Pooches, Purses, and AI with Poppy Lissiman

September 01, 2023

Poppy Lissiman has long embraced the bizarre, channeling the weird and obscure through her designs that conjure pure whimsy. Some of her sunglasses silhouettes take on the fluid shape of amoebas, while her practical, yet playful handbags reflect every hue in the rainbow. The Australian designer is consistently pushing the envelope — but for her most recent collection, she decided to push it one step further.

As Poppy has always embraced the intricate beauty that lies behind imperfection, she decided to dip into that for her recently launched Pet Collection. Collaborating with her brother, she created a range of bags, keychains, and coin purses inspired by 70s and 80s dog grooming pageants, an homage to her fervor for kitsch and campiness.

Interview by Kayla Curtis-Evans
Photos Courtesy of Poppy Lissiman

The dogs are the stars of the show, of course, but Poppy’s use of AI to assist in designing this collection is what really defines the Pet Collection. office sat down with the designer to discuss the impact of AI on her craft and the fashion industry as a whole.

When it comes to applying it to the world of fashion design, AI can be polarizing. What inspiration can artists and designers gain from using it?

In this collection, we see AI as both a tool for artists and designers and as an aesthetic in itself. As for the aesthetic part, we’re talking about a technology still in its early, imperfect stages. The images generated by computers today are still a bit wonky. There’s a friction and a wrongness there that we wanted to lean into. Rather than critique the way images turn out, we wanted to embrace it as an aesthetic in itself.

As for the movement of AI in the design world, there’s a lot of concern that the existence and development of this sort of technology will render artists and designers obsolete. And as a designer, I can’t really afford to think like that. I’m not trying to speak for all designers here, but I can’t single-handedly stop AI. Nor is my protesting going to do anything beyond me missing out on what could be a really fun way to bring my ideas to life. Instead of worrying too much about the downsides of computer-generated art, I’d rather become inspired by its potential and lean into the crazy.

I think it’s also important to remember that you can’t generate an original image without an original prompt, and to create an original prompt you still need an original idea. Those ideas come from us! And the idea of chucking some slightly skew-whiff Shih Tzus on a vegan leather handbag still came from my brain. There’s always a human element. The originality is in the prompt. I hope this collection inspires people to play around with AI — to use it as a tool for bringing your weirder ideas to life, and to remember that creativity lies within your ability to ask an original question, or in this case, give a slightly bizarre prompt to a machine and watch it turn it into a slightly imperfect reality.

We’re aware that you love Pomeranians, who take front and center in some of these designs. What spurred this eccentric, dog-inspired accessory collection?

If you saw the Explore page of my Instagram it’s literally just videos of Pomerianians and I love that. My heart skips a beat when I see one on the street, I squeal with excitement. I wanted to recreate that feeling on some bags — obviously, we had to start with a Pom, then we included some of the other dogs which are some of the most beloved family members of people I know.

How do you plan to continue incorporating AI into your design process while still honoring the human, hands-on elements of creation?

Honestly, the human, hands-on element of creating this collection far outweighed AI. The amount of tweaking, editing, and updating of this imagery was A LOT. So much so, that it took us just over a year from original conception to release, which is roughly three times longer than normal. At the moment, I don’t see us using AI too much more in the design process. It’s sometimes a great tool to use as a starting point then tweak and play with from there but the human touch is what works best for us.

Lots of Poppy Lissiman designs embrace weirdness. What advice would you give to help others find the beauty in the bizarre?

I love the left of center, the slightly off — the little bit ‘ugly.’ Run of the mill, same as everything else is boring. I very much feel beauty is in the eye of the beholder so the weird and bizarre might not be everyone’s taste — it’s very personal. But I do say lean into that weirdness. Seeing a Pomeranian literally brings me so much happiness that I had to have a bag with one of them on it. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea and there’s probably not anything in the rule book to say having a bag with small wonky dogs on it is du jour but if something brings you joy — wear it, do it, embrace it.

Which Poppy pet best reflects your personality and why?

As much as I’d like to say the Pomeranian bag, it’s probably the quivering little chihuahua on the Yap Yap bag. I probably most identify as a chihuahua. Constantly teetering on a state of flight or fight — anxious and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Fashion

Heron Preston Launches his Long Awaited “Orange Label”

The labels themselves have a rich history; first introduced in 2016 as part of the “UNIFORM” exhibition, a collaboration with the NYC Department of Sanitation. Heron has since recovered deadstock labels from that project, breathing new life into them for the collection. While the exact number of remaining labels is unclear, there are only a few hundred left, and once they are gone, the project will come to an end.

The t-shirts themselves are crafted from 8oz, garment-dyed heavyweight cotton and come in two classic colorways: solid white and solid black. There are no graphics or designs—just clean, blank surfaces. Made from 100% recycled cotton sourced from waste fibers collected during cotton yarn production, these shirts reflect Heron’s commitment to sustainability. Each t-shirt is unique, with the label hand-stamped with the L.E.D. logo, the date of purchase, “Made in USA,” and a unit number, ensuring that no two pieces are the same. Only 300 t-shirts will be produced, making this a rare and limited edition release on ledstudio.com. A portion of the proceeds from the collection will benefit the DSNY’s Sanitation Foundation, the nonprofit partner of the Department of Sanitation.

Fashion

Curtain Calls! Lara Violetta Brings Us the Second Edition of Violet Papers

Paige Silveria — You just released your second issue. How are you feeling? You can maybe relax a little bit?

Lara Violetta — It is very exciting. But it also never stops, there’s so much work that goes into the whole making of the magazine. Then there’s the aftermath as well, all the logistics and everything, so hopefully in two weeks or so I can slow down a bit.

You’re doing all the distribution by yourself?

We're a really small team; we basically do everything ourselves. I love working on it; it's super interesting to get to know all these structures, like building our own relationships with bookstores. Also for the online shop, there is so much going into it, thinking of all the packaging, trying our best to get the best rate for each country, etc. This time thankfully we have some help from a warehouse.

Can you describe Violet Papers for me?

Violet Papers is a fashion and beauty magazine. It is quite text-focused and a mix of emergent talent and people that have been in the fashion industry for a while. I love mixing things, always in every aspect. In getting dressed, doing my makeup or in our pages. It's always really important for me to have a great balance and contrast.

Tell me about the theme, Curtain Calls.

It's the theatrical issue, so we really wanted to create a whole fantasy. Like in the fashion world, looking back at the Margiela show, for example, with the performative walk — everything can be so theatrical in a way. I'm thinking about a quote from Capote, where he says something about how all the future exists in the past. That’s also really the magazine’s core in a way. We were aiming towards a ’90s kind of publication vibe. Less like typical modern magazines, which mostly are very image focused.

And what have you learned now that the second issue is complete?

If you think about how many people are involved, you can get a glimpse of how much work it is in the end. You have to be really obsessed with it because you dedicate so much time to it. I've definitely learned to be really straightforward, to push myself out of my comfort zone. It’s a never ending learning experience for me.

I can imagine it’s a bit of a story of personal growth as well, learning a lot of patience! Tell me about your background. You’re from Bavaria?

Yes, I grew up really outside of Munich in the countryside. It wasn’t even a village, it was more of a house in the forest.

How far was your closest neighbor?

It was very isolated, but I really always loved being by myself. I was a crafty kid, very dreamy and happy when I just could be by myself and draw.

Tell me about your parents; what do they do?

My love of magazines definitely also comes from my father who’s worked for a publishing house my whole life. He was the Art Director of German Vogue for over 18 years. He definitely had a huge impact on me.

And you went to Berlin for studies?

I was really happy to move to Berlin for my bachelor in communication design and my master in design management. My bachelor was more creative; I learned the whole spectrum, like typography, editorial design etc., later I focused more on marketing. Design management focuses on the structures in design, more about business strategy.

These sound pretty relevant to both of your focuses: running a fashion magazine and also the influencer part, of putting yourself in front of a camera and marketing yourself.

When I moved to Paris I had no job and didn't speak french. It was COVID, we were all at home and I was like, Okay, fuck. I have this one shot to be in Paris. I can't mess it up. I started as a freelance graphic designer. I would make 3D animations; it was really like all over the place. But I felt that I could experiment more since I was in a new country and nobody knew me. I always loved making videos, so I uploaded my first YouTube video and, luckily, it grew. But my father, who has been a part of the golden times of print, didn't like how the world was evolving with social media. He's always supportive but I don't think he really understood what I was doing.

Is it better now?

I hope so. I'm also really grateful for being an influencer. It is a great tool and generous in so many different ways. You can really make it your own.

Where do you think that negative connotation comes from?

Maybe it comes from people thinking there are people making a lot of money while not really working, as it all looks so easy.

So maybe they’re just envious? Because since the beginning of time, the rich haven't worked either. They’re born into family money that generates wealth for them. But from my understanding, there’s often a good amount of work that goes into being an influencer.

Yes, I’ve always been very protective of my work. For example, I’ve never had an agent or a management team. When I started the magazine, I realized how much I benefited from building my own relationships in this industry.

The magazine’s biannual? How big is your team?

Yes, it’s every six months. I have two amazingly talented writers and a brilliant art director. We work super closely. I feel really lucky to be able to work with people who also like to put so much dedication into their work. The structures are a bit blended, so everyone has their input for everything. And I've learned so much from them. It's really a great atmosphere.

It must be fun to get creative with the advertising as well as an influencer who already comes up with new ways to create branded content digitally.

When getting into the planning of this project at the beginning of last year, I would be at home by myself writing documents and documents about my ideas. I thought, how can I transform what I post online into print? When I open a magazine now, there are the advertising pages with all these high glossy brands, which I desire and love to look at. But I think you also need something that is more accessible and personal. So how do we mix this? It’s nice to see products that maybe one day I could imagine purchasing, but I decided to also feature ads for fashion podcasts that I like to listen to, vintage archives and maybe even a nice coffee place. It has to be a mix.

Taking it beyond just those little squares of classifieds you’d see in old periodicals and doing proper ads with these establishments.

It's interesting to see how it performs on printed paper. But in the beginning, when I started to reach out to brands they said they’d love to be a part of it but they were so confused as to what I had in mind. I was cringing, they would be like, yeah, Lara, “It sounds great, but I don't know what you want from me.” Trying to push this idea, of course that means that some of the ads might need extra attention and work from our end, to make sure it all works out perfectly for both sides. That's another thing I appreciate about my whole team, they see the value here and put in the extra work.

I recently did a studio visit with Laura and Deanna Fanning who created an ad specifically for your first issue, right? It must be so fun to see how the community comes together and supports one another’s creative projects.

Oh, I love them. Yeah, I’m so grateful for their support. It's a great honor. When people see that there is real dedication and compassion for the project they are open to support the vision.

Limited budgets often lead to such innovation, whereas too much freedom can sadly lead to some pretty bad work. Thinking of film directors for instance.

If you don't have a big budget, you try to find solutions and have to get creative; that's where the interesting things happen. Our covers being text covers is a great example for this. It was a solution for the first issue, since our options were limited. It worked great as it stands out and awakes interest. Which is why we continued this idea.

Will you bring back the paper bag? It’s such a great idea. So much to do with it.

Yes, I got the idea because I always carry magazines around. But since the publications got bigger and bigger as they released fewer each year, you basically need a backpack. As we know, necessity is the mother of invention. We found an amazing production in Italy, the Paper Bags are Handmade. As I put all my energy in the project I was a bit burned out after the release. Now for the second issue I feel stronger and am also very excited to work on the Paper Bag again.

You had to build that muscle.

Indeed, when the project was finished, I of course wanted to post both the magazine and the bag on socials. But I was so close to the project that I couldn't even talk about it anymore for a bit. Then we finally took some time off and when I came back to Paris, I made another video about the paper bag, really explaining it. The video went viral and suddenly it was sold out and everyone was obsessed. We are now working on the second edition.

For the first issue, you focused on parasocial relationships. It was interesting to me, studying Marx in school, we discussed how he believed human relationships to be paramount for a happy, fulfilling life. And I always felt like some of the most pivotal of those in my formative years were that with characters in books, like Jane Eyre. Feeling so seen through this one-sided communication with the past.

Exactly, because you also put your dreams into that person because it sparks something in you and then you add it up to it. And whether the person in the end is the person that you think it is in the head or not, it creates something in you that might be much bigger.