The made-to-measure magic of design duo Gučas Morgan

There is something gratifyingly green about Elena Gučas and Will Morgan, the duo behind design project Gučas Morgan. Hours are spent in discussion, solitary garments moulded to the body, fabrics chosen, cut and fitted over months. Their clothes are poetic collaborations.
The couple met whilst studying Bespoke Tailoring at The London College of Fashion and showed their debut A/W 2018 collection in the back of a van parked outside London Fashion Week Men’s this January. A handful of buyers from Japanese stores were the only people curious enough to step inside.
‘All of a sudden, having had months to produce a small collection with amazing access to things at college, we had to think about how to produce ten or 12 of the same garment that was made from old French table cloths,’ Morgan says. ‘It felt like we were under pressure to make something commercial but still creative and so there was a lot of compromise,’ says Gučas. ‘I don’t really see us doing shows. Now that we are doing more made to measure, we work in a more personalised way.’
Flyer for Gučas Morgan’s fabric fishmongers
It takes guts to focus on smaller productions in a time obsessed with bold statements. ‘I know from working on those shows that the high lasts for a few days but then it’s straight onto the next,’ Morgan, who spent time at Thom Browne, says. ‘We can now have that feeling every few days, every time we finish a new piece.’
This watchful approach manifests in everything they do. It’s there in the cramped workroom at the top of Morgan’s childhood home in West London. It’s there in Gučas’ nimble hands and drawings; the whimsical masks high on a bookshelf. From the fabric fishmongers they set up in Brixton Market during London Design Festival to working in the reception of creative research agency On Road, they endorse sustainability without shouting about it. At On Road they invited people to bring in broken clothing and taught them sewing techniques. ‘For the rest of the time the participants reconstructed and restored the garment they’d brought along,’ Morgan says. ‘By repairing, you add character and extend its lifetime.’
Right now they are working with weaver Hollie Ward who is making cloth from wool taken from black Welsh mountain sheep reared by Morgan’s grandparents. ‘We’ve just had the shearing season, so we can have it combed, spun and woven. It might be done by November, so we can make things for December but we’re not beholden to getting a collection out in a few months,’ he explains. ‘Everyone comes to the collaborative process. We source fabrics together, we talk. I make everything. That sustains us and the projects and installations work around it,’ Morgan says. There’s a joy in working on singular pieces that make each client happy. ‘We should probably have a nice one-liner that sums us up, but we haven’t worked that out yet.’
Gučas Morgan A/W 2018
Gučas Morgan A/W 2018
Gučas Morgan A/W 2018
Gučas Morgan A/W 2018
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
For more information, visit the Gučas Morgan website
London based writer Dal Chodha is editor-in-chief of Archivist Addendum — a publishing project that explores the gap between fashion editorial and academe. He writes for various international titles and journals on fashion, art and culture and is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. Chodha has been working in academic institutions for more than a decade and is Stage 1 Leader of the BA Fashion Communication and Promotion course at Central Saint Martins. In 2020 he published his first book SHOW NOTES, an original hybrid of journalism, poetry and provocation.
-
Nina Runsdorf brings classic jewellery back to life to mark 20 years
New York-based jewellery designer Nina Runsdorf celebrates her eponymous brand’s anniversary with a new jewellery collection, ‘Archive’
By Hannah Silver
-
Enter the world of Cave Bureau, and its architectural and geological explorations
Nairobi practice Cave Bureau explores architecture’s role in the geological afterlives of colonialism, as part of a team exhibiting at the British pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
By Marwa El Mubark
-
All-In is the Paris-based label making full-force fashion for main character dressing
Part of our monthly Uprising series, Wallpaper* meets Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø of All-In, the LVMH Prize-nominated label which bases its collections on a riotous cast of characters – real and imagined
By Orla Brennan
-
‘R for Repair’ at London Design Festival displays broken objects, re-formed
In the second half of a two-part exhibition and as part of London Design Festival 2022, ‘R for Repair’ at the V&A displays broken objects, re-formed
By Martha Elliott
-
‘Finding quality through the act of making’: Pearson Lloyd celebrates 25 years of design
Pearson Lloyd’s show ‘Change Making’ reflects on past designs from its archives, showcasing the influences on and evolution of the studio, from furniture design to the NHS
By Martha Elliott
-
Tom Dixon marks his studio's 20 years with a show of design experiments
Mushroom, cork, steel coral and more: Tom Dixon showcases an overview of his design experiments as he celebrates his practice's 20 years
By Rosa Bertoli
-
Porro unveils new London showroom at Coal Office
London Design Festival 2022: industrial architecture meets pure geometries in the new Porro showroom, taking over a space within Tom Dixon’s Coal Office to showcase the brand’s systems and furniture
By Rosa Bertoli
-
Vitra unveils new London home in the Tramshed, Shoreditch
London Design Festival 2022: after a year-long renovation, Vitra opens the door to its new showroom in the heart of Shoreditch
By Rosa Bertoli
-
Mudlarking beside the River Thames inspires The New Craftsmen’s makers
London Design Festival 2022: The New Craftsmen’s new collection, ‘Claylarks’, features work from a group of creatives inspired by a River Thames mudlarking expedition
By Mary Cleary
-
Inside Bali’s new Circular Design Workspace
At Museum of Space Available in southern Bali, creative director Daniel Mitchell reimagines the possibilities of plastic waste
By Chris Schalkx
-
One tree, ten designers: SCP presents The One Tree Project at London Design Festival
London Design Festival 2022: SCP enlisted ten British designers to create furniture and objects from a felled ash tree from founder Sheridan Coakley's Hampshire garden
By Francesca Perry