artist
pattern designer
creative director
“I’m enabling expression to emerge on its own without a plan in place, without an outcome in mind and without representation of anything tangible. It might represent an internal state of mind, a feeling, a desire. Sometimes it simply comes from my intention to get out of the way of what wants to come through. I work from a mode of improvisation, a practice I’ve explored for decades in different mediums. I wait for the “click” I feel when I know a piece is complete. The way I get to that place, how long I need to wade through the middle zone, my response to the process, is different every time. And to me, that is the whole point, it’s an ever-changing exploration.”
—Leila Simon Hayes
LEILA SIMON HAYES
Leila [ lee-la ] is an abstract artist and award-winning designer based in Boston, MA. Her surface pattern designs are born from remixing and reimagining her black and white ink drawings into bold, colorful, unusual patterns that muse on playful scale and color combinations alongside an exploration of rhythm and movement.
Her work can be found on textiles, wallpaper, homewares, book covers and other objects to surround yourself with.
The exploration methods that create her patterns have become a trademark. She is known for combining elements into surprising relationships, made from a meditative dream space, inspired by her curiosity about the universe, and with respect for what we can’t see. Leila’s attention to precision and structure, combined with her understanding of improvisation and movement, is the combination that creates her artistic signature.
ISSUE 44
Origin Magazine Feature
Summer 2022
Create Magazine Interview
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