Tuesday 26 February 2013

Designer Feature: Maike Thoma of Patternjots

Welcome to another wonderful showcase of a very talented designer!

Maike has a beautiful style and I have admired her work for some time, her work is delicate, intricate and she puts an incredible amount of detailed pattern into her work at times.  I love that she can design in a mixture of styles, some as I described above and at other times she uses bolder motifs.

Maike has been a fashion designer for over 20 years and has always had a huge passion for prints and patterns, she finds inspiration from books, art, nature and 'field trips' to stores.  Both sets of grandparents were also huge inspirations, her grandfather was also a fashion designer and her grandmother a textile designer, so it certainly runs in the family.

I asked her how she got into surface pattern design - 'I wanted to expand my creativity and decided it is time to explore the Surface Pattern World after so many years working in fashion.  The e-course "The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design" was eye opening and I have not stopped creating patterns ever since.  What I love about SPD is that even if I am working according to a brief, I feel creative. Colours are key and can change a design tremendously. There are so many possibilities working with different shapes and creating new shapes which I find fascinating.'

You can find her on Facebook here, twitter here and her online shop here.










Thursday 21 February 2013

Reworked Design

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my designs and tend to go back to designs and improve them quite a bit.  My Lively Blossoms design is the one I went back to this week, I thought this design would work well as bedding as it is a brighter colour palette and the motifs are big and bold.  So here it is =)

This is the original, I felt it was a bit too purple but I'll keep it as a different colourway, what do you think?


And below is the reworked design



What do you think?

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Designer Feature: Lesley Todd

This morning we welcome Lesley Todd to the blog, I've always admired her work and she has some beautiful patterns to show you all today, but first a little about her.

She started out as a graphic designer but felt restricted in what she created, when her husband bought her a Wacom tablet everything seemed to click into place and her love of art finally collided with design.

She is inspired by a lot of different things, from vintage travel posters (you can see this in her work below!) to mid century designers like Lucienne Day to going for walks with her dog in the countryside.  She even has a board above her desk covered in post-it notes of inspiration and ideas, which is such a great idea! Then you can just pick out something if your having an 'off' day.

She loves to collect hand made craft pieces of art and has built up a lovely collection over the past 10 years, she has pieces by Diana Fayt, Janet Bell, Geninne Zlatkis, Tom Frost, Chris Neale, Angie Lewin and Sasha Harding.  She loves to spot artists and makers who are just starting out, then she can watch their careers really take off, they inspire her everyday to work really hard so maybe one day she will be the one creating something amazing.  Although I feel she is well on her way with her designs!

She has a beautiful style with a mixture of delicate and vibrant colour palettes, but all are well thought out and work perfectly. I love that she uses mutiple motifs to make her repeats more complex so you have to work to see the repeating tile.  I can definitely see these designs working on a number of products and hope to see her in many shops in the future!







You can find Lesley on Facebook and Twitter here.

Please do leave a comment =)

Friday 15 February 2013

Greetings Cards going to print soon!

I've updated my portfolio on my website to include some of my greetings card designs, which is what I am sharing with you today.

I'm hoping to get some products printed so am tweeking my designs and getting them ready to send to the printers.  Here are a few I am thinking about getting printed, are there any you like and would work well as greetings cards?





Tuesday 12 February 2013

Louise Harding in the Spotlight

This weeks fellow surface designer feature is Louise Harding, she is a little shy and just starting out so feels she isn't very good at promoting her work.  The thing is she doesn't need to be! Her work speaks for itself, she has a wonderful graphic style and I love her use of texture in her work.  This was something I always wanted to try and put into my work so it is lovely to see her do this so well. He colour palettes are a joy to look at, feminine, earthy tones, which work perfectly with the grainy textures in her work.  Truly beautiful!

What inspires you and why do you do what you do?
'Art was my first love, nature my second.  When I was younger I found a Yew tree in St James Church close to my house and made it into a den, I would sit up in the branches on the 'owl seat' where I would draw and eat copious amounts of cola bottles.  When I sit down to create a new design I remember that time, the peace, the sounds, the smell of the bark and leaves.  I try to recreate that feeling in my work today'

She now does a lot of her drawing in the bath tub instead of up in the trees! Sounds pretty perfect place to draw, although I'm sure I would end up dropping my work into the water =)

Please leave some comments to let Louise know how lovely her work is! You can find more of Louise's designs at her website here.








Saturday 9 February 2013

Breathtaking Photography by Lincoln Harrison

I came across this photographer quite a while ago and meant to show you all his work sooner, these photographs are long exposures of star trails in the sky.  Some of these photos can take up to 15 hours to take, I imagine a lot of patience is needed to achieve these glorious shots and they are definitely worth the wait.  You can find more of his work on his website here, his seascape and landscape photos are equally as amazing so check them out too!













=)

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Beautifully delicate illustrations

I recently found these lovely illustrations and couldn't wait any longer to share them with you.  Kirsty Baynham is the illustrator behind these beautiful drawings.  She has such a delicate, intricate style which incorporates beautiful patterns, geometric aspects and tiny flowers.  I love her use of colour too, leaving plenty of white space works well in these illustrations and only makes them even more dainty and intriguing to look at.

You can find her Etsy shop here and her website is definitely worth having a look at, it is enchanting!








Tuesday 5 February 2013

Feature: Tiffany Designs

This week I have another of my surface pattern classmates from Rachael Taylor and Beth Nicholls 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design' to introduce to you.  Tiffany Designs.  Tiffany Designs has always loved art, from an early age, as all us creatives seemed to have!  Her style is very unpredictable because she enjoys designing in many different styles, which is lovely to see.  Her work has also been featured on the Print and Pattern blog too!

I love her use of bright vivid colours and shapes, they would be perfect for stationary and homewares to brighten up your home!








Sunday 3 February 2013

Some interesting Etsy finds

The other day I found some lovely patterned wrapping paper left at work, so being the squirrel I am I horded it for my sketchbook of inspiration and it compelled me to find some other unique wrapping papers.  If you have some birthdays coming up then why not buy some beautifully original gift wrap from some independent designers and help support them!

Sam Osborne





Summersville



May Day Studio




Miki.o Design




Yours it the Earth



Toodles Noodles





Urban Bird & Co