We spoke to Rana Fadavi, a Parisienne turned Londoner who has worked as an assistant art director at the Issey Miyake fashion house in Paris. She’s also a set designer, illustrator, and much more – so we were excited to sit down with so much creativity!

Hi, tell us about yourself!

My name is Rana, I’m 25 years old. I just moved from Paris to London six months ago. I graduated two years ago from art school in France. I did scenography. It’s quite a wide area, so now I’m focusing on exhibition design and fashion mainly.
What brought you to London?

It’s been seven years that my goal was to come to London, because I find that people are much more openminded, there are much more art opportunities for young people. It got confirmed – it’s been six months that I’ve been working here, and indeed, that’s the case.

What are you working on right now?

I’m assisting a set designer who is doing exhibition design for fashion, for Carolina Herrera. It’s an exhibition that will be held in different countries, but the first one is the city of Buenos Aires. I’m also running costume design workshops in college, so they are between 16 and 23. I’m also doing a lot of illustrations for different kinds of people – I can do storyboards for films, or so on.

What’s it like to teach workshops?

It’s something that I have every week and it’s well paid, so I’m sure to have something every week. I thought I would hate teaching, but I actually love it. You learn a lot just by sharing things with others, especially younger people. We draw a lot, and we just started actually  making the costumes, because they finished doing their designs. They’re quite excited – and me too!

Tell me more about your illustration – this is something new you’re looking to pursue?

Because I see a lot of friends who did illustration, they struggle a lot – but I feel in London there is possibility, so I really want to expand that. I never thought in my mind it would be possible to live and draw, so that’s something I want to do more. I just opened this illustration account and I really want to expand that more.

Where do you find inspiration?

From anything, really! If I have a project in mind, everything that I see can be related, an idea can just show up. Most of the time it’s when I’m not expecting it, which is a bit frustrating!

What’s your proudest moment so far?

I think when I graduated, my final project, I’m quite happy with it. Even if I know it could have been pushed more, it was my first time I could really deal with a team and do a whole thing – not just a small part, but think about everything, like hair and make-up, and the set, and the performance, and everything. I guess also when I worked with Issey Miyake, which sounds good… it wasn’t artistically amazing, but in terms of CV.

How would you describe your personal style?

I just feel like wearing comfortable stuff to run around in London!

Do you have any rules while your work?

Yeah, I would never work with people that don’t have a work ethic – that aren’t trustworthy. I’m also avoiding too much commercial stuff, I really like focusing on people who have something to say or something creative to show.

Whose work would you say you admire most?

I really like Molly Goddard’s work, the fashion designer. I also love the work of – it’s one of my goals to work with him – Terry Gilliam. He does amazing pictures, images, visually it’s impressive.

What do you want to have achieved in 20 years?

I want to work on as many different projects as possible, that require a lot of different things – not just one area. I also want to have a lot of assistants! (laughs)

Find more from Rana on Instagram at @ranafadavi, and @ranaillustrates for her illustration work.
All images supplied by Rana Fadavi