Van der Velden’s career truly took off when she worked with the immensely popular Dutch brand Oilily. The company has products sold all over the world from children’s clothes to handbags, and is known for their vibrant designs. Everyone in the Netherlands knows of Oilily, and the artistic creativity that could come from working with such a brand made the opportunity all the more enticing for van der Velden.
Oilily was founded in the Netherlands in 1963. The brand started out with children’s wear and was the first ever to place the child at the center of its creative process. This groundbreaking new vision of children’s wear resulted in a spectacular and vibrant style nobody had ever seen before. The success of the children’s wear collection sparked the introduction of a women’s wear collection, which was launched in 1986. Virtuoso use of color, innovative design, playful patterns, detailed craftsmanship and a certified high quality is what Oilily is known for. Oilily is sold through 2,500 resellers worldwide among of which are some high street boutiques and high-end department stores in Europe and Asia as well as sophisticated online retailers worldwide.
“Everyone grew up in these bright colored, crazy printed and over the top outfits. It was known for its great quality and was very different from other brands back in the day. I felt that I would feel at home with the brand because it had such a long history of exciting and fun product and I wanted to explore all the different facets of creating artwork for clothing and accessories,” she said.
After starting as an intern, van der Velden’s abilities were quickly noticed, and she was promoted almost instantly. At the time, she was interested in fashion, but after just a short time at Oilily she knew she was meant to be a graphic designer. Despite this transition, her artistic instincts once again were on full display, and she seamlessly went from fashion expert to a sought-after graphic designer. Everyone she worked with was extraordinarily impressed.
“I worked with Suzy at Oilily. We were responsible, with the rest of the graphic design team, for all the creative prints, artworks and embellishments for all the collections of Oilily. It was great working with Suzy. She is a good and reliable person. Organized. Secure. And she had a good sense of humor. Suzy is very creative, qualified and a professional in her job. She is a nice person to work with,” said Frances Vessies, Senior Designer at Oilily during van der Velden’s time with the company.
While working for Oilily, van der Velden had many responsibilities, making her pivotal to the brand’s success at the time. She worked on toddlers, kids, and women’s products all at the same time. The brand was initially known for the children’s wear, making it even more important. She was able to bring a lot of creative new ideas to the established design team. She was consistently flexible, making sure to understand the different needs among each category she took on. She would then spend her days designing tee graphics, all-over prints, embroideries, hangtags, engineered jacquard panels for cardigans, sorting color cards and much more.
“It was beautiful to see a collection come together,” she described. “I was a very open and energetic person who was always looking for inspiration through music, fine art, nature and was able to translate this is in a suitable way for the brand. I found ways to learn all aspects of the design process, which made me a valuable team player and by doing so I easily adapted to design for both women and kids.”
The experience with Oilily gave van der Velden the chance to experiment, something that has helped her create her signature design style. There were times where she would work on fabrics that were velour burn-outs with all-over prints on top, which she says is a dream come true for a Graphic designer. All the garments had intricate details like embroideries, sequins, patches and trims.
“Oilily is an out-of-the-box type of company. This has really shaped my understanding that a garment is a canvas on which you can apply artwork and colors. I would make the craziest collages for the kids prints and would spend days creating all the small details,” she said.
During her time at Oilily, the brand was showcased in the Amsterdam Fashionweek for two consecutive years. As a fashion enthusiast, it was a dream come true for van der Velden. She saw her designs on the runway, and knew then she was not only designing clothes, she was making art.
Oilily provided van der Velden with the perfect way to mesh her passion for fashion with her instincts in graphic design. She then continued to do so with the popular sporting wear brand O’Neill, and now is known for her outstanding work with the yoga wear company Lululemon. Make sure to keep an eye out for this talented graphic designer and what she is up to next.