The Peninsulist Meets Tatty Devine
In 1999, fresh out of art school, Rosie Wolfenden and Harriet Vine told a Vogue stylist that they had a jewellery collection. They didn’t, and instead spent a weekend pulling one together by making things from scratch. Six months later, their creations were in Vogue and Harvey Nichols, and their label, Tatty Devine, was born. Collaborations with Antony Gormley and the V&A followed, and their fledgling company gained a reputation for making pop art-inspired, joyful pieces that act as both art and jewellery. This season they’re creating an installation on Greenwich Peninsula, and next year they’re celebrating their 20th year in business. We sat down with them in their Brick Lane studio to find out how it all started, and where it’s all going.
How did Tatty Devine begin?
Harriet: We both did fine art at the Chelsea school of art. That’s how Rosie and I met. We were living in different houses, but Rosie found out I had a spare room so she moved in with me, and we immediately had this symbiotic relationship where we’d both come out of our bedrooms with pink eyebrows.
Rosie: A lot of our tutors at art school were Turner Prize winners, which gave us such ambition and confidence, because it set the scene. We’re always saying now that you've got to see it to be it, because that’s what we had. And we loved dressing up and expressing ourselves through what we wore. But it was multi-faceted: in the beginning we’d found loads of leather, which we made into wristbands and sold at Portobello Market, and it meant we didn’t need to get proper jobs.
How have things grown?
Harriet: When we first started, it was just Rosie and me. Then, as the business progressed and as we got new members of staff, we needed to readdress what our roles were. But because of this, the team grew organically.
Rosie: We structure it, so that there’s actual career development. We’re a team of 32 people, and new employees come in at level one as a maker, then as they learn they progress. Our techniques are ours; they’re not things you learn in college, because Harriet’s invented a lot of them. So that creative freedom has always been absolutely key to what Tatty Devine is, because we’ve always made things that don’t exist, which by default means you’re making quite challenging, original things. So the process is very wrapped up in the brand.
How has working in East London changed since you began back in 1999?
Rosie: There are elements around this area that haven’t changed at all, but in essence it’s unrecognisable. All our customers used to live in the area and now they can’t afford it, it’s such a shift. But we’ve always stayed locally and very much feel that this is where we belong – we’ve never even considered moving.
Harriet: This shop [on Brick Lane] is the first we ever had, so people know where we are. But Brick Lane nowadays is missing the junk that used to be here. Cities need those rough-around-the-edges kinds of places for creativity to really thrive, and that’s essentially been stopped.
“Creative freedom has always been absolutely key to what Tatty Devine is, because we’ve always made things that don’t exist, which by default means you’re making quite challenging, original things”
Your aesthetic is bright and pop art inspired. Was this always how you envisioned Tatty Devine?
Rosie: We just love old plastic stuff. It’s treasure to us, and that set the tone. The point was always about saying who you were by what you’re wearing. We’ve recently done more political pieces and campaigning around equality, but we’ve always campaigned for individuality. It’s about saying: I want to wear this thing because I want everyone to know I’m into this thing! Tatty Devine makes people happy, which is so important, and if we can contribute to people’s lives in that way, that’s really exciting.
You've collaborated with lots of different institutions and artists. Do you have any particular favourites?
Rosie: They’re all great and they’re all so different. The V&A commissioned us to make something, whereas the Tate is a more commercial relationship. Then there are collaborations like [Danish-born designer] Peter Jensen, who is a friend of ours, and that project was just for his catwalk. The ones that are the best are the ones that are the most natural, like Gilbert and George – we just had to do a gin.
Harriet: They’re ideas that maybe don’t seem obvious to others, but they make so much sense to us.
“It's actually quite nice to press pause a tiny bit and go through the quite indulgent process of looking at it all again.”
How has social media changed things for you?
Rosie: It was a very natural development for us because we were always about community, and our jewellery is all about telling stories and making people smile and bringing people together. It’s not a particularly commercial product, and with social media you get to reach a niche of people who love it and understand it.
You're building an arch for Greenwich Peninsula's Christmas celebrations. Can you tell us about that?
Harriet: It’s based on the design of a rainbow star necklace that we did a few years ago for Christmas, but we brought it out for Pride as well. So it suddenly made sense to use the stars as an arch, because it’s so naturally necklace-shaped. I’m also quite obsessed with the idea of putting your arm out and “holding” the leaning tower of Pisa up, so with the way the arch is, if you stand far enough away from it you can “wear” it like a headband. So it’s got an interactive element to it as well as being a meeting place. Rosie: It’s called the Rainbow Halo.
It's your 20th anniversary next year. How will you be celebrating?
Rosie: We’ve got a touring exhibition around Britain and we’re doing a book, so we’ve been doing a lot of thinking and looking back over the last 20 years. It’s actually quite nice to press pause a tiny bit and go through the quite indulgent process of looking at it all again.
Favourite piece you've designed to date?
Harriet: The one I haven’t designed yet!
Top fashion tip during silly-jumper season?
Rosie: Bella Freud. And Uniqlo Heattech – then I don’t have to wear jumpers. Harriet: Ridiculous Nordic jumpers – I just love the skill required to make them.
