs has a name like, “the first kiss, the second kiss”. Why do you tag them such and on what criterion do you name them?
Cheri& Theresa -If you could capture a kiss what would it look like? We wanted to capture those first kisses in the early stages of any blossoming romance hence the sensual,dynamic and romantic shapes. The names serve as clues in the story of their romance.
Q. Since both of you met while studying design at the college, so I am inquisitive to know whether you design independently or work as a team.
Cheri& Theresa -We work independently and also work as a team.
Q. Is there something that you don’t like about each other, professionally?
Cheri& Theresa -No. It works well because we both have very different skill sets yet share the desire to create beautiful well designed objects. One person’s weakness is the other persons strength.
Q. Who are Cheri and Theresa outside the professional frame?
Cheri& Theresa -Daydreamers, poets, storytellers.
Q. You plan to expand your work to home ware and furniture. When will be the products out?
Cheri& Theresa -Our first foray into designing homewares will be in production shortly so they should be available to buy in September. Watch this space.
Q. What else do you follow besides designing?
Cheri& Theresa -Design is about storytelling. The essence of who we are is all expressed by the spaces we inhabit, the clothes we wear down to the type of potato peeler we use. It plays such an important and integral role in our happiness - consciously or not. It’s a type of non-verbal language that we use to communicate that crosses all boundaries. Everything we do is a response to the design around us, therefore it’s hard not to be obsessed with design, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We live, breathe, eat and sleep design.
Q. Why did you chose “Lola & Bailey” as your brand’s name?
Cheri& Theresa -It allowed us the freedom and ambiguity to create absolutely anything we wanted. A blank canvas.
Hmmm...Wow, what a way of expressing things. Thanks a lot ladies, for giving us your precious time.
