Frankie mag - issue 50

Fabulous Frankie

Desk illustrations - Amy Borrell (left) and Mel Stringer (right)

Beci Orpin 

Catherine Campbell

Jill Labieniec

I'm loving the latest issue of Frankie mag - not only does it have a super cute front cover, featuring embroidered illustrations of sweet household items such as teacups, jugs, cooking pots, chairs and coathangers - but it also has a great spread on five artists who have illustrated their desk spaces.  Love!

The retro-esque front cover illustrations are by the talented (and by the look of it very busy) Sara Hingle and Lara Burke (thanks to Meet Me At Mikes for the Lara Burke info), with perfectly neat embroidery by Noela Siddans.

I loved the feature on the artist desk illustrations, and I always find it interesting to see how other creatives work along with their studio spaces.  It's probably a good job I was never asked to illustrate my desk space, as it is currently covered in a growing pile of scribbled 'to do' lists and notes.  I did chuckle when I saw Amy Borrell's illustration showing numerous post-it notes on her monitor - that certainly looks very familiar!  It's very frustrating as I have so many ideas, projects I'd like to start, courses I'd like to do, people I should contact..... but most things never seem to get crossed off my list!

Nice one Frankie - and happy issue 50!!

Packing, organising & sorting....

Piles of magazines to sort through!

              My beloved reference folders - full of magazine tears and inspiration

Magazine tears sorted into floral reference..... 

 traditional and damask reference.....

children's reference...... 

and house inspiration & ideas.  

         The Jolly cat wants to make sure she'll be packed up and taken to the new house!

Life has been pretty hectic here for the past few weeks, with packing up the house and sorting our belongings ready for the big house move (soooo many china teacups, coffee pots and plates to pack!).  I've also had some last minute freelance design work, so I've been busily creating some bedlinen designs amongst the house chaos and between frequent cups of tea.

I'm trying to be quite organised and sort out my piles of magazines before we move.  I love collecting magazines for ideas and inspiration and I have piles of them in my studio - some of which date back to 2004!  With the up-coming house move it's been a really good excuse to sit down at night and go through the older ones, tearing out pages for my reference folders.

My reference folders are my designer bibles, they are full of inspiration material which I turn to for almost all of my design projects and freelance work.  I have about 14 folders divided into categories such as traditional floral, contemporary floral, stripes and geometrics, tableware, children's and miscellaneous reference - and I'm constantly adding new material to them.  I can't flick through a mag without going on a tearing frenzy - pulling out anything that catches my eye and that I think will be useful reference material, so it's been great having a stash of old mags to rip into! 

I'm quite partial to a particular folder for my reference collection, with these ones being from Muji.  The folders are full of clear plastic sleeves, perfect for slipping in torn out magazine images.  Ahhh, it makes me happy just thinking about them. 

My poor little studio is now being taken over by empty boxes ready to be filled with our precious belongings.  I came in the other night to find the Jolly cat snuggled in the bottom of one of the precariously stacked pile of boxes - I guess she doesn't want to be forgotten! 

Studio clean up!

My clean and tidy studio space!

 

I made a big effort at the weekend to give my studio space a tidy-up.  After a very busy few months the studio was looking a bit chaotic and was in desperate need of a good clean and tidy.

Artwork and designs have been filed away, piles of papers sorted out, books are back on bookshelves, art materials have been tidied up and magazine tear-outs are sorted into archive folders.  I've even gone through my old magazine collection and binned any magazines pre 2009. (Always quite distressing throwing away magazines - but I did go on a tear-out frenzy prior to binning any!)

I'm not a really messy person, by nature I'm quite organised so I hate it when I'm working in a cluttered environment.  It's nice every few months, or after a particularly busy period, to have a good clean and tidy and get organised again!

Studio spring (or rather autumn) clean!

 Tidy, clean and organised - I have desk space again!

Some of my ceramic tableware designs and new melamine designs

 I'd forgotten there was a pattern on my desk it's been buried in artwork for so long

 Some of my endless reference folders with magazine tears and swatches of inspiration material - finally organised into categories!

 As usual the Jolly cat is never far away.... here she is sitting in my letter tray hoping it's nearly tea-time!

Over the last couple of weeks I've been giving the studio a bit of a spring clean and tidying things up.  I'm not a really messy person (I can't cope working in mess and chaos!) but with freelance projects and other things on the go, paper just piles up, things don't get put away, artwork get buried and gradually a cluttered feeling takes hold.  So, I decided it was time to clear things up a little and get organised again.  I currently don't recognise the studio its looking so tidy - and I have space again.  Yay!  I know it won't last long, but for now I feel like I'm working in a new space and it will get me through the next six months until it needs doing again.

I've also been organising my inspirtion folders into categories - finally!  I have heaps of folders full of inspiration material - from contemporary floral to retro and childrens reference.  I'm forever scouring magazines for source material and tearing out swatches of paper, and for a long time these were all jumbled up into folders.  I've gradually been going through all this material that I've been collating over years - and they are now all in specific reference folders.  Sooo much easier for finding images, I don't know why it took me so long to do it!!       

Ink & Spindle - open studio

I had the pleasure of visiting local print studio Ink & Spindle at the weekend, run by the very talented duo Lara Cameron and Tegan Rose.  I went as part of the Creative Women's Group which brings together women working in creative industries and establishing small businesses to share information - and best of all be inspired and learn from other women setting up or running businesses within the creative field.

Working from home and trying to develop a small business can be isolating and a little lonely at times, so it's great to have the opportunity to get together with other creative peeps and learn how they have set up a design business.

After the talk Lara and Tegan had an open studio session where they gave a yardage screen printing demonstration - you can find details of open studio dates on their blog!

Exposed screens ready for printing, and above the fabulous Young Husband building
Ink & Spindle set up their boutique screen printing studio in 2008, with the aim of specialising in high quality and environmentally-friendly textile printing for designers and independent labels. They work from the fabulous Young Husband Wool building in Kensington, hand screen-printing their designs and creating ethical as well as a sustainable range of textiles.

Lara and Tegan hand printing on their 10m print table - but hand screen printing also means hand cleaning screens!

Some of the cushions and fabrics designed and hand printed at Ink & Spindle.
Images courtesy of the Ink & Spindle website

It was a great experience seeing Lara and Tegan hand print their designs in their fabulous studio (very jealous of their studio environment!!) and to hear about how they set up Ink & Spindle, including their great environmental commitment which is very inspiring.

I can highly recommend visiting one of their open studio sessions - dates and details on the Ink & Spindle blog and also check out the Creative Womens Group blog for future meetings.

Mercator open studios - Abbotsford Convent

Yesterday I headed along to the open studios at the newly refurbished Mercator Building at the beautiful Abbotsford Convent. The main building at the convent is already home to illustrators, writers, painters, art therapists and various health practitioners who work in dorms that once housed the Sisters of the Good Shepherd from 1863 to 1975.

Floor tile detailing and some of the beautiful stained-glass window patterns in the main convent building.

The Mercator building is the newest development in the Abbotsford Convent's transformation in becoming a creative arts community. It houses 10 light-filled open studios set in the historic buildings and beautiful surroundings of the Convent, and includes jewellery designers, industrial designers, glass artisits, ceramicists, printers etc.

The open studio was a great opportunity to meet the designer-makers who have made it their home and take a peek into their creative workspaces (I always love seeing how other creative people work!).

One of the best studios in the building is home to the amazing lighting designer Volker Haug. A huge double room with ceiling windows and a section of see-through floor, original brickwork and exposed beams show-off Volkers unique pared back and industrial-styled lighting creations.

Some of Volker Haug's lighting creations

Industrial designer Dhiren Bhagwandas was next door with another huge studio space! Lots of windows for natural light and again the space had a mix of original features but with a contemporary and simple aesthetic.

Helen Punton the creative source behind the fabulous Zaishu also occupys a delightful studio and gallery space showcasing her eco-designed slot seat/tables and line of hand-printed fabric-based products.
The seat/tables are simple in design, but beautifully executed and considered - from the involvement and collaboration with other artists and designers, to their sustainable ethos and manufacturing process. Beautiful and smart - that's what makes good design! Zaishu also has a blog for more information.

Some of the historic outbuildings found around the convent.

I am so, so envious of the space the tenants have to work in, but mostly of the artistic community they share. I envy their opportunity to work with such a diverse and creative mix of people, who can inspire each other and offer the potential for collaboration. I dream to be able to share a studio space like this and to be able to work and talk design with people.....rather than my cat! What a fantastic place to work!

The public are welcome to visit the studio's in order to purchase directly or discuss design projects with the artisans. It's probably best to contact the relevant studio to find out opening hours first.

A big thank you to Volker, Dhiren and Helen for allowing me to take photo's of their studio's to share on this blog.

You can also read more about the Mercator Studio's here: