Lucy King Design on Print & Pattern blog!

I am hugely excited to be featured on the very fabulous Print & Pattern blog!

Print & Pattern has been offering visual stimulation and inspiration for a number of years - and is a much loved blog for designers.  Daily posts of various new products, upcoming designers, high street store images and generally anything print and pattern related - phew!

So I'm delighted to have my new range of melamine plates included on such a fantastic blog.

A big 'Thank You' to Print & Pattern - you put a big smile on my face :)

(P.S Print & Pattern also has a fab book with the same name.  I have the book and it's a great image resource and source of inspiration.  It features a range of different designers and illustrators - including local talent Lara Cameron and Lark.  You can buy the book here)

Orange op-shop finds

Staffordshire Potteries cup and Broadhust saucer with stylised floral patterns in orange, ochre & black

Myott plate with rose pattern in orange and yellow

Retro salad bowl and servers

Orange and yellow floral tin with matching flour mill

I think I've posted before about randomly finding and buying objects in similar colours.  I've had another experience of this recently with some second-hand finds that all ended up being in the orange colour palette!

Firstly I picked up the retro Staffordshire Potteries cup and the Broadhurst saucer from the Daylesford Mill Market, and loved the mix-match patterns in orange, ochre and black - the cup in particular has a fabulous graphic floral pattern.

Then I found the Myott plate with the rose pattern in yellow and orange.  I love the hand-sketched feel to the rose pattern, and the orange and yellow colours help to prevent the plate being too 'pretty' or granny-ish!  The plate also has a quite beautiful scalloped edge detail.  

I also found the very cute tin with bright orange and yellow flower patterns at the Daylesford Mill Market.  The tin matches an old flour mill that I already have - perfect!

And lastly I found this adorable salad bowl and servers from Stockroom in Kyneton!  Whilst I'm not really a butterfly person, the bold style of the butterfly and flower pattern on the bowl, combined with the strong orange and black colours stops the design being too sweet and girly.  Love it!!

Lucy King Design melamine plate collection & online shop!

Watercolour floral plates (clockwise from top left) Audrey, Alice, Grace & polka-dot design Suzie in cherry colourway

Suzie detail

 Vintage tableware designs (clockwise from top left) High Tea, Tea Party & Fancy a Cuppa

Retro graphic florals Mabel in spearmint colourway (left) Mabel in candy colourway (right) and polka-dot design Suzie in mint colourway

Mabel in candy colourway with Suzie in mint colourway, detail

I'm very excited to be able to officially launch my first collection of melamine plate designs, and to finally have my new online shop up and running! 

I've launched the collection with 10 different designs - created to mix and match with each other and to encourage a 'this-goes-with-that' approach.  The range consists of three hand-painted watercolour floral designs (Audrey, Grace and Alice), three vintage ceramic designs (High Tea, Fancy a Cuppa and Tea Party), two retro graphic florals (Mabel in candy colourway or spearmint colourway) and two 1950s-esque polka-dot designs which coordinate with the whole collection.    

The plates are proudly Made in England in small quantities, and are designed to be used and enjoyed for sharing sweet or savoury treats with friends!  Perfect for picnics, bbq's, camping and garden parties etc...... a shame the weather here in Melbourne isn't quite geared up for any of those activities yet!!

You can visit the online shop here: Lucy King Design shop.    

Birthday prints

Willow teacups print by Paula Mills of Sweet William

 X-Ray Fish print by Marc Martin

 X-Ray Fish detail

I was very spoilt for my birthday a few weeks ago and received these two gorgeous art prints.

The first was the rather lovely Willow Teacups print by illustrator Paula Mills of Sweet William. Being a collector of old Willow plates and teacups, and of course making pendants from second-hand Willow plates for Me Old China, the print is just perfect for my studio or kitchen.

Paula has a beautiful illustrative style, drawing in inks in a lovely freehand style and produces her own illustrations and prints as well as working as a commercial artist. Like me she loves collecting old things - as well as drinking tea! Gotta love that!!

Paula has an illustration blog and a website, as well as a blog and an online shop for Sweet William.

The second print is X-Ray Fish by illustrator and designer Marc Martin. A very different style print, the artwork is much more graphic in style - but still with a hand-painted feel to it. Marc has an amazing signature style and I love how he manages to incorporate both the graphic and the hand-created aspect to his illustrations and designs.

His new collection of Illustrations are 'The Curious Explorers Illustrated Pocket Companion to Exotic Animals' where my X-Ray Fish print comes from. So many fab quirky animal illustrations to chose from, and the illustrations are also available as a whole collection in a book. Cute!

Marc has a fabulous website and an online shop to purchase his illustrations and the Illustrated Pocket Companion to Exotic Animals book!

New old furniture finds

Ooops - look what I happened to buy!  I've been after a large unit to store books and knick-knacks for a while, and spotted this one in Kyneton a few weeks ago.  It's a fab 1960's unit with plenty of storeage space - perfect for books and magazines etc.  I'm sure it won't stay this empty for long!  

I also found this cute little chair (1960's / 1970's??) at our local Salvo's.  The orange colour is perfect, and I love the splayed out legs - like a space ship!

I think I might have to stay home for a while and stop visiting second-hand shops, as our little house is beginning to get full up!  Somehow I always manage to find room for things though.....

Gift cards Studio Tomas King

Anemones (watercolour)

The Terrace (oil)

Lemon tea (oil)

La Chaise Rouge (oil)

Les Cerises (oil) - my favourite card!

I love sending out cards to people......maybe I'm a bit old fashioned, but for a special thank you, thinking of you, birthday, anniversary etc cards are so much more personal than sending an e-mail or e-card, so I like to have a few cards at home in case anything pops up.

I recently got these lovely set of cards from Studio Tomas King, with all the cards translated from Tom's original paintings.  OK, so you might have figured there's a family connection here.  Tomas King is my rather talented father who specialises in painting in oil and watercolour, and has adapted some of his paintings into several ranges of hand-made gift cards.

This sweet little pochette of cards contains 10 cards (with 2 cards of 5 mixed designs) on beautiful matt stock paper.  The pochette (wallet) is hand-made and perfect for keeping the cards all-together, or to make a lovely little gift.  I selfishly got these for myself :-)

You can see the range of cards, along with some of Tom's giclee prints at his online shop.  You can see more of his paintings on his blog too!           

Pretty vintage florals

Pyrex stacking bowls with pretty vintage roses

James Foley Old Kent teacup and saucer with rose pattern

Johnson Australia ceramic plate with vintage floral pattern

I've been without any e-mail or internet for a few days - its been horrible and I feel like I've lost an arm!!  I think I've had withdrawal symptoms.....although I have found I've got a lot more work done without any interruptions or distractions from hopping online!!

I hadn't been out on a second-hand jaunt for a while, but last Friday I was out-and-about and popped into a vinnies store I was passing - and found these lovely collection of pretty vintage floral ceramics.

The two stacking bowls are pyrex, made in England by JAJ (J.A.Joblings).  Pyrex is no longer 'in favour' for kitchens - but I love the old designs you can find on pyrex dishes.  Click here to read a little about the history of pyrex manufacturing in the UK.

The little bone china cup and saucer set (which don't match!) are also from England, made by James Kent.  James Kent (Ltd.), Old Foley Pottery was established in Staffordshire, England in 1897 and was in business until c.1989.

And lastly, the very pretty vintage floral plate in an Australian produced plate by Johnson / Sovereign Pottery.  After the second world war Johnson Bros needed larger and more modern facilities to keep up with increased productivity, and plants were purchased in Canada and Australia to aid production.  1957 Johnsons opened a tableware factory at Croydon, Queensland, Australia, which was run through a firm also known as Sovereign Pottery Ltd. 

Its such a shame these production facilities in England and Australia don't exist anymore, but its great to have examples of their fine wares still in fabulous condition today.  I wonder if some of our current modern products so cheaply available will still be sought after, collected, admired for their decorative qualities and be in perfect condition in 50, 60, 70 years time?....