Wednesday 12 September 2012

Exciting collaboration.


 For a number of months I have been part of an exciting project designing for  IO KIDS DESIGN. Initially the idea was to make a bedspread for a photo shoot...but it kind of grew and grew.... and before we knew it, we were talking about a range of wallpaper to compliment IO's beautiful furniture for children.
Its been a fascinating and very inspiring process, that started with a conversation about a shared passion for forests, trees, bark and particuarly silver birch.









After realising that the bedspread would need to be printed on a larger scale than I can manage in my rather compact studio, we decided to have some printed digitally at the London College of Fashion. They were fantastic - really helpful and very,very speedy! It was really exciting to see something come to fruition so quickly...a very different process from working with hand-print!  I love the slowness of screen-printing by hand and the process of building layers, but I must admit the thrill of seeing my design on a roll gave me a real buzz!
















It looked amazing with IO's beautifully designed bunk pod; a very clever and versatile bunk bed that separates into separate beds or bed and desk. I love its curvy lines - very reminiscent of a little 1950's caravan!
 We have been working to create a range of silver birch wallpaper too, which we are hoping will be available later in the autumn. In the meantime, you can see a sneak preview of it at this years Design Junction (19-23 September) as part of the London Design Festival, where IO KIDS DESIGN will be exhibiting.
Visit them at stand f 30 to see more or go to http://thedesignjunction.co.uk/ or www.iokidsdesign.co.uk for more information.









Sunday 2 September 2012

Railings and first thoughts



About time I started putting stuff up on here and probably a good way to start is to say a little about what I've been up to over the summer. A fantastically ambitious and exciting train tour across Europe, with all the family in tow, yielded some unexpected rewards and inspiration....mostly in the form of railings! We all decided to keep journals......a very good way to while away the many hours we spent travelling......and mine became focused on the beautiful patterns I kept coming across in the various railings and window designs in all the different cities we visited (Amsterdam, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Zagreb, Split, Ljubljana, Vienna, Prague, Berlin and Paris!).




Photographs got printed out on a very handy little Pogo Polaroid printer, then translated into drawings, which became embryonic pattern designs. I can feel a range of wallpaper coming on. Watch this space....