Ripple Effect

For Alex her apparently abstract designs – pops of pinks and yellows and blues that jump out and demand attention – are far from random Jackson Pollock-esque scrawls.

Alex told me that she started an Instagram account where she designed posters and a growing community fed back stories which informed her. “Sharing work, being judged by bad work… that all turned into something bigger, I did it for four years straight. A community of followers evolved. Most of the stories were really sad – turning something really dark into something happy and colourful interests me.” Emotion is key for her. “I am first and foremost a visual designer and artist and all my creations are supposed to evoke an emotion. My work is a celebration of colour and pattern, which I would see as a positive stimulation of the senses.”

Is there a process to her designs? “To be honest, there is no process, I am a maker at heart, and when I create I’m extremely happy. I try to create every single day, even if it’s only sketches of my ideas, at least it’s something. Sometimes there are moments where I use my creativity as personal therapy; sometimes when I am stuck with a project or an assignment I try to switch gears and create something off topic for a little while. A process would break me.”

The repeated talk of personal therapy is striking. Art and mental health are so linked. From The Scream onwards painters have explored the power of psychology. But, rather than being about pain, is there something about colour that can be uplifting in the way that Yayoi Kusama teases out? “Many people have a positive reaction, something uplifting in a way. It is graphic, what I do, it is abstract. I think about imagination – going to a happy place.” She adds that: “For me, colours come naturally, they just appear for me and I never have to think about them or reconsider my choices. My shapes come from my hand and are mostly inspired by things from the everyday and nature. Some people are good at maths, I am not! But I think I am okay with colour and shapes.”

How much influence are clients like Jillian and Tamara granted, and were there ever any surprises when the end result was unveiled? “No, we go through a process together, and they hire me because they know my work, after all. The surface is obviously very different to other materials when I work on a pool though. Often a client will like a piece of my work, for example, a design with more yellow than pink, then they’ll say ‘we really like this, but you do your thing.’” She added that: “With bigger companies, they have more input. Google, for example, asked that I use their brand colours.”

Of course the one thing you want to do in a pool is swim. “I like swimming, I spent the whole time in the water when I’ve been travelling in, say, the Mediterranean,” said Alex. But, interestingly, she admitted: “I prefer the ocean – I can spend hours in the ocean. I do love water, I’m fascinated with the underwater, you see something more than just the blue colour.” Though despite being from the land of ‘aufguss,’ Alex revealed “I’m not a sauna person.”

Now she has more pools in the works; in LA, Brazil and for a forthcoming boutique hotel in Mexico. And she’s working on countless other designs for products and walls. But the biggest splash in Alex’s world at the moment is definitely her beloved painted pools.