In Conversation: Anna Šebestová

Anna Šebestová is a Czech designer currently doing her Masters in textile design in Birmingham.

We met in 2009, while both working as au pairs in The Netherlands.

After Anna moved to London, a group of us travelled over from Holland to stay with her, cramming into her Hackney flat. Not only did she give the best non-tour guide, tour of London, she even took turns sleeping on the floor with us.

She makes fun of my kiwi accent; while I just simple adore her –she’s funky, has a great sense of humour and is a multi-talented artist.

I thought what better way to kick off this little series of conversations than asking Anna to tell us all about her new venture annanemone, life in Birmingham and Bill Nighy's dance moves.

Tell us about annanemone.

annanemone is the name for my brand based on my first name as well as the word 'anemone', which so many people have trouble pronouncing.

I realize that will be the case for annanemone too but for me it adds humour to my already quite playful patterns. The fact that they are very organic and often portray sea creatures was also quite fitting.

The brand's ethos focuses on nature's slightly unloved and neglected creatures and produce. There are so many organisms that are incredibly peculiar and fascinating, especially in the depths of the ocean, which we luckily haven't fully discovered yet. Seeing the beauty in hand-drawn lizards, squid and asparagus is what annanemone is about.

How did you come to textile design?

I studied Fine Art for my Bachelor's Degree but always enjoyed patterns and tactility and used a lot of both in my work already then. I could sit for hours and crochet a patch of grass (which actually took me weeks to make) or draw the same thing over and over again. What can I say, audiobooks helped.

In my last year I properly decided to pursue textile design and found out about the Masters course in Birmingham. I can already see how much I've learned, I'm so happy I took that step and that I even realized that was what I wanted to do. That's sometimes the tricky part.

What inspires you?

Nature and conversation are probably my biggest sources of inspiration. It's amazing how little things like going for a walk help when I'm feeling stuck.

Over the years of having very free and independent education where we weren't set any briefs or projects I've been trying to learn to discipline myself and be able to get out of a rut somehow. It never helps to sit at home and think about what to do next, the best thing is to go outside, talk to people, and go for a swim or anything that will give me new impulses and ideas. Also listening to music and being spontaneous.

You went to art school in London. What was that experience like?

It was pretty daunting at first. But I don't think that was to do with London, it was the fact that I knew no one at school and I felt like back at camp when I was six and didn't know who to sit next to on the bus on the way there. But already on my first day I made a friend who is one of my dearest people to this day so it worked out pretty well! I know some people couldn't live in London because of its incredible size and amount of people.

Of course I had my moments when it really stressed me out, mostly the tube during rush hour- everything just took so long. I guess I avoided overly touristy places anyway, that's why London's so great, it's essentially made up of little villages so you can find your sorts of places and just hang out there, you don't really need to go to the centre.

Tell us about living on a canal boat.

It was pretty surreal. My friend Molly found this community and we decided to try it out. I was really sick of living in a house share where nobody talked to each other. I lived there for three months and never once met one of the guys; he always waited for everyone to be inside their rooms before he came out to make his dinner. So this was a much needed change, suddenly there were communal meals, sitting by the fire in the evenings, randomly jumping into the Thames, drinking cider on the roof and listening to some ukulele tunes. And yes, romance too -that whole period was pretty unforgettable.

It wasn't always romantic though, you had be quite adaptable - brushing your teeth with (supposedly) filtered river water, washing dishes in actual river water, showering at the gym, not to mention having to deal with some pretty questionable characters living in the community. After that my friend Georgie and I moved into a one person canal boat nearby, which we loved. I couldn't stand up straight in it; managed to melt numerous things on our log burner and once found a gigantic spider under the many blankets we had. Also I once nearly drowned our toilet in the Thames.

It was amazing really. Some of my favourite things were having breakfast on the roof, watching the fire, the view from the window as I woke up, random dance-offs with Georgie, taking the boat to the pub and being like 'wait I need to take stuff with me' and then realizing our whole house came with us. I learned to read more again since there was no electricity. Of course only until the candle burned out.

It was literally the boat that rocked.

What is it with Bill Nighy?

Well he's just very sexy isn't he? In a non-obvious way, the best kind. For me he's the definition of an English gentleman, plus an amazing actor and dancer, what's not to like? "Let's get pissed and watch porn" is probably my favourite of his lines.

You’re based in Birmingham now, and you’ve lived all over Europe, where's home?

I wouldn't say all over Europe, just a few countries! I'm from Prague, where I lived until I was about 18 but I had a slightly different experience to my Czech friends as I went to an international high school so I guess it always pushed me to go abroad. Despite that I do feel that Prague is my home, I love going back there, it was the best place to grow up. From my early childhood I took the tram into the centre without my parents, I don't see anyone letting their kids do that in England. But maybe it was just a different time then.

The main thing that always annoys me when I go back is people's attitude, they're mostly very unwilling; everything's a problem. Once in London I was looking for a street so I asked a bus driver and he announced it into his little speaker to ask whether any of the passengers knew where it was. So a pretty contrasting experience, but I realize you get both nice and unhelpful people everywhere.

I would love to gain more experience abroad and live in Prague again at some point, I think it would be very different living there not as a high school student but a working adult. Also I just miss Czech bread too much; the English stuff just doesn't do it for me.

What was it like growing up in Prague?

I grew up in a very green and family-friendly part of Prague called Ořechovka. We have an apartment my mom's lived in since she was two and I feel so lucky to have been brought up in that area, it really is special. We used have a tiny cinema 5 minutes away, together with a local bakery, which had the best crispy bread rolls, don't see anything beating those. My best friends all lived around so we always hung out at the playground or in each others gardens.

I really do feel bad for today's kids that they don't get to experience life without social media, just playing outside until the sun goes down and calling their friends' houses hoping their grumpy dad wouldn't pick up. My little 5-year-old brother already knows how to work an iPad; it’s crazy! I'm so glad I didn't know how to turn on a computer probably until my teenage years but I'm sure most kids who grew up in the early 90s will agree with me so it's not so much about our particular community.

I had a great childhood because I had one. Our household was very liberal. I was often allowed things some of my friends weren't. I must have just been a delight to bring up! Not sure if mom ever knew about the times I'd sneaked out through the back door to go see my high school sweetheart but I guess that's out now.

Tell us about your Birmingham neighbourhood.

Birmingham's location is pretty ideal for traveling around the UK - it isn't the prettiest of English cities but I keep discovering little places here and there. Not to mention I quite like the industrial feel -when the sun is out it's actually really photogenic. I think I get that from my dad, he taught me to see beauty in not so obvious places.

I recently found The Warehouse Cafe, a little vegetarian restaurant with the most delicious food. Their banana burger and vegan brownie with ice-cream were to die for. Also I'm going to exhibit my work there in April so I'm really excited about this collaboration.

Birmingham is pretty good with vintage fairs and shops; the Custard Factory is a collection of independent businesses and retailers. They organize craft markets, and fun events -I find some great bargains there.

The Yardbird is a lovely little jazz bar in the centre that has free gigs almost every night. They're usually followed by a jam session until 2am which is like crazy late in the UK.

We went to the Electric Cinema the other day, which is apparently, UK's oldest working cinema! It's tiny and very cute; you can even get things like cake or hummus and wine at the bar and bring it with you!

My favourite has to be the outdoor market since I'm kind of a fruit & veggie maniac. Today I got 3 pineapples for 1£, so good. So there definitely are some hidden gems in this place, you just have to dig, and get used to the Brummie accent.

Where can we find your work?

I've recently set up a Facebook page which I update pretty regularly together with my blog www.patterntheretofollow.blogspot.co.uk I also have a Pinterest account and an online portfolio So feel free to do some browsing!