We speak to Ash Johnson, one half of husband and wife
(Lorraine) design duo behind Pyrus, a luxury women’s wear fashion
brand; at a recent gallery exhibition at their concept store based
in Newburgh st, London.
Could you tell us about the concept store which you opened
last year in July?
When Pyrus decided to launch it's first retail space... it was
actually quite funny, there were three of us who decided to do it,
Lorraine and I had obviously been running the brand for some time,
but Agnes Mok, who came on board helped combine the strong team we
needed to launch it. Looking around, it was obvious, I think
from the start, that we did not just want a fashion store because
they
are aplenty in London. The reason we decided upon an art
gallery was influenced by our love of art and having friends who
run galleries, which helped. There was also an element of
showcasing artists, sculptors, photographers who we like and would
personally like to showcase.
It's representative of your tastes? The Pyrus brand
ethos?
A store in general for a brand is displaying what the brand
believes in, what the brand ethos and core values are in a
way.
When did you start making designs together?
We met on the first day of fashion college, back in 1999 and we
became best friends straightaway. We work very differently, which
is actually quite interesting, because when we started to work
together, it was after college. Lorraine was working at Dunhill and
I was working for a design forecasting firm. Everyone used to
say you must make a collection together and so on, we obviously had
to find our mid-ground. We started the company in 2003 and
the first collection was in 2005, so for the first few years we
were designing for other companies.
Given that its a fairly young brand, how has it been
received by your customers?
The growth has been very organic and we have come to that point
where we can divide collections between us. We always still come
together however and always try to fulfil what a customer wants,
but what we feel that they need. There is a delicate balance,
when pushing forward their needs. Sometimes we get in wrong,
when pre-empting, for example doing things two seasons too quick
and customers only understand moving forwards. Pyrus is a
directional brand, it's not high fashion in the sense of high
couture so it does need to be accessible to a lot of our
customers.
What were the inspirations behind your S/S 11
collection?
I think with Pyrus, it's very much about the brand ethos.
This involves vintage, it has a directional edge and modern
feel to it. So we have asymetric dresses, dip-dyed with huge
batwing blouses, but at the same time we have lace blouses. We try
to style it to keep it fresh, edgy and modern. I think that
is the main influence.
How many accounts or outfits are there in the
brand?
Currently there 150 core accounts around the world, in Japan we
have the majority of department stores, Beams, Mitsukoshi, Opaque.
In the UK we have Anthropologie, Fenwick and a whole range of small
boutiques. Internationally we work with Anthropologie a lot and we
have a special range that goes to about 200 stores in the US.
We are a mid-market brand, In Europe, it's a very big thing
when you look at brands like Acne, accessibility is a core
value.
How do you find time for each other, running the shop and
immersed in work?
I don't think it really is an issue I think. We are
inseparable, when at work, we very much have our fashion hats on,
but when we go home we have different interests. We love
cooking and visiting art galleries. What I find is, when we
go on holiday, when we go shopping, it's like work again (laughs).
Lorraine likes to draw, I like to sculpt and we do things
which are not related to work at all. We have a miniature
dachshund and we love going for walks, not necessarily just in
London, we do go to the Cotswold's for a few days to relax and
refresh.
What does 2011 have in store for you?
We are planning to open a second store in 18 months, so late 2011,
early 2012, we will start launching it. We want to develop
more into the Spanish and Swedish markets and are working with
exciting new agencies to push that forward.
www.pyrus-london.com