Wallpaper of the 50's and 60's

We had an inspiring day of colour and pattern on Sunday at the Whitworth Gallery.

They were showing an exhibition of wallpaper from the 50's and 60's.

There were some wild patterns

 and we marvelled at the designs and their print methods (now that we know how its done)

and at how different things look in other colourways.

I wish we could have seen them in repeat across a huge area to get the full effect. 

    

I think the trees were my favourite.

Such good marks.

It was nice to see the old yellowing sample books.

In the next room they had an exhibition of work by textile artist Tibor Reich from the same era. I recognised some of the fabrics form Lesley Jacksons collection up at Elmet Farmhouse. She is a fan.

They showed how he has been directly inspired by nature and his environment. It's always nice to see how designers get to their designs.

The wallpaper exhibition runs until September and Tibor Reich's until August.

In the house of Debbie George and Andrew Sanderson

I had a lovely day last week visiting artist Debbie George and photographer Andrew Sanderson at their beautiful home in Holmfirth. This artistic duo used to have a beautiful gallery called Sanderson, George & Peach in Holmfirth which is where our story began. 

They were one of the first galleries to take my lamps when I was right at my beginning and they sold them successfully for years alongside lots of other beautiful British crafts.They introduced me to the work of Angie Lewin when she was at her beginning too and they chose my lamps to compliment Angie's beautiful prints. It really was a very beautiful space, a gallery that made me want one of my own.

After they had had the gallery ten years they decided that they wanted to concentrate on their own work (sound familiar?) and that was right at the time when I was thinking of opening Radiance. They were soooo helpful in me setting up and showed me their systems for managing work and running the gallery. They even gave me their old wooden cash till that went 'ding' (well it did sometimes anyway...on a good day).

Andrew did one of my first photoshoots and their lovely house and collection of gorgeous contemporary craft made the perfect backdrop.

Recently, whilst dreaming up perfect locations for a wallpaper photoshoot, their lovely house popped into my head and I asked them if they'd be up for it. 

I got a resounding YES.

So I went over to have a look round last week and we dreamed up some ideas. 

Charcoal Paper Meadow in the living room.

So many good props to play with!

Daisy Meadow in the upstairs bedroom...

and all manor of gorgeousness in the shepherds hut at the bottom of the field when the blossom comes out and the daffodils are in bloom.

It's going to be fun :)

Daisy Meadow in moonrise

This is Daisy Meadow wallpaper in 'moonrise'. Imagine a big, full moon rising against a dusky blue sky. The white motifs brightly pop out from the dark background.

I'm rather loving this colour. My Dad sees it as grey, I see it as blue. 

Grey/blue then...but moonrise sounds better don't you think.

I'm looking forward to seeing it in a large expanse on a wall 

but for now even having the rolls hanging around is making me happy :)

You can order a sample on my website here.

Daisy Meadow wallpaper in sage

This is my new Daisy Meadow wallpaper in sage.  

I wanted to take some close up shots so that you could see all the details. When I visited Norway last year I was so inspired by the wild flowers that covered the fields, hedgerows and gardens...any bit of wild land really. 

I made lots of drawings and took lots of photos

and it's nice for me to look back on them now that the things I captured have found their way to a wallpaper.

I loved the harebells. They are just so delicate.

I have often been asked if I do any of my papers in green so I thought I'd give this one a go. 

It's a soft, greyish green...couldn't be called anything other than sage really!

You can order a sample here on my website. 

Daisy meadow wallpaper in dusk

I'm excited about my new wallpapers. I took some pictures yesterday so I could get them up on the website. This design was inspired by the abundance of wild flower meadows that I saw when I visited Norway last year. It features daisies, stitchwort, pignuts, shepherds purse, harebells, vetch, hairgrass, quaking grass,  and all sorts of other grasses that I don't know the names of.

I never thought I'd have a pink product. Pink is not my usual colour but my student intern Oly suggested we give it a try at the factory so we did. I liked it but still I never thought I'd take it to print. 

But as the weeks went by it grew on me and it got good feedback from visitors to my studio. My friend Kate Lycett said that it was the perfect compromise for decorating a little girls room when the girl LOVES pink and the Mum is not so keen. She said something like 'It's not ice cream pink....and it's not knicker pink, it's the perfect tasteful in-between pink that we can both agree on'!

We did joke about calling it 'not knicker pink' but we opted for 'dusk' instead. I love the warmth of it. I love how it is the same soft tone as newly plastered walls. 

Here it is on the website and you can order an A4 sample of it here to see the colour for yourself.

I hope you like it as much as me.

Little wren and butterfly...

It's such a dark time of year here so we need to make our homes and cosy as we possibly can to see us through until Spring (I can feel it coming, can you?). Candles always do it for me.

These two little candle cover designs, Wren and Butterfly have been around a while but have never quite made it onto my website. Yesterday I fixed that and now you can find them here and here :)