Featured on Print & Pattern

Yesterday I had the greatest start to the week. I woke up to find I had been featured on the world famous Surface Pattern Design blog, Print & Pattern. It has been my dream to be featured on print & pattern for years and I still can't quite believe it! You can see the feature here.

Images copyright Rosie Simons 2013

Feature Friday - Emma Frances

Today our featured designer is..

Emma Frances

Emma tells us about herself:

'I've loved to draw and create since I was very young and always knew I wanted to be in a creative job.  I came on surface pattern by chance through university and absolutely love it! I’m not entirely sure how to describe my style, I like to experiment and try different drawing techniques out. I was fairly controlled in my designing throughout uni and it was only in my last project I began to loosen my style and try out something a bit different.'

'I take inspiration from everything around me, I seem to see patterns in everything! If I'm coming up with new motifs then I find it helps a lot to put some good music on (Coldplay!) and just enjoy myself. I was also very lucky to have grown up in the most beautiful North Yorkshire countryside so a massive amount of inspiration comes from memories of my childhood.'

'I’m very passionate about what I do and I love it when a design comes together, I’m hoping to freelance more in the future, and eventually would love to own my own brand and sell my designs.' 

And here are a few links :

Blog - http://emmafrancesdesign.blogspot.co.uk/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/emmafrancesdesigns

Twitter - @Emmafrances22

Images copyright Emma Frances 2012

Feature Friday - Kate Marsden

Today I bring you the fourth 'Feature Friday'

Today our featured designer is..

Kate Marsden

Kate talks us through her story, passions and plans for the future..

"I studied fashion and textiles at Lincoln College of Art & Design in the mid 1990s, then followed my now husband to London and ended up working for a law firm!  I'm still there 14 years later, but I realised a few years ago that I needed an outlet for my creativity.  I kickstarted this with a short course at Chelsea College of Art, and I've now taken a number of short courses there in textiles, painting and ceramics." 

"My real passion is surface pattern design, but I also like to knit and took up crochet earlier this year.  I use my paintings and sketches to create pattern designs and translate these into designs for ceramics, cross stitch and all sorts of different things.  I've recently opened a shop on Folksy."  

"At the moment I'm working on some new fabric designs which I hope to launch in the new year, and I'm also preparing to launch my website." 

"I'm constantly inspired by things I see around me.  I particularly like the styles of the 1950s in fashion, textile and print design as well as architecture.  Sometimes I'll spot something on the street, or it'll be an exhibition or something in a magazine that gets me started on something new."

"With regard to my creative process, I generally start with my photographs and make sketches based on them before creating paintings (usually acrylics, occasionally watercolour).  I will then turn my painting into a repeat pattern on the computer.  My 50s City design was just drawn, photocopied and pieced together (although I still worked from my earlier paintings initially). 50s City was screen printed, whereas Park Hill was digitally printed."

Twitter: @kdmarsden
Blog: http://www.kate-7ws.blogspot.co.uk
Folksy: http://www.folksy.com/shops/MadeByMrsM

Images copyright Kate Marsden

Featured on Tigerprint

Yesterday I was featured on the wonderful Tigerprint blog! It was such an honour to have my work up on such a fantastic companies blog, with such lovely comments and hopefully seen by many!

If you haven't seen the feature you can see it here!

P.S If you like the look of my wonderful brightly coloured floral Chrome, it's the Caroline Gardner Chrome Theme which you can download here!

Images copyright Rosie Simons, Blog content copyright Tigerprint

Feature Friday - Chloe Wood

Today I bring you the third 'Feature Friday'

I hope you're getting into a routine now knowing you can visit the blog on Friday's for wonderful showcases of very talented designers work!

Today our featured designer is..

Chloe Wood

Chloe talks us through her passions, inspirations and plans for the future..

"I  love to draw Flora and Fauna. The majority of my designs are inspired by this subject, however I have a whole range of designs I am yet to create all based on my travels around the world (so many ideas never enough time!)."

"I usually start off by just doodling and scan my drawings into Photoshop I then like to play around with scale and formats until I am happy with the design and then recolour them. I have recently started the ABSPD course as I want to develop my skills and design brand further"

"My style is a little naive but I love using my own handwriting it is what makes my designs unique to me."

"I am currently open for commissioned work so if anyone is interested please feel free to contact me via my website."

You can get in touch or view more of Chloe's work via:

Website: www.chloe-wood.co.uk

Blog: www.chloewooddesigns.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter: @ChloeWoodDesign

Facebook: Chloe Wood Designs

All images copyright Chloe Wood 2012

Feature Friday - Lauren Cherice Designs

Today I bring you the second instalment of our new feature.. Feature Friday.

Today our featured designer is..

Lauren Cherice Designs

Lauren Cherice is a Surface Designer currently based in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Graduating from Cleveland College of Art and Design in 2011 with First Class Honors in a BA(Hons) Textiles and Surface Design, Lauren specialises in producing furnishing fabrics and accessories by traditionally screen printing her designs from home.

Inspired by natural flora and fauna, she uses her own photography to help her produce beautiful contemporary detailed drawings. The use of pen, ink and other mix media allow her to create several layers within her artwork to give her pieces subtle depth that develops through into her prints.

Since graduating Lauren has completed a two month internship at Christopher Farr, London and in 2010 completed a two month internship with Timorous Beasties, Glasgow. Both experiences have driven her to pursue her career in design by providing her with the vital knowledge of the design industry.

Lauren says: "After finishing university I was unsure what direction to take but knew I didn't want to end my love of screen printing and drawing. After returning from my internship in London it made me feel inspired and motivated to start my own business as Lauren Cherice Designs."

Lauren's work is currently exhibiting in her home town of Bridlington at The Alex May Gallery, Old Town through to December.

Stockists of her hand printed tote bags are available in Behind The Times, Bridlington and The Folio, Hartlepool. She will also be a stall holder at Designers Marketplace at Middlesbrough Town Hall on the 15th December.

You can follow Lauren's work on:

Blog: www.Laurenchericedesigns.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Laurenchericedesign

Twitter: @LaurenCherice

Email: Laurenchericedesigns@hotmail.com

All Images Copyright to Lauren Cherice Designs

Featured on JLW Illustration

Yesterday I was featured on the fantastic JLW Illustration blog as part of the 'ABSPD Featured Designer' series. You can check out the post here.

Jennie is a fellow ABSPD e-course classmate and produces some lovely surface pattern design and illustration. You can check out her website here where you will also find lots of other lovely ABSPD Featured Designers. There are some really talented people and some gorgeous designs!

Blog content copyright JLW Illustration - Images copyright Rosie Simons 2012

Featured on K A T E L Y N C H

On Friday I was featured on Kate Lynch's blog as part of her wonderful feature "Floral Friday'

Kate shared a selection of my floral designs, you can check out the post here!