New cushions!

Recycled wedding dress silk 'Margate' cushions. My goodness, I have been working very hard on these but I am very pleased with them. Bright no? They will be available on the site soon and are an example of pieces I am looking to consistently produce and stock with recycled materials. I have VERY quickly taken a photo so the styling in these pictures leaves an incredible amount to be desired, ha ha, but soon I hope to take some better ones. I'm thinking of having them peeping out of the chest of drawers etc. The fronts are made from recycled silk and are all hand printed, and the backs are all different colours of reclaimed fabrics. A fourth and final design for the range is on the way but I have yet to print them, I thought I would get something on here first. A drawing a day has momentarily been put aside for this latest drive of ideas, but the results look great!

Up late Tuesday.

Todays drawing, just a doodle - not a very interesting one and poorly shot at that. I have been busy today. I have prepared more Formica pieces, organised silks for new cushions, sourced materials, tested the dyes (starting up a whole new dye recipe book), updated emails, stopped to have some nachos, dyed said silk pieces, designed the prints for the new cushions, doodled, blogged,... and its now a quarter to 2am! That is more LIKE it! I have that tired and zoned out feeling that you get when you can stop working because it is all going so well. Tomorrow will suffer for it, but I'm pleased with what I've done today and you just can't beat that.

Saturday, Sunday & Monday

My drawings for the weekend turned into Formica prints. I have lots more to do as I keep finding more Formica, never a bad thing really. The picture isn't great as they are a lot more 'juicy' in real life, but I thought I'd document what I've been doing for the last three days.

Busy day

Today I went to meet a lovely lady called Janet and viewed her oh-so-nearly-finished artist studios in Margate. They are in the old town part as she is renovating the old Pie Factory there. It's brilliant!!! They are going to be a hub of creative designers and artists upstairs and a bistro/gallery downstairs. So fingers crossed, the Margate girl will soon be truly that again! I then met up with Heather Sawney who is the Arts Development Officer for Thanet Council and we had a coffee and an insightful chat. I have not recently met someone so dedicated and enthusiastic about their job, she is a real inspiration to be around. (From the number of people that stopped to talk to her on our morning together - she seems an absolute essential to the local artists and designers too.) She is setting up a very important website that will showcase the work of designers, artists, and makers in our part of the South East called 'Isle Arts', it is looking really great so far.


Just another doodle as like the title reads, busy day. I have travelled down to Bournemouth for the weekend to visit my dear Nana, she is the young lady on the left, people often get us mixed up....

TENT london 2008 & Dezeen.com

News news news!! I have this week found out that I have won a place at 'talentzone' at this years Tent London - an uber cool contemporary design fair during September. I received the email this week but waited for confirmation before I believed I was one of the 15 selected...but it's true! here is a bit of blurb below:

''Talent Zone is the area where the next generation of designers whose ideas will shape our future world can be found. Tent London and Dezeen have co-curated an exhibition where 15 of the hottest graduates will be showcased during London Design Festival.''

Fantastic news, I am very excited. They have posted images of my work on the site in the section entitled 'Talentzone exhibitors'. My work has also been posted onto Dezeen.com - an online magazine (and design bible) that is run by the guest curator of the show, Marcus Fairs. I am really pleased to have my work on there as I check the site constantly for design news, and now you can see the Margate drawers there with all the other interesting updates!! Brilliant stuff. So... all who are free between the 18-21 September must must must come and see me and say hello, I may even have some of the Margate rock again.... :D

Here is todays drawing. Tom and I were watching a telly programme the other night all about organic farming in England (I swear I'm not saying this to sound like we do this all the time - because we don't!) and a farm down the road from him got a 10 minute feature. Its a place he drives past every day, 'Roots of Rushwick' in Worcester, but see it on the television and oh MY that is a different story! I was thinking about how excited he was not-quite-but-nearly seeing his house on the telly and it cracked me up again so I drew this picture today.

Wednesday drawing

Drew a few things on my note pad today but I had no camera to get them onto the computer. I have wanted to do a design like this for a while....and now I have! Nice and bold, fun and hand rendered typeface, I can see this being a screen print.

Tuesday drawing

Boyfriend's birthday yesterday so was only allowed a quick bit of computer admin and no time for posting. Managed to do a bit of doodling though and put something together. Again, no reason for the subject, but looking at it now I must have been thinking about the idea of growing up. It could also reflect just how hard I've been working recently too!

A drawing a day

Hmmkay. I have taken it upon myself to start a mid year resolution. I am going to try and find the time to make more drawings, for as long as possible and for absolutely no other reason at all apart from I think it is a fun idea. They might be doodles, scribbles, oil painted masterpieces, or if I'm poorly - perhaps just a shape made in croutons in my soup. However, the commitment is there, lets see how this goes....

Day one. Monday 18th Aug 2007
No particular reason for the subject, as will be the case for most of the posts, but I thought I would scribble a Stag. As per usual things developed, and I decided to put it on a screen. Originally the idea was to make some prints on paper but I ended up printing it onto a tee shirt instead! I think I will give this to my lovely boy for his birthday (hence a song quote on the inside of the neck) but may pull a few more as it's still on the screen.

So, drawing number one got quite productive! I will NOT be doing this every time....I don't think.... :D

Seaside inspiration

On a trip to Sandwich the other (not-so-glorious) day, I found these postcards in a souvenir shop. You can always tell if a shop doesn't do a lot in tourist trade when the postcards are curling, faded and have a dusty sheen on them... these did. The shop owner optimistically said they had been selling really well when I got to the till, perhaps she meant to me - I was buying five in one go. They look a bit like the riske postcards you can get in all seaside towns but I thought these were a bit more modest and the art work was great.

New Furniture coming soon....

New furniture purchased to print onto and veneer, exciting!! I've got all sorts of veneer cylinder lampshades, footstools, small tables and chairs, but I thought I'd post the largest items to give a taste of what is in the pipeline. A trio of Uniflex pieces (a great retro design company who produced modular furniture) are earmarked for some big plans.

Also I managed to find a moulded 'Myer' 60's coffee table that needs a bit of attention with a wobbly leg, but is going to work really well with some new veneers and bright stripes perhaps. Great fun. Now you know what I'll be doing for the next few weeks. I have some new ideas for further Formica and Wood wall pieces too - watch this space!