Thursday 31 January 2013

January


Every month I am going to blog my favourite Instagram photos to sum up my month.
January has been full of mornings where I cant seem to drag myself out of bed, fennel tea, eating lots of root veg, drawing, and feeling happy when sunlight drenches through the windows.

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Earlybird 2013


















Thought I would post a few pictures of the Earlybird show in Hamburg at the beginning of the month. Clemens creator of Brevi Manu has been working very hard on yet another beautiful stand. He always comes up with new fresh ideas on how to display my cards and gift wrap. The hand drawn frames are a great idea. Another great show and a huge print order for me!

Thursday 17 January 2013

Missing my roots
















I am feeling very nostalgic this week and have been looking over some of my old sketchbooks.
As you all know, I trained as a printed textile designer. After 5 years in a print room trying to find my style I wonder how I would be at printing now.
I was very messy and had no structure or neatness when I printed. Everything was a happy accident. I wanted the element of surprise when I printed. Not knowing how it was going to look was how I created. Too many people plan their designs perfectly. Quite often their expectations were not met. I ended up with five bag fulls of samples that I loved for their imperfection. Although, when I was asked to recreated them I never could.
I will always look to textiles as my inspiration for my stationery. At the moment Mina Perhonen brings smiles and excitment to this cold bleak January. His composition, use of colour and nature is so beautiful.
It makes me see that if I really believed in my ability to print clothes I could have achieved this. I remember At Art School I wanted my collection of dresses to have fields of sheep on them. My tutors thought I was mad and said it wouldn't be wearable. I so wish I had the confidence to just do it.
Mina Perhonen breaks all rules and just designs what he wants to. He treats his textiles with tenderness and finesse. I could see any of the above prints on clothes, upholstery, wallpaper and stationery. 
Maybe I will step foot in a print room again.........


Tuesday 8 January 2013

Long time coming.......


















Well.... what a journey. December has been a mountain with plenty of ups and downs.
Before I move onto the new year I just wanted to update you on some photos of my very first  Harrogate Country Living fair 2012.
 I decided I wanted my own little customer base and have the experience first hand of people who know and love what I do. I must say I was rather nervous and all the feelings of my first trade show came flooding back. Although it couldn't have been more different than a trade show. The main thing I noticed was the handling of lots of cash and also the constant hustle and bustle of eager customers wanting to get a peek. I have never had so many compliments and met so many lovely people. I loved every moment. It was more of a success than I thought it would be so I will be doing as many retail fairs as I possibly can in 2013.
I will be working very hard this month on getting my new website up and running and have a great shop where people can buy directly from me.
It has also made me look forward to a long term goal of having my own shop/studio.....the tricky question is where? I loved setting up my stand as I could really get a full view of what my brand is about. My vision is clearer than it's ever been.
Also, I know this post is well overdue. After the show I somehow ended up in hospital with pneumonia. Very random I know. I thought I just had a chest infection and a case of flu. This is why I have been a bit of a hermit recently. Fighting fit now!
So, to a new year, lots of new things to learn and achieve. Who knows what will happen....