Mel Smith Designs: wallpaper

Showing posts with label wallpaper. Show all posts

Top Drawer Spring 2014...the review!

what can i say? Top Drawer and Home London were AMAZING! they did not fail to impress - so many talented people on display launching their new ranges, some previous exhibitors and some newbies...like myself! it was my first trade show and i LOVED it! can't wait to do the next one!

lots of interest across the three days, every day was a bit different - Sunday was the smaller boutique-y shops looking for exciting new stock, Monday i had chats about commission work and some press came and took some pics, and Tuesday was a bit of a mix too - a few shops, as well as other trade shows and pop up shops offering chances to showcase my products.

one of the nicest things to hear was when someone said they had spotted my products in the pre-show mag or on the website and they had tracked me down. it took a few goes to get used to talking to people but then you realise they just want a bit of a chat and it's easy peasey, haha.

i got to meet lots of people from the ABSPD course - Suzy Washington, Wendy Flynn (finally!), Trina Esquivelzeta, Jess Wilde, Kathryn Pledger, Kathy Schicker, Poppy Westwell, Jess Williams, Esther Cox...i hope i haven't forgotten anyone...sorry if i have!

take down was fun. i say that sarcastically. all hell broke loose. 5 o'clock and everyone has 5 hours to take everything down and get the hell out of the building! our slot for packing up wasn't until 7 and we couldn't be bothered to wait so we decided (foolish or not) to walk everything to the car parked 10 minutes away. 3 trips between 3 of us (thank you to Alice who only came to visit but ended up helping with take down!). i think i speak for all of us when i say Wednesday morning lie in could not come soon enough!

but that wasn't all the work done, oh no. straight on to following up all the contacts made at the show and now we wait replies. some goods news to share very soon but i'll keep you waiting for that ;)

i did manage to have a quick look round Top Drawer and Home and met fellow ABSPD-ers Zoe Atwell and Hannah Nunn, but unfortunately missed Cara Holland (Patternbooth) and Anna Dent. here are a few of my favourite stands and the lovely designers themselves. feast your eyes on this little lot...

Sian Elin - pretty eye catching wouldn't you say? nothing needs to be said...

I Drew This - cutey character cards were my favourites

Blooming Briony - i went to school with her! small world :)

Jessica Hogarth Designs - new summery card ranges

Stitch and Story - was opposite this stand so could stare at the loveliness all day long...

Rocket 68 - retro style caught my eye walking passed. unfortunately Jill was a little camera shy :p

i would also just like to say a few thank you's -
Liz Smith (Elle Jane Designs) for helping me throughout this project;
Jess Hogarth for giving me so much advice it's ridiculous;
Jen Whitham for her advice too and also for introducing me to Jess in the first place when i was doing my first Spitalfields market;
Deb Velasquez for all her printing tips;
Sam Nesbitt for the photo shoot;
Quincy Lampshades for making the designs into the fabulous shades they now are;
all the ABSPDers for their support and encouragement;
and of course, friends and family.
i'm sure there are others but my brain still isn't back up to full speed so i apologise.

gosh, that turned into a bit of an awards ceremony speech didn't it?! sorry about that!! i just wanted to say thanks dudes, it means a lot :)

2012 round up . . . and 2013 preparations!

so...it seems cheesily appropriate to write a little round up of all the goings-on during 2012 and what i have planned for 2013...get comfy, this could be long one...!

JANUARY

...i registered for Rachel Taylor and Beth Nicholls e-course - 'the art and business of surface pattern design'. i won't pretend i was a little bit hesitant being that it was the first round of the course - there were no reviews and no-one to get recommendation from but i thought 'what the heck, lets's do it'. and i'm am SO unbelievably glad i did. best money every spent (apart from my macbook of course)!

FEBRUARY

...i hadn't been doing much work for my agent recently due to the course (luckily she is lovely and very understanding that i have other commitments), so when she emailed me about a sale it made my day! unfortunately though i can't share said design with you :(

MARCH

...march was taken up mostly with exercises, competitions and live projects from the e-course...it was all go-go-go!

...i launched my facebook and twitter pages - and haven't looked back since!

APRIL

...i was very excited to reach the semi-finals in the fabric8 competition with my 'summer bursts' watercolour print. watercolour isn't my strongest point so i was very pleased to have gotten this far for something so far away from my comfort zone!

MAY

...i graduated from the ABSPD e-course. it was all over...but lots of other exciting things were just about to start happening...yay! i can't say thank you enough to Rachael and Beth for putting together the course and the wealth of knowledge they shared. and also to my classmates - so much support between a fantastic group of people all eager to break into the design world!

...i was one of the final 5 to have their designs selected for the Wallpapered.com Jubilee brief. my design was set up for sale on their website!

...i opened my society6 shop where my designs were applied to art prints, canvases, iPhone cases, laprop skins, and most recently cushions.

JUNE

...i reopened my etsy store full of lots of lovely hand-made goodies! notebooks, button accessories, gift cards, notelets...

...i met up with some of the lovely ladies from the ABSPD course at the new designers show in islington. it was great to finally see them for real!!

liz (ellejane designs), sue (the print tree), helen (helen voice designs), suzy (suzy spellbound), me (mel smith designs), veena (veenartstyle), justine (justine + the joybringer), lauren (lauren britchford illustration)

...i took part in my first blog hop! it was titled passion4pattern and was organised by fellow classmate claire smilie.

JULY

...i was one of the final 6 to have their designs selected for the Wallpapered.com Olympics brief. my designs are now for sale on their website

...3 of my designs were accepted into the upcoming pattern base design book. it's due to be released early 2013 so can't wait to get my hands on a copy and see

...another sale from my agent from one of my older ranges. happy dance!

AUGUST

...i was very pleased to log on to the surface pattern designers bible - print & pattern blog by bowie style - and find my work had been featured! always a happy sight :)

...i completed two ranges for my agent and worked on extending my own 'black border' range

...the month of the london 2012 olympics! an amazing time to be in london and experience the atmosphere that the games brought with them

SEPTEMBER

...3 sales via my agent. woop woop! these were all from my latest range so that always give me a boost. more happy dancing!

...i visited Top Drawer and met Rachael Taylor, Kelly Crosseley and Louise Tiler. great day, great ladies and full of inspiration.

...i was advised by Rachael and her friend to do some stalls...and as i checked my emails whilst waiting for the train i had been asked if i would like to do a stall at spitalfields...spooooooky! so i took this as a sign and put my name name...let the prep begin!

...i also visited the tent show and got to meet liz smith from the e-course again and also saw sian elin at her stand. a great afternoon well spent discussing all things pattern!

...took part in my second passion4pattern blog hop organised again by classmate claire smilie. it included over 45 designers from our course - pattern overload for the brain (in a good way of course)!

...busy month this one - all of this plus a lovely little (well deserved holiday to portugal with the wonderful eleigh (- hey hun!)

OCTOBER

...most of october was spent drawing, photoshopping, printing and making...all to get ready for spitalfields. there's a lot to think about when doing a stall, especially when its your first one and you need to think about not only how much stock to take but also about all the table covers, props, pegs signs etc you need.

NOVEMBER

...i had my first guest post with decorque over on their blog and they also featured on mine and this will become a regular monthly feature:

...november was certainly a good month for blog features - i was splashed about on 5 blogs including decorque above, sarah fleming, rosie simons, jlw illustration and creative sketchbook.

...i hit 100 likes on my facebook page - i was hoping to reach this goal by christmas so i was a month early. a good day.

DECEMBER

...an early december market at camden with pedro of alfamarama was great fun if a little disappointing sales wise...the crowd was far too touristy to be looking for crafty-handmade-british goods.

...a 'last stop christmas shop' stall at old spitalfields market was a lovely end to a great year. i shared the stall with michele conroy and, as before, i met lots of lovely new people, and saw some familiar faces...a fab (and successful sales) day!

and now onto what 2013 holds...

- i have a project in the pipeline designing logos, motifs and packaging for a new business

- i have a monthly guest blog post set up with decorque

- i want to enter more competitions - i see what others are doing and need to make more time for them...you never know where they might lead!

- finally set up my spoonflower shop...it's been on my to-do list for a while now but other projects are keeping me busy and i haven;t gotten round to it yet!

- i plan on creating a brand-spanking-new website, a total refresh!

- but my main i will be having some products manufactured featuring my 'black border', 'bold & beautiful' and 'paisleyscope' ranges. this is all in aid of Top Drawer - i hope to do the show in September (this is all providing the manufacturing goes to plan!)

i am only going to plan up to september...we shall see what happens after the show...!

happy new year everyone...i hope 2013 is even better than 2012! thank you for all your support this past year - it's been amazing and very much appreciated!! :-)

christmas a-z . . . S!

S is for...SIAN ELIN
i just love sians work - the patterns, the colours, the style...it's just fab! she has just opened her shop selling cushions, tea towels and greetings cards

S is for...SAM OSBOURNE

sam has a shop FULL of 'stuff'! i love these weekly planners and the christmas cards featuring quotes are so jolly :) she also sells homewares, tote bags, prints and giftwrap

Tent 2012 visit!

another trade show as part of the London Design Festival and this time it was the rather trendy Tent at the Old Truman Brewery. i hadn't visited Tent before so wasn't sure what to expect but it was full of super modern

we saw a burst of colour amongst some furniture stands and finally reached Sian Elin's stand - such a delight! i love her hand drawn motifs, and her use of colour is just delicious:

Sian Elin at Tent and her Tent advert

we also popped along to the stand of Surfacephilia, aka Helen Stevens. stunning drawings, a whole selection of products bursting with feathers and birds from her Navajo collection:

Surfacephilia

my new favourite find was Zoe Murphy. she restores funky retro furniture products with her unique take of her home town, Margate. great prints and colours. that's all i ask for!:

and i got to see my other favourite design team (that i saw at Top Drawer on Monday) - Mini Moderns. in a nutshell - i just love everything they do...simple as that!

Tent had a very different vibe to Top Drawer, almost like gallery exhibition in the way it was spaced and laid out. there was a strong retro feel to a lot of the work there, both in style and in colour. which i LOVED.

would i like to exhibit there? yes, one day, but i think i'll stick to Top Drawer as my first show...i'm not 'cool' enough for Tent just yet ;)

from the Design Library today...'WALLPAPER'

for all those wallpaper lovers out there - today we get to look at the rather appropriately named 'Wallpaper - Dreams of Colour for the Home'.

the book is organsied by themes - retro, moderns, classic - and feature a great selection of designers and studios, all with very different and innovative styles

some designs from the classic chapter:

'50162' design by Eijffinger

'pedro' designs by Sandberg

...and lots of designs from the modern chapter, all hugely innovative and very different from one-another. it shows just what is possible with wallpaper these days: