Liliana Rochado

7 Oct

Contact: lilianarochado.design@gmail.com
University/School: University of Lancashire
View Liliana’s LinkedIn

About me

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About me _____

I am an experimental designer and maker, driven by the challenge of creating things I do not yet know how to make. I love pushing beyond familiar processes, learning through experimentation and refusing to be limited by material or traditional methods of construction.

With a particular love for leather, I am fascinated by unexpected material combinations and finding beauty in unconventional forms. My work balances an artistic, sculptural instinct with meticulous craftsmanship. Sustainability is naturally embedded in how I design through resourcefulness, material consideration and longevity, an approach recognised through the Hilary Alexander Sustainable Trailblazer Award and Technology & Techniques Award I received.

My practice has grown through stepping outside the traditional boundaries of fashion. During my final year, I moved between departments, learning processes from 3D printing to metal forming and welding, then problem solving how these could be brought onto the body. This can be seen in my Liberty x Graduate Fashion Week shortlisted steel corset, where an industrial material became sculptural and wearable. Working with Hengdi Wang, Susan Fang and sculptor Charles Hadcock has continued to feed this curiosity. I love the meeting point between fashion, art and sculpture, and figuring out how unexpected materials and forms can live around the human body.

Concept is as important to me as material. I love developing rich concepts and building a world around my work, drawing from everything from my own family and heritage to wider cultural and political conversations. I am drawn to ideas with layers and materials that continue and carry their own stories. Leather develops a richer patina with wear; copper changes through touch and time. I love the thought of a piece becoming more beautiful as it ages, something to be fallen in love with, lived in and cherished.

Inspiration

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Inspiration _____

NAVEGADOR P-J.H. imagines rebellious musician PJ Harvey retreating to my family's farmhouse in Portugal to write her next album.

NAVEGADOR P J.H. S/S27 imagines rebellious musician PJ Harvey retreating from society to my family’s farmhouse in Portugal to write her next album. A creative bolthole where her raw artistic energy meets the weathered architecture of my Avô’s hand built home. The tiles from his floors, kitchen, bathroom and exterior walls become part of the garments themselves through etched leather, embroidered textiles and sculptural copper pipe, preserving fragments of place and memory. Weathered tiles carry the memory of place, their surfaces softened by time, echoing farm walls worn by sun, dust and seasons.

PJ Harvey’s early work represents a version of womanhood that feels completely self possessed. I was particularly drawn to her Rid Of Me album and the imagery created alongside Maria Mochnacz, where Harvey rejects performance in favour of presence. There is a confidence in the way she occupies space, moving with a physicality often associated with masculinity whilst remaining entirely unapologetic in her femininity. This attitude became central to the collection, explored through silhouette, proportion and construction to create a woman who feels comfortable occupying space on her own terms: powerful, authentic and completely herself.
Material brings these worlds together. Leather etching allows the Portuguese azulejo patterns to emerge from within the material, while digital pattern matching lets the motifs flow continuously across the garment. Sculptural copper pipe follows the body in continuous curved lines, contrasting sheer fabric and creating a tension between strength and fragility. Left unpolished with visible welds, the copper retains an honest, aged quality, as though it too belongs amongst the worn materials of the farm. Across the collection, craftsmanship, heritage and material experimentation come together through pieces intended to age, evolve and carry their own history over time.