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!

look at me...i have STOCKISTS. oh yeah.

i'm quite impressed with myself that i've managed to keep to a blog post every Saturday since the start of the year, however, today's was a struggle. mostly because i've been busy working on projects so no time to think of anything to report. so it'll be short and sweet (which i'm sure many of you will be pleased about as, let's be honest, i do tend to waffle a lot of the time).

i guess the exciting thing is that  now have STOCKISTS. yes. me. i have STOCKISTS. that's pretty cool if i do say so myself.

i have three new stockists (i'm becoming quite fond of that word!) off the back of Top Drawer, as well currently stocking in We Make London's pop-up shop in Camden and being part of Blog & Buys Spring Wish List. Lovely & British stock my lampshades whilst Purple Holly and Votiva Home will very soon be stocking my super-super double-sided cushions...can't wait!

and i'm also rather excited (probably a bit too much in fact) that i can now have a 'stockists' page on my website. yay!

March - round up!

where the hell did March go?! and i was about to huff as it feels like a month has flashed by and i haven't done anything... but then i wrote a list and realised that, actually, yes i had. silly me.

i'll start by mentioning that i attended a truly beautiful wedding of my friends. it was in Glasgow (first time there) and in a wonderfully quirky hotel. there was kale dancing and many laughs as well as few tears and it was a absolutely fantastic day...congrats to Claire and Chris!

i've participated in another Creative Hub workshop at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, this time concentrating on my 'design calendar'. i won't lie - it scared me slightly. but all for the greater good! it's basically a different way of looking across all the seasons and projects you're working on and scheduling them across the year. i'd been doing this is a different way but this really brought it home how much i have planned!!

i started at We Make London in Camden and have so far had a lot of success with my tea towels. another 4 weeks to go and let's hope the success continues :) i featured a few of the designers in last weeks post and i'm sure i will be featuring many more before my 6 weeks is up.  if you want to visit its down at Camden Lock right by all the delicious food, yum. in fact, i'm actually at the shop today - why not drop in and say hi?!

i had a rather satisfying session of sorting through old stock and giving a few bits a little make-over. a bit of repackaging and et voile - some lovely new items for the shop!  we have some jewellery, some greetings card with a twist, and some limited edition button packs. they're now up for sale in my etsy store if you fancy a little peek.

also on the shopping front i was accepted into the Blog & Buy Sale wish list for spring - yippee! 2 of my tea towel sets were selected ('tea & cake' and 'flowers') and they start their 6 week feature tomorrow...you can see the full wish list here.

design wise i've been flitting back and forth a bit - i've been working on my small christmas card range which is allllmost there. ok well, it's two thirds done. i've also finished up my friends wedding invites, and have been working on some new print direction from my (still!) top secret project. 

other than that i've been working on the sellable sketch part 1 from Pattern Observer founder Michelle Fifis, and finally (FINALLY) getting round to learning a bit of Illustrator!! and that is thanks to Poppy Westwell - she took the time out to run through things (a few times!) and get me on track for a successful AI future. i've been told once i start i won't look back and it will be bye-bye photoshop... we'll see...

a late addition to the month but me and my flatmate were in desperate need of some pet loving...so we bought 2 hamsters! we were like 6 year olds in the pet store, honestly, it was ridiculous how happy we were! here are the new additions to the household...and yes they of course have silly names... meet Fluffle Puff and Schmoogie :)

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!

from the Design Library . . . Charley Harper

i cannot believe i only discovered Charley Harper last year. where have i been?! i thought i'd discovered a new genius...but no. he was born in 1922 and produced an amazing body of work from the 40's right to the new millennium. and there is a book out there that captures all these years across a whole 400 pages - 'Charley Harper - An Illustrated Life'.

i love his use of simple geometric shapes to create quite intricate scenes. he called his style 'minimal realism' and described it as:

" when i look at a wildlife or nature subject, i don’t see the feathers in the wings, i just count the wings. i see exciting shapes, colour combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behaviour and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures... i don't try to put everything in, i try to leave everything out "

i like this way of thinking. i shall adapt this to my work. less is more.

* you can buy the mini edition book here on amazon for only £13! there's also the full size (it's enormous and weighs a tonne. oh and it costs about £200, although i did find it in Liberty for £70)

* and here's a shop full of Charley's stunning artwork (OMGoodness you can buy everything - jewellery, tiles, puzzles...!)

Fashion & Textile Museum : Artists Textiles - Picasso to Warhol

as promised i'm going to share a few snaps from the Fashion & Textile Museum's latest exhibition - 'Textile Artists, Picasso to Warhol'. i was lucky enough to have a wonder round whilst i was on my free Creative Hub course last week.

it features (probably rather obviously) designs from artists ... on textiles. well, it's more than that really. the show traces the history of 20th century art in textiles. some of the featured designers include Barbara Hepworth, Henri Matisse, Sonia Delaunay and of course, Mr Picasso and Mr Warhol.

i have to say, i find FTM one of the most relaxing museums to walk around. it's so tranquil and the soft lighting just lulls you into this dream like state surrounded by gorgeous dresses and designs. mmmmm...

anyways, here's a few of my favourite pieces...

February - round up!

well, well, well. february is over already. time is flying by and it'll soon be spring hoorah! the daffodils and crocuses re already blooming and the evenings are getting lighter. love this time of year! so what did i get up in the design side of my life...

i was contacted by the lovely Ali Benyon to provide some 'top tips' for new designers. i gave advice alongside the likes of Lotta Jansdotter, Rachael Taylor, Elizabeth Olwen, Bethan Janine and Jessica Hayman (more on her later!). you can see the full blog post here. so many useful hints and tips from everyone...huge thanks to Ali for pulling it all together!

i got head down for some more studying with some workshops available in The Textile Design Lab from Pattern Observer. still have one more to go though! i'll save it for march!

i got a bit crafty and worked on some handmade products. i'm not a natural maker, i like other people to do that for me but it's quite nice to get off the laptop once in a while and actually 'do' something. so i'm working on some handprinted fabric buttons that will become magnets, push pins and cute little hair grips.

and then i finalised the packaging designs which i think add a little bit of pazazz to these handmade items... these will be available in my new online shop coming soon!

i took full advantage of a free 2 day workshop at The Fashion & Textile Museum in London. there are a series of classes running across the next couple of months hosted by Creative Hub, and this particular one was about trend forecasting for SS14 and AW14/15. lots of useful info, a great tutor and a great group who hopefully i'll get to see again one the next class...one of which was Jessica Hayman! (told you she'd pop up again!)

and whilst at the museum i got to have a little look around their latest exhibition - 'artist textiles - picasso to warhol'. i'll share some pictures in next weeks blog post, but i can highly recommend a visit - it's on until 17th may so you've got plenty of time!

i was invited to take part as one of 30 designer-makers in Wimbledon Village Design Fair in May. i will be trading alongside sculptors, potters, painters, jewellery designers...a full list of traders can be found here.

i applied to We Make London and was accepted to sell my products in their Camden pop-up shop! i start March 17th in time for Mother's Day...i'll be in the shop this day so pop along and say hi! i took a trip to the store this week as they were holding a social event for all the designers to meet each other. was lovely to meet such a mixture of creatives, some of which are already selling the shop and some are looking to join the team.

goodbye february...and hello to march!