my own smart creative style. BOOM.

last weeks post was short and sweet so i'm afraid to say i'll be back to waffling this week!! :p  this week is about the latest e-course i took part in - Smart Creative Style by Monica Lee. it's a touch late i'll admit (i completed the course in at the end of last year!). it was a great little group and the steady growth of the classes really made you assess and dig deep into what you and your growing business is about. 

throughout the course there were tasks to complete and videos to watch. lots of notes taken covering a lot of different areas, but as the title suggests the main aim was to find YOUR OWN CREATIVE STYLE. everyone was having their 'wow' moments, their realisation of what they should be doing, where they should be heading, and it was great to follow their journey. but i hadn't mine. well, why the hell not?! this was not fair! i wasn't having a sudden 'BOOM, this is it!!'... not even just a little bit. {sad face}.

so what had i discovered along this journey then? well, through my pinterest boards (above) i found that despite me thinking i wanted beautiful wallpaper dressing my walls i actually liked my interiors to be white with splashes and layers of colour. and this was just how i would lay out my lovely boutique shop. my fashion style was similar - more block colours with just a little pattern. the illustration and artist inspiration that i was drawn to was always fairly graphic-y. that is it was simplified shapes and characters in (yup, you guessed it) block colours with subtle texture, but always with a hand drawn feel... 

so ok, looking back it was all there and i could see a vague kinda link, but then about a month ago i think it all came together. i had just bought two books - Olle Eskell (above) and Charley Harper - and was flicking through. at around the same time i did a blog post on how i wanted to get into illustration a bit more an featured some other designers (Peter Donnelly (bottom) and Angie Lewin) and things started becoming clearer. i must have just become blind to it before, a common thing for designers to go through when they've been working constantly on a project. fresh eyes are a joy!

i did a blog special on Mad Men graphics (by Malota, left) following a Mad Men themed hen do, and finally i had a tidy up of my pinterest boards and took out any designs i didn't really, really like. and then...

BOOM!

it all came together, all my inspiration and styles i am drawn to and what i know i WANT my own stuff to look like but isn't quite there yet (close, but not quite). i had discovered Lucienne Day back at uni and have always loved her style, and that has led me to these other mid-century artists, more from the 40's right through to the early 60's its seems. i even had a comment that a lot of the fashion i selected was quite 40's. again, not something i'd actually picked up on.

so all this time i thought i was all about pattern, pattern and pattern. turns out i'm not - it's the colour, pattern is secondary. and i always love it when someone compliments me on my colour, much more than when they compliment me on the pattern. huh, who'd've thunk it.

this course really made you dig deep and it covered everything about you as a brand - style, branding, logo, website, social media persona... the variety and just outright amazing-ness of the videos covered absolutely everything in an easy to follow - and fun to follow (who'd've thought that for marketing advice?!) - way. and what has made it different to the other e-courses i have taken part in is the variety of creative areas involved - it wasn't just surface pattern based - and although chatting to other surface pattern designers is invaluable you can get some really different perspectives when talking to crafters, artists, illustrators...

i've just completed a small xmas card range and homed in on this style more, added texture and doodled more to get my character style right, or at least started. still a lot to do and work on to really get what i want but  it's getting there and i'm really excited to be starting my new collection for release 2015!

we make london and co.

monday was the start of my 6 weeks residence in We Make London based in Camden Lock. i went in to set up the products they will be promoting (and hopefully selling!) for me and also help man the shop alongside Mary. whilst there i also had a good nose at some of the other designers work and here are my fave pics of other surface pattern and prints:

funky purses and bags - miesje chafer

awesome plates - para sites cermaics

2 of my favourite prints - alfamarama

great gift sets - victoria eggs

just made me laugh - benjamin rothery

fun! - lightboat jewellery

love the breaking bad RV! - kate rowland

me...well i had to share one pic didn't i?!

work in progress from illustrator linda skoglund. she has been commissioned to complete 7 maps around Camden and was just starting today...next time i go back they should be complete so i can post the final pieces!

i love those mad men, i do

this weekend i was away in edinburgh celebrating with my friend on her hen do. a lovely weekend had been arranged - a gorgeous apartment, silly games, lots of food and drinks - and on the night out the dress theme was Mad Men. everyone made such an effort with their outfits! 

so the plan was to do a post based on the Mad Men fashion and lovely accessories...but then i found a Mad Men poster. things changed. i LOVE these graphics! makes me wish i was a graphic designer. love the simplicity and colours and texture. something i think i'll incorporate into my own designs. in fact the more i do these posts the more i am realising i definitely have a style i am honing in on - look at my post 2 weeks ago - the doodle monkey says it all! there's a clear graphicy-simplistic-block-colour-with-texture-thing going on. that's the best way i can describe it. you know what i mean. don't you? ...!

anyhoo, onto these wonderful artists...

1 - made by radio

2 - minimal movie posters

3 - olly moss

4 - malota

pulse london 2013 review!

had a fantastic day at Pulse London today with Elle Jane Designs - we also bumped into Esther Cox and got to have a catch up with Jess Hogarth on her fab stand. lots to share so i'm just going to jump in with lots of pics...

JESS HOGARTH - always good to see jess and her cheery smile! fabulous stand with lots of new products to show off, but 'coastal cottages' is still my favourite

HOME SLICE DESIGN - met the lovely steph and eleanor of home slice - absolutely loved their stand!

THE BLACK RABBIT - how cute is this little owl tea cosy?! they also do mice, hedgehogs, bears and (of course) rabbits

FREYA ART AND DESIGNS - beautiful typography and cute prints handmade in the UK

BIBU - fun children's cushions, plus a new range of square cushions with bold geometric prints

EMILY BUCKNELL - lovely lampshades and a lovely stand...and all screen printed - just makes me love it more!

JO CLARK DESIGN - we had a lovely chat with Jo who Liz met at spitalfields a few weeks - lots of lovely illustrations (my particular favourite was the sausage dog!)

RUDE LTD - fantastic graphics that started as t-shirts and now adorn trays, cushions, coasters, badges, notebooks...everything really!

FREYA CUMMING - lots of lovely hot air balloons silk screen printed with gold leaf to create some amazing prints

TWIGGD - a lovely stand from tara who creates colourful wooden jewellery and accessories

HELEN MINNS - gorgeous textured prints featuring wildlife themes for cards, mugs, cushions and lampshades

REPEAT REPEAT - these 'folkland' mugs range were very eye-catching from gillian and mark, created in their Stoke studio using traditional methods

WETPAINT - helen works on decorative lettering but these beautiful limited edition prints are my favourites

SUSAN TAYLOR - i'm loving these city prints from susan! available on mugs, tea towels and as wall art

spitalfields finds!

i've been a bit slack recently on the posts, i do apologise. if you've been following my 'the big plan' posts you'll know why!  but i've been meaning to share with you all the visual delights i came across when i visited spitalfields a couple of weeks back - so here we go:

elle jane designs
liz was there (hi liz!) with a stall full of prettiness. 'sophia' is my favourite so i treated myself to a lovely notebook. not that i want to use it as i'll just ruin it, so it can sit on my shelf with all my other lovely unused notebooks...

mabel & bird
it was lovely to meet emma of Mabel & Bird - she had lots of advice to share and we got to discuss the high and lows of being designer/makers. it may be a life full of creative challenges but that's what makes it so rewarding when you overcome them! and it turns out we have the same retro floral duvet cover!!

paper heart
design studio Paperheart is run by nicole and sells fantastic screen printed products (prints, cards, totes and bunting). all paper used is 100% recycled making it even more appealing. and she also likes bikes!

lovely jojo's
don't you love it when you see some artwork online, and then you see something in the 'real world', you put two and two together and realise you 'know' this designer! this london map has recently been released - 'tis amazing!

love bessie (website coming soon)
love these bright and quirky illustrations of fabulous ladies on tea towels, coasters, cards, magnets, buttons ... you name it! fantastic hand writing too!

louise wright design
super cute illustrations and more 100% recycled goods here at Louise Wright Design. Louise recently pitched to John Lewis - nerve wracking stuff i'm sure you'll agree! she's waiting to hear back so fingers crossed that all her hard work pays off and we soon see her work stocked across al JL's!

christmas a-z . . . Z!

Z is for...ZIB TEXTILE
supercool leggings are on offer in this store - cute characters pretty florals or funky geos will give you amazing legs!

Z is for...ZINNIA DESIGNS TC
simple but fun designs fill this shop including lots of christmassy decorations and accessories...but i think the dog is my favourite :)

Z is for...ZOE MURPHY

and ending on my favourite find of the year. i first saw Zoe's work at tent. now i know furniture is not really a stocking-filler-type-gift but i had to share...but there are a few smaller gifts in her shop

and that's it...all done...phew! hope you enjoyed some of my finds and it inspired you to buy more handmade goods...have a merry christmas everyone!! x