Alaura of Desnoir is the designer of my distinctive Feral Strumpet logo. She is a brand stylist and aesthetic witch of the highest order. Her dark, lush visions are totally distinct in the design world. A great listener and intuitive designer, she has remained an ally and inspiration even after she nailed my logo on the first version, years ago. I had the pleasure of talking with her about her current projects, her favourite adornments and inspirations.
Ally: Can you tell us a bit about your current projects?
Alaura: At the moment in terms of design, I’m currently amid two brand stylings for two businesses in the spiritual and self-care industry. These are some of my favourite types of businesses to work with because it’s very aligned with my own personal interests. They also always give me the space to let my creativity take over fully and allow me to explore with heavy themery, which is what I love to do and is at the forefront of my branding work. These brand stylings have very deep-rooted inspirations and meanings which I enjoy weaving into the branding.
Hopefully, I should be starting soon on a project with a chandlery who’d like me to design labels for a range of candles that are paranormal themed. We have been chatting about the designs and what we envision them to look like and I’m really excited to get started on these.
I’m also pretty busy behind the scenes of Desnoir working on a new website and a new set of designs for my premade design store. I will be introducing a whole new range of semi-custom logos and business cards, plus I will be introducing semi-custom brands which offer people a little extra at that lower cost. I’m also very excited to say that I am in the process of expanding and integrating my sister into Desnoir. She’s just graduated university and will be offerings brand strategy and social media specialist services. We’re still in the process of figuring that all out but it’s such an exciting time!
Ally: Do you have a favourite adornment? Does it have a story?
Alaura: So this seemed like a really hard question for me at first because I’m actually not at all into jewellery, I don’t like the sensation of it so don’t really wear it or own any other than some tunnels/plugs in my ears and my piercings. But I’ve always said when people have asked about jewellery that I prefer to adorn myself in tattoos, so that counts right? I have a lot of tattoos but I think my favourite two and the two immediately on my hands that I see almost constantly. The placement was purposeful so they would be reminders all the time. I have the alchemical symbol for copper on my right hand and the word ‘sin’ on my left hand.
Sin as a reminder to always embrace whatever it is that I enjoy, live a full, sensual and self-indulgent life to nobody’s rules but my own. Obviously placed on the left for homage to the left-hand path, the focus on the self, centrality, spiritual freedom and rejection of societal convention. A reminder to never let someone or something put me in a box or tell me who to be or how to live.
And the alchemical symbol for copper has resonated with me for a long time due to the characteristics it embodies such as love, balance, feminine beauty and artistic creativity which are basically all elements that are of the highest importance in my life as a woman, creative and lover. I’m also a Libran, through and through, copper is associated with the planet Venus which is the ruling planet of Libra and encompasses love, beauty, passion, harmony, creativity, femininity, aesthetics and imagination. These are all things I value the most in life and this tattoo not only symbolises all of that it reminds me of all that I am, what matters to me, what is important and to never lose that.
Ally: Is there another artist, writer or maker that you think we should be paying attention to now?
Oooo ok, I will try to touch on a few different areas here. Firstly, music-wise, I’m totally obsessed with Heilung at the moment. An experimental folk band who bases their music on texts and runic inscriptions from Germanic peoples of early medieval northern Europe. It’s so good and ancient and really gets my blood, body and spirit flowing. (https://www.instagram.com/amplifiedhistory)
I’m also almost always listening to Cryo Chamber in the studio or at home, in the bath.. going to sleep. I listen to this a lot. They are a dark ambient record label who’s work is described as ‘dark soundtracks for creatives’. Portraying distant worlds, dusty cathedrals, damp forests, they field record in ghost towns, abandoned subway tunnels and on dwindling mountain paths. (https://www.cryochamberlabel.com/)
Shifting tone a little, I’m late to the bandwagon but I’m recently discovered Ghostemane who has been my go-to when I want something a little more, heavy. He offers a fusion of rap and metal. (https://www.ghostemane.com/)
In terms of artists, Kerbcrawlerghost is still leading as my #1 who is an insanely detailed ink illustrator. Dark, erotic and pretty satanic. Lots of nuns, demons and other monsters. But the detail in his work is really amazing.
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