10 Swedish Designers

Textiles and products by '10 Swedish Designers' have been catching my eye here and there over the past couple of months in the pages of interior and lifestyle magazines I pine over so regularly.   I discovered they started out in the 70s as '10-gruppen'; a textile design collective interested in having control over the entire process, from the preliminary sketch to the printed textile.

Their aesthetic is clearly Swedish, but undoubtedly their own:

Art and Music fundraiser

Some of my work is being sold as part of a music and art fundraiser for Medecins Sans Frontiers organised by the clever Natasha Wardale and Mollie Colburn.  Below is a sneak peek of the pieces which I sent off in the mail today, ready for exhibit:

Each piece is GOLD LEAFED! Hopefully this inclusion of bling will entice some lovely people to make a purchase - 100% of the proceeds of the sale of these pieces will go towards Medecins Sans Frontiers.  If you live in the Hobart area, check out the facebook event page for details and head along for a fun night out!

Everyday visuals

I finally took the plunge and got a new camera this week.  Nothing fancy, just something that I can carry around in my handbag or pocket. Previously, I had no equilibrium between my dodgy iphone camera and precious/expensive digital SLR.  It just feels wrong to chuck such an awesome piece of technology in my bag with along with a potentially leaky drink bottle.

It's nice to be recording everyday visuals again.

Thompson and Worth

One of my designs from Full Drop Collective's latest zine, 'Shape and Staple', translated into three lively, digitally printed colourways to feature as lining in 'Thompson and Worth' handbags:

Designed in Melbourne by Naomi Thompson, 'Thompson and Worth' handbags and satchels have an emphasis on local manufacturing and materials. Sourcing leathers from local tanners and suppliers, the bags have a simple and elegant aesthetic.

Seeds, Sydney Road and Yarns

New plants in the garden this week- including some seeds! I had little confidence in my ability to grow from seeds last year, but my bravery has been rewarded with a heap of sprouts after only 3 weeks.  There have been some really awesome weather days in Melbourne recently and it's been a welcome change to spend more time outside.

Since outdoors has been so much more appealing of late I have been doing a lot more wandering around and taking photos.  Some of the shops on the corner of Sydney Road and Blyth St caught my eye, and it has been enjoyable to translate them into drawings, (in my very wonky drawing style!).

This 'Schoppel Wolle' space dyed yarn is my new love.  Such beautiful colours and most importantly, it has a cute little picture of a cat on the tag.

Scribbled Beginnings

  Something I have learnt over the past two years is that projects often start with the intention of being grand, meaningful endeavours.  Slowly but surely as the process of physically making something in a restricted timeframe plods along, some ideas that really add meaning to a project get forgotten or left out.  This is something I really resent about quick projects, so I cherish looking over original ideas and remind myself that they could be achieved in a more reasonable time-frame.  

 

 

Although indecipherable, some of these bits and pieces are representative of real ideas that will be happening in the near future.

A year ago, I would have never considered posting something like this on my blog.  Mostly for the fear of my ideas being 'stolen'.  I couldn't care less about critical eyes looking at these concepts which are not yet a reality.  I like to share ideas and talk about them.  I don't want to hide away my inspiration.  In my experience, sharing leads to bigger, better and real concepts/collaborations that would be impossible to reach if ideas are overprotected.  If one of your ideas ends up having a few more peoples names on it, but is made with enhanced perspective and skill, so what?