Contact with Industry

I emailed Howkapow to get feedback on my work and found them really pleasant and approachable and definitely someone who I would contact in the future for some feedback on my work. I came across the work of Howkapow when we got had a brief to create some designs for them and their website. When looking at their collections online I thought that they were fun and creative and gave me lots of insertion, because a lot of their collections include folk art and tales, which is something that I have been really inspired for in my latest personal passions brief. 
In my email I sent a photograph of some drawings and other work: 

+ "Your skeletons have lots of character but are more cartoonish and so therefore probably best suited to greetings cards where you can really express lots of character"

+ "Your flower pattern is a lot more commercial. I like the application on the different paper stock but I would recommend you trying them on different textiles and surfaces to see how they work. I.e. cotton from a tea towel, ceramics, wood trays."

+ "Play around with colour and fill in your flower pattern also - see how the bottom two work as repeating and / or tesselating patterns and see whether once again you can apply these to a range of different products and materials."

I thought it was great that she thought that my work would look good on greetings cards as this is something that I have been really passionate about and decided that I want to take it further into next year. 

Contacts With Industry

As part of my second year I had to contact an artist/designer/company who I really admire and inspires my own work, and get constructive feedback from them about some of my work that I send to them over e-mails.
I contacted:

Howkapow- An online shop, (textiles, kitchen ect) 

Belly Button- Greeting Cards Company

Mandy Trolley- Cushions, Embroidery

Michelle Brand- Recycling artist

Jessica Hogarth

I was going some research into stationary and surface design and I came across the work of illustrator and surface designer Jessica Hogarth , based in the UK. Her beautiful and playful illustrations have been used on tea towels, mugs, cards and framed pictures, and include bikes, boats, animals and houses. I carn't believe that she is only two years older than me and also graduated two years ago and she has already worked for a big Manchester based company and now works freelance and owns her own deign company.
I thought that her designs were really eye-catching and beautiful, I think that I was most drawn to her drawing style, the use of line, a this is how I like to draw myself.
Here are some photo's;

Claire Coles

I first came across the work of Claire Coles on my art foundation year a couple of years ago and have since been inspired and adored her work. She creates beautiful bespoke embroidered wallpapers, all of the wallpapers are handmade. Vintage wallopers are turned into something new and interesting, cutting the wallpaper into different shapes and then sewing them together to create beautiful and interesting wallpapers. Lately Coles designs have been turned into greeting cards.
Here are some photo's;

Claire Coles (Website)

Blue Eyed Sun

Blue Eyed Sun is a greeting card company who specialise in hand made and high end greetings cards. I really like their card collections because of the mix of different typography and text that they use. I also find the company inspiring because the use of sewing and fabrics, (seen in the photo's below), I think that using a mixture of different patterns and fabrics makes the cards more interesting and individual, making the card more personal and special for the recipient. I also love the bright and cheerful colour palettes that they use for their cards.
Here are some photo's;

Blue Eyed Sun  (Website)

PiP Studios

When I was doing some research into stationary I came across the company PiP Studios (Available in John Lewis), based in Amsterdam they create all different types of textiles and products including; stationary, bedding, wallpaper, bags, pottery, and home textiles. They have a beautiful whimsical, and feminine feel about them, and look as if they have been collaged together from vintage fabrics and papers. 

Here are some photo's; 

Here is a link the the beautiful and interesting website; PIP Studio

Tinee Hacker

I really love stationary and have decided that this is what I want to focus on, so I decided that I would get some inspiration and influences from artists/designers who specialise in stationary. I found the artist Tinee Hacker, who is an illustrator and print maker based in Germany. She specialises in hand cut lino prints and stamps to create beautiful and whimsical characters and designs for paper based goods, including note books, tags and cards. She is inspired by childhood characters from stories and her memories, some are printing with lino prints and then others are stamped, she also uses collage in her work to create more detail and interest. Personally I really admire the brown paper notebooks, with a beautiful print of a character on top, I think that it looks really clean and simple and something that really influences and inspires me. I also love the beautiful and interesting gift tags, I love all the different shapes and types of paper and ribbon that she uses.

Here are some photo's of her wonderful work: 

Here is a link to her blog and shop:http://7morgen.blogspot.co.uk/