Camille Guellec fell in love with the art of rug design during her time at CCS. Drawn to the hands-on creativity of tufting, she built her own tufting frame with help from faculty and friends in the Fiber & Textiles program creating a tool for not just herself, but future students to use to explore the craft. Through her minor in Fashion Accessories Design, she gained the skills to land herself a job crafting bags for an iconic design house before finding her way back to where it all began.
The Interview
“I love getting lost in the moment of creating. Time flies and I don’t even realize it. It’s a beautiful experience.” –Camille Guellec
How did you end up where you are today? I’m actually from France. Both of my parents are French. I spoke French at home my whole life but never lived here until about two years ago. I still have a lot of family here in France.
When I first left CCS, I planned to move to France. I applied to Hermes and got into their leatherworking training program. And then, for a year, I worked with them, learning how to make bags on a high-end quality scale. It was exceptional. I think by the time I left, there were about 15 bags that I made that are out there in the world somewhere. I don’t know who has them, but it’s a cool little fun fact.
Now, I’m working as a design specialist for a UK company called Rug Artisan. I’m a rug designer. I research a lot of trends and make my own designs, and sometimes I’ll have clients that I have to work with. They might want a specific design based on an idea that they saw and I help design whatever they need.
What do you love most about rug design? What I love most is actually getting to make the rugs and being hands-on. I love getting lost in the moment of creating. Time flies and I don’t even realize it. It’s a beautiful experience.
Who or what inspires you? I get a lot of inspiration online. When it speaks to me, it speaks to me. Living here inspires me a lot, too. I’m working on a personal collection for my job. It’s a Parisian-inspired collection, so I’m working with the Guimard-style metros the way that they have the green curvy architecture.
What’s your ultimate goal? What are you hoping to accomplish in, say, 10 or 20 years? Hopefully, I’ll have made my own rug-making business flourish while still working in rug design for a big corporate company at the same time. I really like the fact that there’s a possibility to have steady pay and also be able to have my own business on the side, because I’m working from home and have such flexible hours.
How do you feel CCS helped you prepare you for this career? CCS helped me learn how to network. I found this job on my own. I reached out to people and that’s not something I would have ever known how to do without the classes that I took.
What advice would you give your younger self? Take advantage of the facilities that you have. I didn’t realize how much I would miss having a screen printing studio and the Fashion Accessories Design studio with all the industrial sewing machines. It’s really phenomenal to have all of that. I mean, you’re paying for it. You might as well use it as much as you possibly can.
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Meet Some of the Muralists Transforming the City, One Brushstroke at a Time, and the Individuals Making Those Opportunities Happen.
Detroit is home to world-class muralists that are adorning the city with their work, honoring its history, raising awareness on social issues, and inspiring people. In 2022, USA TODAY ranked Detroit as the fourth best city to see street art in the country.
One of those artists transforming the city is Sydney G. James, ‘01 Illustration. The multidisciplinary creative, who was named CCS’s 2024 Distinguished Alumni, co-founded the biannual street mural festival BLKOUT Walls in 2021, to increase representation of Black artists in mural festivals. Nearly 50 local and international artists are in the BLKOUT Walls family, and James looks forward to maintaining the event in Detroit and expanding it to other cities.
“Public art, no matter how you try to spin it, is a two-way conversation between the community and the artist and vice versa,” James said. What makes this even more special is that several CCS graduates have participated in BLKOUT Walls, including Habacuc S. Bessiake, ‘21 Illustration, Cailyn Dawson, ‘21 Studio Art & Craft and Kobie Solomon, ‘01 Illustration. “We offer artist fellowship with the actual community, and it continues past the festival.”
Another mural festival in the city is Murals in the Market, created in 2015 by Detroit-based fine art publisher and online marketplace 1XRUN. The festival has welcomed more than 100 artists from Detroit and around the world to paint murals throughout Eastern Market and Detroit. Smithsonian magazine named it one of the top five best mural festivals in the world in 2018.
“It means everything to me to have built a platform like 1XRUN and Murals in the Market that directly supports the careers of so many talented artists, both in Detroit and around the world,” said Dan Armand, ‘05 Illustration, co-founder of 1XRUN. Jesse Kassel, ‘10 Illustration, Anthony Lee, ‘16 Studio Art & Craft, Ashley Mcfadden, ‘10 Illustration, Ivan Montoya, ‘17 Illustration Art Education, Michael Polakowski, ‘17 Illustration, and Robert Sestok, ‘69 Studio Art & Craft, are some CCS alumni who have participated in the festival. In 2023, organizers rebranded the event as Murals in Islandview and moved it to Detroit’s Islandview neighborhood.
These muralists are enriching not only Detroit but the world with their work. Ndubisi Okoye, ‘15 Communication Design & Strategy, was one of 11 artists commissioned by Warner Bros. in 2022, to create illustrations of Tweety Bird in honor of the character’s 80th birthday. Okoye’s eight illustrations were painted as murals around the U.S., Australia and other countries.
“It’s a blessing to have mural work shown around the world,” Okoye said. He has also painted for Murals in the Market and completed other vibrant murals around Detroit and Michigan. “Detroit’s muralist community is like a big family. We support each other, battle it out on requests for qualifications, stand up when one of us is mistreated and we generally love to see each other win.”
