Making it in design

We are lucky with this whole internet lark aren't we? I was chatting to a student recently who is close to graduating and it dawned on me that when I graduated twenty odd years ago there was no internet! Goodness me. How did anyone ever make it?

Nowadays we have access to so many resources and we can create a network to can help us get to where we want to go. What ever you want to learn there will be a course for you. One of those for me was The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design e-course. Right now they are running a series of interviews on alumni success stories and they asked me to make this video (oh my goodness it was hard). So here I am in real life. And here is my interview on the Make It In Design blog.

Pattern Observer

I'm really honoured to have an interview on the Pattern Observer blog today. This wonderful site run by designer Michelle Fifis is a wealth of help and support for pattern designers. I took her Ultimate Guide to Repeats e-course last year when I needed in depth help into getting my wallpaper designs into repeat....that Paper Meadow was a tricky one you know. 

You can read how the course helped me here.

Big Things Ahead

I am sooooo proud of this amazing girl! This is a joyful interview with her on the Big Things blog. It's a lovely read all about her photography and the books and zines that she publishes.

And just in case you think I'm always blogging about Ffion and not about my boy Euan well let me tell you, I'm equally as proud of him.

This is his Sound Cloud page where you can hear his latest musical creations. They send shivers up my spine. He's amazing.

Wow! My best creations ever!

day one and two!

I have been digging around in boxes of old CD's which back in the day before Dropbox I used to back up my work (do you know Dropbox, it's a marvellous invention). Some of the photos (the ones made with cheap lining paper) were marked 'day one and two' and these are the first experiments I ever did in making lamps all those years ago.

At first I lit them with a lamp holder that sat in a milk bottle (I talked about this in my Do What You Love interview). I had this milk bottle with a bulb in it sitting at the side of my desk and I would hold different things over the light to see what they looked like. It must have been on constantly for the first week or two and I actually slightly damaged my retina doing this. My vision in my left eye has never been the same since. I have a little blind spot (so don't try this at home!).

Anyway it's always great to look back on these things, like old sketchbooks and photographs, as it reminds you of different routes that you could have taken but didn't at the time. I love the houses and I plan to re-visit them. At the time that was way too much hand cutting to do for one lamp but now with laser cutting I have a chance! I also love the double layering idea. I bought some plastic spacers to play with this years ago but never carried it through. Something to play with for later.

I'm enjoying writing my book. I'm being quite disciplined about it as I have such a definite deadline. If I was to spend as much time as I am with the book on experimenting with my own work I think I could develop lots of new ideas....ones that fly around but I haven't quite pinned down yet. When the book is done this is what I want to do. To play.....a lot! To play like it's 'day one and two' again and like I have no idea where it is going to take me!

Whistle Stop Studio Tour of London & Brighton!

I have just returned from the most inspiring research trip to London and Brighton. Altogether I took 21 trains (including tubes), 4 taxi's, 1 car ride and lots of shoe leather and it has filled me with so much inspiration. I went to interview some amazing designer/makers for the book and spent a lot of hours in workshops and studios learning about peoples work and hearing their fascinating stories. Of course I want to tell you everything and show you all my pictures and publish all the interviews right here right now but that would be giving it all away wouldn't it. Eventually it will all be in the book!

The Big Interview

Beth from Do What You Love (remember I told you about the retreat I was going on) has posted a interview with me on her blog. We talk about the first lamp I ever made, where I go to find inspiration, the story of Radiance and invaluable advice that people have given me along the way. I invite you to have a read...

Helen Musselwhite Interview!

I am very lucky that through my work I get to meet some amazing and talented people who are a huge inspiration. One such person is Helen Musselwhite, famous for her intricate papercut artworks of woodland glades and cheeky, colourful owls in trees! I have been selling her work at Radiance for a few years now and she very kindly agreed to do one of our Radiance podcasts, so Fiona went over to her studio at her home in Manchester and she told us her story. It's well worth a listen...and there are pictures too. I hope you can pop over to my Radiance blog to have a look and a listen!

Maker of the week on the MADE UK blog

I'm happy to be 'Maker of the week' on the MADE blog. I've been following this blog for a while as it has lots of great features and interesting articles about all sorts of great artists and makers. It's put together by the organisers of the Brighton Art fair and 'Made' the Brighton Craft fair. Thanks very much MADE team!