“I’m not trying to save the whole planet with my work,” designer Danni Harris says, “It’s just about planting a seed in someone’s mind.” Harris’s animal-inspired collection does just that: It entices us to contemplate human and animal evolution in a new way. Seeing her duck-human hybrid creation, for example, immediately prompts a comparison between the two species. The designer’s idea behind this was to highlight how human behavior has diverged from that of animals, not necessarily to either’s benefit. Harris argues that “being slightly more primal eradicates a lot of the world’s issues,” in part because humans at their more instinctual phase were less concerned with dominating and exploiting animal resources. Beyond the evolutionary focus of Harris’s recent work, she also emphasizes the importance of collaboration and what she’s learned from the vastly different world of modeling.

Your graduate womenswear collection for CSM focuses on human and animal evolution, how has this project contributed to your evolution as a designer?
This was the longest project I had ever worked on. With it being so long it really gave me time to develop a strong narrative both visually and theoretically, something which I’d never had time to do before. I learnt a lot during the process, not just about how I design but also how I can communicate my ideas, how important it is to be organised, to stay calm, to collaborate, delegate. All these things you are having to figure out and try to balance by yourself so with that I really learnt a lot.

How important is collaboration to you as a designer?
Collaboration is a really special thing to do with someone. Of course it depends on the person and how well you connect with them. Still, I think it’s important to understand each other’s vision and to listen to each other, whether you see things similarly or differently. Acknowledging the skills that someone else might have is really a tool for enhancing your own work and as well as theirs. It’s very refreshing.

Obviously as a designer you are building a whole creative vision, a new environment with sounds, different ways of moving- it’s a whole world that you create in your head. The purpose of design, for me anyway, is not just to draw and create garments, it’s much more about the mood you create, through all of these elements. With that in mind I guess what I’m trying to say is collaboration helps you to pay attention to these other elements, all which contribute to the bigger image.

You also learn a lot from working beside someone else and on top of that you have the support of another opinion that you trust, which is really special to have in times when you can no longer see things in perspective. I was very lucky to have been able to work with Juanita for the mouthpieces of my collection and couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. Everyone should collaborate! You won’t regret it I promise.

You are also a model. How does that inform your process from creation to presentation?
Being a model doesn’t inform my creative process at all. It’s very separate to the work that I create. However, since I started being in front of the camera, it’s definitely made me more aware of my own body and movement. It also gave me a lot of confidence to use my body in my own work, I do this mainly through video in my initial research. It’s much more interesting to understand shapes and silhouettes on a body rather than on a mannequin. In saying all of that I’m not at all disregarding modelling at all, I’ve met the most amazing and talented people whilst working as a model. People which I know I would never have met otherwise. I just see the two things as quite separate.

If people could walk away from your designs pondering one question or theme, what would you want it to be?
The whole focus of the project was to look at how far humans have evolved from the animal kingdom. I was interested in highlighting how different our behaviour is now compared to the instinctual and primordial qualities that we used to hold. I’m living in a city so this divide feels of course much more extreme, I know there are still pockets of the world where humans live in a more primal way. I guess the frustration comes from directly observing people around me. What I noticed is that the essence of what made us animals is no longer present. I built these animalistic characters for my collection as an effort to provoke thought about this issue. To bring humans back to the roots that I feel we have lost. I guess because being slightly more primal eradicates a lot of the world’s issues. I’m not trying to save the whole planet with my work but it’s just about planting a seed in someone’s mind.

Your pieces focus on animals—was the climate crisis also on your mind during the creation of this project?
Of course climate change is a topic of huge importance and a lot of what I research relates back to broader issues like this one, however for me it's more about this relationship where humans have superior authority over animals, despite what I believe as them both coming from the same place. It’s more about the structure of this hierarchy that interests me and the power of position we have given ourselves over other creatures; which leads onto how we exploit that power. So in a way yes, it’s of relevance but not something I was directly focussed on.

What’s next for you?
Lots more animals!