Evolutionary Endeavours...

Every so often, we stubble across a new designer that gets us very excited, and we want to work with them immediately! So today's graduate showcase is of Duncan of Jordanstone Textile graduate 

Claire Corstorphine.

Claire specialises in digitally printed textiles, which enables her to manipulate her photographs, and vintage finds to create an explosion of colour, and quirky imagery in her range of silk scarves.

For her graduate collection entitled 'Molluscs, Microbes and Mutants', she took inspiration from Darwin symbolism to create her own hybrid of the natural world. 

Although she presents a palette of bright zingy colours, on peeling back the layers of silk, a darker undertone of progressive natural selection is revealed, and her patterns show an abstraction of the core of life itself, fragility and strength seem then, to work in harmony...

On the Up...

 

We're excited to bring you an interview with talented designer and up-cycler Yinka Ilori, a recent graduate from London Metropolitan University who caught our eye a few months ago, and have been keeping an eye on ever since.

We were interested in his aesthetic approach to design, and how he has pretty much turned the idea of up-cycling on its head to create these rich, but simply crafted creations.

In the lead up to the African and African-Caribbean Design Diaspora in London, we managed to catch-up with Yinka to find out a bit more about him and his work...

Did you always know you would do something creative? 

Yes, I always knew that I would do something creative because when I was at secondary I was always good at drawing and really enjoyed Art GCSE and Design & Technology GCSE. I remember my teachers always telling me my work was good and always using my work, and homework book as an example to show the other pupils what their work should look like which was flattering, but at the sometimes embarrassing!

Did you have any early inspirations/ inspirational characters that informed your creative path? 

Yes, I remembered studying BTEC in Art and design studies at London Metropolitan University and we had an end of year exhibition. I had been setting up all day and had to go home and change my clothes. When I had arrived back I had noticed that I had been nominated for a Sir John Cass Art & Design Award, although I didn't win, for me, knowing that I had been nominated inspired and made me believe that I am doing something right.

What inspires you/ any particular places you draw inspiration from? 

What inspires me is everyday things in life, that have a story to tell and I try to incorporate that into my up-cycled furniture, because my ethos for up-cycling furniture is all about re-loving and telling the story of how the furniture was re-loved:) 

I am also really inspired by the African culture, as you may have noticed African prints from Ankara to Aso-oke are mainly used in most of my furniture. I also love old vintage Scandinavian furniture I think they are beautiful, and sometimes draw inspirations from there too. 

Currently, I am really inspired by MBE artist Yinka Shonibare, I think he is an amazing artist who curates moving, yet at the same time interesting installations. His installations are very powerful, with a strong meanings behind it, hence why he has inspired me to do an installation at this year's AACDD (The African and African-Caribbean Design Diaspora) Festival at the Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London SE1

19 – 30 September 2012 my installation is titled 'Head of the House'. Hope to see some of you there:)

What first led you to working with old furniture as opposed to creating pieces from scratch? 

When I did a project at university called 'our chair' where we had to do a partnered project, and find two old chairs making it into one chair, using all the pieces from both chairs!

I absolutely loved that project, and it was from then onwards I knew that I wanted to make up-cycling my career because I loved the way each piece of furniture tells its own story, for me furniture with a story is beautiful.

What's been your biggest achievement to date?

Wow my biggest achievement to date would be exhibiting in New York in May 2012 at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, and also selling one of my pieces of furniture to a High-end contract furniture company called 'D'Apostrophe'. 

It still feels nice to know that my piece of furniture is now somewhere in New York and will now become a story for someone else, now to tell! So yes, selling a piece of my furniture in New York has been my biggest achievement to date:)

What are your plans/ goals over the next 12 months? 

My plans and goals in the next few months would be hopefully to have a pop-up shop dedicated to my brand, not sure on location but that's something I would like to do over the next 12 months, who knows it may even be longer than 12 months.

What advise would you give to any new designer starting out on their own, or someone considering studying (furniture) design?

What I would advise any designer starting out on their own is to keep pushing because no one said that it's going to be easy, but the main thing is that if you enjoy what you do and your truly passionate about it, never keep up, because it's really important to do something that truly makes you happy, that's what got me here today:)

What's the ultimate dream?

My ultimate dream would be to have my own shop, with all my furniture inside it, and a few other designers works that I also like as well...

You can see Yinka's work at The African and African-Caribbean Design Diaspora Festival at the Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London SE1 from 19 – 30 September 2012

Some real gems...

As this year's degree shows come to an end, once again we have been bowled over by the variety of creative work and diverse and interesting collections that have caught our eye. We found some great talent, so here are a few of our show highlights from the class of 2012...

First up is a selection of stand-out sparkly bits from New Designer's Part One...

Natasha Thorogood has just graduated from Nottingham Trent University specialising in Decorative Arts. Her collection of organic rings drew us over to her stand like a couple of magpies! They have a painterly quality, almost Monet-esque, and the combination of aquamarine and ochre mixed with metallic accents of copper, silver and gold were perfection...

Beth Jones, a contemporary applied artist based in North Wales showed that jewellery can come from the simplest of forms. Under the name Mine is Thine, her combination of sculptural and wearable pieces explores domestic references, and experimenting with techniques like enamelling, maintains a minimal aesthetic...

Victoria Thay ticks all the boxes for our love of pretty much anything geometric and structured. Throw in a touch of gold and silver and quite frankly we'll want to buy it all! A graduate from Central St.Martins, her surroundings in the capital become the inspirational backdrop, but rather than take literal references, she has explored the architectural landscape and the skewed perspective of buildings you often see when moving around the city...

Amy Logan formed part of the showcase of designers in the 'One Year On' space and in complete contrast to the work by Victoria above, her current collection takes inspiration from the drawn line. The translation from paper and pen to crafted metalwork makes each piece unique with its hand-drawn to hand-made quality...

Nicola Crawford was also showcasing her latest collection as part of 'One Year On' which took inspiration from the nostalgic routes of letter-writing. She came across a letter in an antique shop penned during World War Two, and used this as her basis for her 'Lost Words' collection...

And finally, Mairi Burrow of Mustard & Peaches, produced a stand-out collection as part of the consistent high-quality that comes out of Duncan of Jordanstone at Dundee University. We were already familiar with Mustard & Peaches through our link with Vanilla Ink, and we were excited to not only see Mairi's collection, but to meet the lovely lady herself. Her thoughtful and considered approach to her work was stunning, and tapping into a subject matter such as Alzheimer's was inspiring and heart-felt...

Look out for our round-up of our top finds in textiles, print and ceramics in the next few days...

Transferrable Skills...

Zoe Alexandria Richardson, a London-based jewellery designer approached us as she embarks on her new venture under the name Dual Nation Jewellery.

Having already completed a degree in fashion design and marketing, she needed another creative outlet, and enrolled in a diploma course for creative jewellery making at the London Jewellery School.

When she approached us with her collection, it was something we hadn't really seen before, and were intrigued to find out more, so we set up a meeting last month to meet her, and see her pieces first-hand.

Zoe uses a material called poly-clay, a plastic-based substance to form the decorative parts of her jewellery, and applies transfers she finds interesting to finish the look. Using a simple colour palette of gold, silver and bronze, she creates an interesting mix of uniquely shaped statement pieces with a vintage postcard quality, as well as drawing inspiration from her British and Australian heritage.

With her perfect mix of fashion, design and marketing skills, we see big things for Zoe as she has also talked about extending her ranges with her own illustrations, as well as looking to collaborate with other illustrators too.

We have a small selection of her work available through the Look Like Love store, so head over to take a closer look...

All things bright and beautiful...

Jessie G has been on board with us for the last couple of months, but we thought we would do a bit of an official introduction...

Jess works as an interior designer in London, but ever since being given her first silk screen as a child, she has been addicted to the process and the wide-range of results that can be achieved.

She takes inspiration from her travels around the capital, and her trips a bit further afield too. Her bright, and bold graphic approach tunes into a style akin to mid-century modern, and her pieces whether a print or cushion wouldn't look out of place on a G-Plan sideboard or Ercol daybed!

Most weekends you will find her brightening up a Designer-Maker Market in London with a kaleidoscope of colourful wares from greetings cards to poppy prints, she brightens our day and will brighten a room in any home too...

Find some of her beautiful prints at our shop...here...

Stand out in the crowd...

Free Range 2012 at London's Truman Brewery is in full-swing, and as always, it kicked off with the best of graduate fashion.

Here are a few of our stand-out collections from the past couple of weeks...

Southampton Solent University

Agnese Dzene 'Russian Fairy Tale'

Ieva Poriete 'Restriction'

University of Plymouth - Somerset College

Jennifer Riley 'Structurally Romantic'

Holly Harmes 'Catalan Exposure'

Zeta Thorne 'Romanesque'

American InterContinental University London

Nazish Kalani

Mukungwe Leck 'In Transit'

Mukungwe Leck 'Utopia/Dystopia'

All images are courtesy of the Free Range 2012 Graduate Portfolios where these, and many more talented graduates work can be found in all art and design disciplines...

We'll be posting at various points over the next couple of months with a focus on more from Free Range, D&AD New Blood and New Designers, we can't wait to get out there scouting!

Spontaneous Repetition...

Last week saw the launch of the long overdue retrospective of work by Thomas Heatherwick at the V&A.

After completing an MA at the Royal College of Art, Heatherwick set-up the studio in 1994 as a space to explore all creative mediums from architecture and furniture design, to engineering and urban regeneration. His exploration of structures and surfaces using controlled repetition, as well as the creative spontaneity of an idea through materials, adds balance and a strong thought process.

Tucked away in The Porter Gallery, it felt like a more discreet offering than some of the other exhibitions at the V&A, but certainly didn't detract from the sheer scale, and confidence of some of the pieces on show.

What was really lovely about the exhibition was the emphasis on the 'studio'. The designs might be big and bold, but Heatherwick's ego certainly wasn't evident, as the range of works were all presented as collaborative projects.

At the entrance, visitors are invited to 'produce' their own guide by cranking a large handle which operates a huge engineered reel of paper, unravelling each section to a very satisfying 'tear here' perforation.

The exhibit weaves through the space, tracing the work and thought processes involved, all neatly stacked to make the most of the ceiling height of the gallery. Classic telephone receivers are dotted through the space with interview snap-shots adding another layer, with each area playing with scale and proportion just as much as the work itself.

The exhibition gives an intriguing and intimate insight into one of the country's design pioneers and someone well worth celebrating, the best of British...

Heatherwick Studio - Designing The Extraodinary is on at the V&A until 30th September...

Jewel-like qualities...

We were always a touch sceptical about social media and especially Twitter, a few tentative tweets to begin with and then you gain followers, and the confidence to build a business network.

One of our most recent connections was with Nicky Hadjithoma, the founder of new jewellery emporium Neony. Having a common interest in supporting and promoting up-and-coming jewellery designers, Twitter bashed our business heads together, and she kindly invited us to her new store launch in London last week.

Set a jewel-encrusted stones throw away from Tottenham Court Road, the store was already buzzing with people and flash-bulbs as we approached. It was cosy to say the least, but we were still able to enjoy the stunning mix of perfectly curated collections Nicky had put together.

We managed to catch Nicky in the midst of her mingling, a little overwhelmed by the turn-out and realisation that all her hard work had paid off. She was cautious to use the phrase that she had 'something for everyone' but from the queue forming at the back of the store to pay, we'd say there was definitely more than a few happy customers!

With collections on show from Ruby Feathers, Francesca Villa, Daphne Dasque and Origami Jewellery to name but a few, the wall-mounted gilt frames showcased the work perfectly, with the store itself having an Alice Through the Looking Glass quality...

Of course, we couldn't go away empty handed ourselves, with both of us walking away with our very own pieces of Origami Jewellery, and can't wait to go back to get lost in Wonderland...

There's no place like home...

We're excited to share the news that one of our designers Jo Ash, founder of Rubyshoes Rocks has now set-up her own on-line shop!

We have had a few pieces from her incredibly popular bunting collections at Look Like Love for a few months now, and with the hopefully imminent arrival of Summer, barbecues in the garden, and festival season on the horizon, Jo has timed it just right to launch her own on-line shop.

All made by hand, and with a unique twist to each design, there is no room here for twee that's for sure, as Jo is single-handedly on a mission to change the perception of bunting for the better. Long gone are the traditional triangular varieties, and with frills banned, Rubyshoes Rocks!

Check out her new 2012 collection on-line now, with a patriotic edge for all your Jubilee and Olympic celebrations, you'll be all set...

Sugar and Spice...

One of the things we love about what we do is pushing the promotion of our designers as much as possible. Exposure through our blog, shop or exhibition is always great, and then a few weeks ago we were contacted by the award-winning design company Brinkworth. 



Having known the guys at Brinkworth for a number of years, they were looking for an illustrator who's work they could use to grace the walls in a new Indian restaurant project they were finalising the design for.








We instantly thought of Ben Phe as the perfect addition to a modern Indian establishment, as his intricate illustrations on both paper and glass, have a certain ethnic quality to them. Brinkworth were looking for a quick turnaround, so we put them in touch with Ben, so he could arrange a selection of his prints to be used.



The restaurant in question was Cinnamon Soho, the newest addition to the Cinnamon brand owned by Vivek Singh, with previous restaurants Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon Kitchen already established eateries.











The moody interior with a few flashes of colour provide the perfect back-drop to Ben's work, the first of many walls we hope his detailed pieces will be on show for all to see...