AI in the Creative Industries: Fear, Freedom & the 30% Rule

As we rapidly evolve into a world shaped by technology and more specifically, the development of AI (Artificial Intelligence), it is only natural to wonder what this means for creative industries such as ours. Will it affect the way we work? Our output? Even our livelihoods?

For many, AI can trigger a very immediate response: we either feel worried and turn away from it altogether, or we rush towards it, adopting tools without fully understanding how to use them responsibly or creatively. For a business like Christopher Farr Cloth, where our soul is rooted in traditional craft, artistic skill, and the tactile beauty of textiles, there is an understandable hesitation. The fear is not simply “new technology”, but the deeper question: Can we embrace AI without losing what makes our work meaningful?

Our collections are born from human collaboration: artists, designers, makers, and the slow rhythm of studio practice. We believe in ideas that come from lived experience, cultural reference, careful experimentation, and the imperfect brilliance of the handmade.

So, when AI entered the conversation in a bigger way, we found ourselves asking: How do we explore it without eroding our core values?

The answer may lie in something surprisingly practical. What if AI could help us remove the day-to-day admin tasks that increasingly take up space in creative roles, the emails, scheduling, formatting, repetitive documentation, the work that we never expected to dominate our working lives in these creative roles we chose to pursue?

And what if that space could be reclaimed, not for faster production, but for something far more precious: time - a possibility that feels exciting and far less frightening.

At Christopher Farr Cloth, we’ve been actively exploring both the benefits and the drawbacks of AI in the workplace. As part of this discovery, our team attended “Creative Activation in the Age of AI”, a workshop hosted by Future Snoops at RSA House in London.

Future Snoops’ future-focused approach opened the discussion beyond tools and trends and into a more nuanced, important space: the tension between creativity and automation. One of the most compelling points in the session was the idea of dissonance. The discomfort that sits between what creativity is and what AI can do.

Creativity is emotional. Human. Contextual. It relies on intuition, contradiction, curiosity, taste.

AI is patterned. Efficient. Fast. It is trained on what has already existed, rather than what might be possible next.

And yet, AI can also support the creative process, not as a replacement for imagination, but as a scaffolding around it. A tool for acceleration, iteration, and organisation. For us, the line is clear: we don’t want to lose the personal touch. We still believe the human hand, the trained eye, the instinct, the sensibility is what makes creative work feel interesting, personable, and real. This matters deeply to us, and it sits at the heart of our business model.

At the same time, moving forward can be a creative act too. As we invest in better systems; from a new website to more streamlined ways of working, we’ve found that technology can return time to the studio. It gives us more space to share our stories with greater clarity online, to present stronger imagery, and to support our clients with tools that make specifying, ordering, and checking prices more efficient. When embraced thoughtfully, technology can be powerful and positive not as a replacement for creativity, but as a way of making more room for it.

The real question isn’t whether AI and creativity can coexist. It’s how we choose to shape the relationship.

One of the most significant discussions during the workshop was the environmental footprint of AI, a subject that can’t be ignored and as a business who focuses on sustainability through its processes this was something that concerned us.

As Future Snoops insightfully put it: “Its carbon footprint is real, yet so is its ability to supercharge sustainability, accelerate climate research, and unlock smarter, cleaner systems.”

This felt like an important truth to hold: AI is not neutral. It comes with cost. But it also has potential to support better systems, if used intentionally. This is where responsibility enters the conversation. It’s not only about what AI can do, but how we choose to use it.

This exploration has confirmed something we already know to be true: Our most valuable work is human work. Working closely with designers and artists to create thoughtful collections with creative freedom and full artistic expression will always be at the heart of Christopher Farr Cloth and will never change.

Artificial Intelligence is not new, but its acceleration in recent years is undeniable. What once felt experimental now appears in everyday workflows, embedded in tools we already use.

As adoption grows, so too does the responsibility to decide: What do we welcome in and what do we keep sacred?

For us, AI is not a creative director. It is not a substitute for vision, taste, or craft. But it may be a helpful partner in reducing friction, allowing us to work with more clarity, more intention, and more room for what we do best: to create beauty, through design, artistry, and the enduring power of the handmade. Most recently, we saw this balance in motion during a visit to our weavers in Belgium. Even within an industry built on heritage and the hand-guided rhythm of production, AI is quietly beginning to support the craft, not by replacing it, but by refining the process around it. Machinery is now able to detect marks and imperfections with greater accuracy, while logistics systems are evolving too: forklifts that travel independently, navigate narrow corridors, rotate stock intelligently, and help warehouses use space more sustainably. Human interaction remains essential, but the efficiency gained is undeniable and extremely insightful to witness.

Yet in contrast, we also visited older mills where jacquard velvet is still woven on traditional machines that have been running for generations. The process is slower, the method more intricate, and inevitably the fabric becomes more expensive, but it offers something increasingly rare: the value of time. Time to develop and to create. Time to appreciate the details, to honour the skill, and to recognise the beauty of a craft that cannot be hurried.