Not so many years ago, French artist Camille Walala and her creative producer Julia Jomaa could have been spotted huddled together on a single desk in a busy shared workspace in Dalston. ‘We always used to sit the wrong way round, because I’m left-handed and Camille’s right-handed, so we kept nudging each other,’ laughs Jomaa, who is Walala’s partner in life as well as work.
They’ve come a long way since those table-tussle days, with Walala’s murals and installations, memorable for their architectural use of bold colour, popping up all over the world.
You may have seen Salt of Palmar, the bright boutique hotel in Mauritius that quickly became an Instagram sensation thanks to her backdrops; or perhaps the Dream Come True Building in London’s Old Street, with its unmistakable façade. There are many more. A whole street in Leyton given, in conversation with the local community, a rainbow-bright lick of paint. A bridge in Canary Wharf, two aircraft hangars in Arkansas, a piece of public art in Plymouth… Collaborations with brands have followed, including a notable range of rugs with fellow cool east-London brand Floor Story.
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One desk was never going to be big enough.
The studio moved to its own space in Cambridge Heath, overlooking the canal, several years ago, but it was a move from the second floor of that building up to a brand-new spot on the seventh floor two years ago that elevated Walala and Jomaa’s dreams for their workspace.
‘When we first moved up here we just didn’t do anything,’ recalls Jomaa, who thinks taking this time to consider what she and Walala needed from the space was important. ‘We had walls made out of shelves, moving things back and forth, before we finally settled on this layout.’
It was then, with a plan in mind, they turned to long-time collaborators Simon Sawyer and Gustave Andre, the duo behind Our Department. Experienced in turning Camille’s visions into reality, having built the set for her Walala X Play exhibition at the Now Gallery back in 2017, the pair worked on bespoke cabinetry and a workshop table. The result is an assault on the senses, a visual happy slap.
Aware of the importance of the strong black lines that define her work, Sawyer and Andre proposed a three-dimensional approach, cutting out panels of MDF and spray-painting them black, before laying other carefully sized pieces of brightly hued wood on top. They chose a polyurethane, similar to that used to paint cars, to achieve the vibrancy required. No detail was left to chance – even the thickness of the grouting in the on-site kitchen was discussed at length. ‘The patterns and the geometry are visually very impressive; however, this means that if anything is out of alignment by even one millimetre it would show up,’ says Sawyer.
It may be meticulously conceived and constructed, but everything in this studio is also reusable – able to be packed up and rebuilt in another location should Walala ever need to move. This future-proofing to avoid waste is something that’s important to Sawyer and Andre but also, increasingly, to Walala and Jomaa. The pair have made a purposeful move away from temporary pop-ups and installations in recent years, choosing to work only on permanent projects – ones that are sustainable and promise an enduring benefit to local communities. There’s a metro station in Lyon in the pipeline, as well as whispers of a possible reimagining of a lido in Waltham Forest (pending council deliberations).
Part of this new approach also involves saying no more often. The new relaxed ethos of taking on fewer but more meaningful projects has allowed Walala to spend more time feeding her artistic curiosity. The kitchen area at the back of the studio is her domain, where she can be found painting, cutting out forms and experimenting. The results can be seen in galleries (one piece will be displayed as part of an exhibition at Fondation Vasarely in Aix-en-Provence later this year), but are also found popping up for sale on her Instagram account (@camillewalala). A recent drop of new work saw 100 per cent of the price tags donated to a local charity. ‘I remember thinking, if they don’t sell I’ll just have to buy them myself,’ she quips. Of course, they sold out in under a day.
The mediums may change, whether walls or canvases, but Walala’s DNA, her eye catchingly joyful Technicolor imagination, remains at the heart of everything she does. ‘I find colour inspiring,’ she tells us. ‘Whenever I come into work, I just feel really happy to be in this space.’ ‘It’s energising,’ agrees Jomaa.
There are just three people working in the studio now: Walala, Jomaa and Georgie McEwan, an architectural designer. After their arrival in the morning, coffee is made as the music is switched on (normally Charlie Bones’ independent station Do!!You!!! radio), and Jomaa’s mum’s dog Frieda, a regular visitor, may try to sneak off for a cheeky snooze on one of the floor cushions – a collaboration with homeware brand Ambar. The pace is slower but, points out Walala, ‘it’s okay to take a step back’.
‘I’ve been reading a lot about creativity and I’ve learned that you can’t be creative all the time. The brain needs to relax a bit.’ Then, when it’s time to supercharge those creative juices again, there could be no better place for it. camillewalala.com
