Pledge for Ana Romero Monteiro

Pledge for Ana Romero Monteiro

May 7, 2012 By 1 Comment
Share

Ana Romero Monteiro in her Printsource booth.

 

Ana Romero Monteiro is an amazingly talented (and really kind and generous!) surface designer who I met about 2.5 years ago when I was walking the Printsource show. I loved her work and her booth at first sight, and when I overheard her saying to someone else that it was her first show, I had to find out more about her! She answered all my questions openly. Since then, I’ve pestered her with still more questions about starting out in this industry, and she always takes the time to answer and help a fellow designer.

 

Ana Romero Monteiro's (partial) client list

 

Ana is truly an inspiration to me. Just a short time after our first meeting, here is a look at her (partial) client list. Her Printsource booth has doubled (tripled?) in size, and she has attended NY Fashion Week to see her prints on the runway. If that wasn’t enough, she has also partnered with/is representing Reed, Print Panther, White Riot and Velveteen Prints …

And her next stop, you ask?

ICCF: The International Contemporary Furniture Fair in NYC. One of the world’s premier design events.

 

A sneak peek at Ana's collection of silk scarves, iPhone cases and pillows.

 

Ana has developed her own line of silk scarves and pocket squares, silk pillows, and iPhone cases. To cover the cost of her booth, she has launched her project at Kickstarter (the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects). Her goal is to raise $6500 by May 18th.

Watch the promotional video and see more of her exquisite products HERE.

Help me help Ana take this next big step in her exciting career. You’ll get goodies with her gorgeous prints on them!!!!

I can’t imagine a designer more deserving of success. Good luck Ana!

 

Share
Filed Under: Art and design, My Inspiration, My Resources, Websites Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
Designer Mary Winklea

Designer Mary Winklea

April 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Share

Today I’m sharing the work of surface designer Mary Winklea. Mary found me on LinkedIn and contacted me via this blog.

Do you belong to LinkedIn Groups? I’ve joined quite a few and get daily updates in my e-mail inbox, which makes me feel like I’m up to date with what’s happening in the surface/textile design industry. These are also great forums for posting questions related to surface design/trends, etc.:

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for Fashion Designers; Art of Licensing; CAD, Textiles and Graphics for Fashion; Creativo/Textile Design Forum; Freelance Graphic and Textile Designers; Mudpie; Printsource New York; Surface Design Association; Surface Pattern Designer; Textile Designer; Textile Professionals

To name a few :)

 

Hand painted tea stained linen with a retro vibe (waiting for hand embellishment). By Mary Winklea.

 

Anyway, thanks to LinkedIn, Mary and I got in touch and have been trading e-mails back and forth. Mary has worked as an illustrator/designer for over thirty years. A recent textile surface design graduate of FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, CA, USA), she is currently engaged in producing a line of hand painted and embroidered linen/canvas handbags & small clutches. Mary uses acrylic inks and fabric paints and sells the clutches and purses mostly at craft fairs. Each bag is an original & unique piece of art you can carry with you.

Here is a short interview with Mary:

TWIU: How would you characterize your work?

MW: I tend to use mostly floral motifs in my work. My style has been greatly influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement, Asian art and historic textiles from many cultures.

TWIU: What are your 3 biggest sources of inspiration?

MW: I have a ton of books I have collected over the years ranging in subjects such as antique quilts & textiles, lace & needle work patterns, and tapestries & carpets.  I love looking at the shapes of the flowers and/or leaves and also the use of color. So I would have to say that books are my greatest source followed by my garden and magazines.

 

Painted canvas to be made into a clutch. By Mary Winklea.

 

TWIU: Who are the 3 designers/artists you most admire?

MW: Vincent Van Gogh When I was 16 I read his letters to his brother Theo in which he talked about his work and what drove him to paint and from his words I knew I was a painter! I was Van Gogh reincarnate! I had to paint! And, I haven’t stopped since then!

Vera Neumann She changed the beige face of everyday 1950’s household items (bed sheets, Kleenex boxes, dishes, etc.) into bright and splashy works of art.

William Morris I love Morris’ work. I love that he fought so hard against the smothering excesses of Victorian Decoration, to educate the public in the importance of good design based on simple, natural forms, and to honor the craftsmanship of hand made goods over the mass production of the Industrial Revolution. “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” William Morris      

 

'Turkish carpet' by Mary Winklea, 2007. Watercolor and guache.

 

TWIU: What are your plans for the future?

MW: Currently I am working on my first Art Quilt. It consists of fabric I silk screened, and bits & pieces of embroidered linens and lace I found at estate sales. I love this medium because I can combine my hand painted fabric with the handwork (crochet, embroidery, etc.) of women from past generations. Also, since I know my strength is in creating and painting my designs by hand I am looking forward to partnering with a designer who has CAD skills (which I totally admire but can’t seem to grasp!) and develop a line of fabrics.

 

'Chrysanthemum' wallpaper detail by Mary Winklea, 2006. Watercolor.

 

TWIU: Why do you make surface designs?

MW: I love patterns. I love how shapes play off each other. I love the idea of making a bed into a garden, a rug into a piece of art, and bolt of fabric into a story!

 

Women's swimwear by Mary Winklea, 2007.

 

Thanks Mary for sharing your beautiful work! I really admire your mastery of what I have found to be the most difficult medium of all: watercolor. Who needs CAD skills when you can paint like this?!

To find out more about Mary, visit her blog at mawinkleadesign.blogspot.com.

 

Share
Filed Under: My Resources, Websites Tagged With: , , , ,
How to approach potential clients/employers

How to approach potential clients/employers

April 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Share

For an inspiring look at how to do it, visit iwouldlovetoworkwithyou.com.

Jakub Foglar, a brilliant young designer from Prague who was looking for a summer internship, made this little site and sent it out to a few design firms, added a few social media buttons and voilà: landed a sweet summer gig at the Amsterdam design firm Edenspiekermann. He had multiple offers from firms all over the world, mind you. I guess it’s really that easy, when you’re talented and original and know/say what it is that you want.

Congratulations Jakub!

Share
Filed Under: Blogs Tagged With: , , ,
Help me pick my new logo!

Help me pick my new logo!

April 9, 2012 By 1 Comment
Share

Last week I launched a design contest on www.99designs.com, a site I can highly recommend if you’re looking to develop your marketing materials.

 

Logo design by c4haya

 

I just didn’t feel my logo design skills were up to the task of designing my own logo, so I sourced it out, and I’m glad I did! At 99 designs, you can launch a contest for a very reasonable fee, and other designers can have a shot at your project. I think during the course of the week, I saw something like 165 entries from 55 designers from all over the world! It really expedited the process to have so many designers participating. You can give them ratings and feedback and I found it a really good experience to think about what it was I really wanted in a logo. It was great to be the client for a change!! Hope I wasn’t too annoying … :)

 

Logo design by raufster

 

I saw a lot of really nice work but in the end I narrowed it down to 3 or 4 designs that I most connected with and that I felt were the most unique.

 

Logo design by MrZ

 

I’m really excited about my final choices and want to thank c4haya, raufster and MrZ for their really great work. It’s going to be hard to pick a winner!

If you want to help me, go to this link and cast your vote before April 16th!

Share
Filed Under: Websites Tagged With: , ,
‘Six Yards’: Guaranteed Dutch Design

‘Six Yards’: Guaranteed Dutch Design

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Share

Last weekend I took my 4-year-old daughter Ruby to see the exhibit on Vlisco fabrics at the Museum Moderne Kunst Arnhem. The idea was to get some inspiration for a ‘tribal’ series from the masters of the genre.

‘With Vlisco fabrics,” writes Hedwig Saam, Director of the Museum Moderne Kunst Arnhem, “it’s just like when I was pregnant with my children and the world suddenly seemed to be inhabited by pregnant women. Now that I’m familiar with Vlisco’s fascinating past and its equally fascinating present, I find myself noticing the fabric everywhere.”

 

Vlisco pattern designed by Mari Althuizen, 1989

 

Acne, Balenciaga, Marni, Burberry, Dries van Noten, Adidas, Moroso, Junya Watanabe, Beyoncé and Gwen Stefani are some of the brands, designers and celebrities who have incorporated and worn it.

 

 

The style and manufacturing process that defines the “Dutch Wax Print” was developed and perfected in a small town in the south of the Netherlands called Helmond, about a 20 minute drive from where I live. Other than being just outside Eindhoven, which is home to the Design Academy (arguably the world’s best design school, especially for industrial design), there’s nothing that particularly stands out about Helmond. Besides Vlisco, that is. This is where these fabrics have been designed and produced for over a hundred years.

 

Installation showing Vlisco fabrics from the past hundred years

 

One of my favorite Vlisco fabrics

 

The technique is rooted in the Indonesian batik. When Indonesia was a Dutch colony (at the end of the nineteenth century), the Dutch worked to develop a low-cost, machine-centered version of the expensive and labor-intensive Indonesian batik technique, thinking they’d sell it back to their colonists for a profit. I’ve heard conflicting reports about why the Dutch technique didn’t catch on in Indonesia: either the Indonesians didn’t like the look, or trade ties were severed when the colony was lost. Or a mixture of the two. Either way, the Dutch felt they’d worked too hard on the technology to give it up, so they set their sites on the West African market, where they adapted it slightly to match local tastes. And that was the start of a love affair that’s lasted over a century …

 

A table displaying some of Vlisco's marketing materials

 

The most eye-opening thing I took away from the exhibit (thanks to a documentary called “Verbal Fabrics” by Annegriet Wietsma and Erik Willems) is how dependent the success of the brand, and the individual fabrics themselves, has been on the women in the African markets who assign stories to each print. The West African consumer is not interested in a Style or Item # (which is how Vlisco codes its designs), but can remember and relate to the vast complexities that characterize many of the narratives the market women develop. A completely abstract print becomes symbolic of the emotion you feel when you share something personal with someone and their reaction disappoints you.

 

Vlisco often incorporates colonial-era ruffles in their own designs.

 

In other words, the West African consumer wants to communicate something about their political views or social status, personal situations, emotional state, etc. and uses their clothes to do so. The patterns can even communicate something that is too painful to talk about.

I don’t think we do this the same way in the West. We communicate by wearing certain brands or wearing clothes with text or symbols. But we don’t assign such deep meanings to patterns. And I kind of wish we did.

 

Ruby + chocolate = love

 

The most eye-opening thing my companion, my 4-year-old daughter Ruby, took away from the exhibit, was the almost-larger-than-her-head-sized hot chocolate that she got at the museum café :)

Share
Filed Under: Art and design, My Inspiration Tagged With: , ,
Brilliant women, and agents

Brilliant women, and agents

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Share

So if you, like me, are a hard-working woman passionate about doing something you love and are trying to figure out just how to make it into a successful career, I have a tip for you: visit www.taramohr.com and read Tara’s “10 Rules for Brilliant Women.” They are really inspiring! The ones that really speak to me are #4 (Get a thick skin), #6 (Question the voice that says “I’m not ready yet”), #7 (Don’t wait for your Oscar), #8 (Filter advice) and #10 (Let other women know they are brilliant).

In a nutshell I think all of these rules come down to trusting yourself, believing in yourself, taking risks and not letting other people’s judgments and opinions define who you are or what you do. It’s about trying to be less modest, less considerate, less self-deprecating and go after what we want. We don’t need permission. We don’t need endorsement. We can help each other.

As I write this, I’m still in a back and forth with a potential agent. I’m exploring this route as an alternative to representing myself at a trade show. That’s still something I plan on doing in the future, but in the meantime I wonder if I might not learn (and earn) a little bit by partnering up with a good agent. So far it’s been a great learning experience working with their direction on a sort of audition-basis. Last week that resulted in a textural series I ended up being happy with. This week I’m going to work on an ethnic (new for me!) series and see what happens …

 

A series of 'tribal swallowed by texture' prints to go with the floral pictured below

 

I know that challenging myself to test the boundaries of my comfort zone (florals) is a good thing, and that if I can take direction and magically transform it into something that is just the right balance of what the agent/market is dictating and my own unique perspective and aesthetic, I will have succeeded. But there is a fine line between testing the boundaries of your comfort zone and selling out and trying to be something you’re not. So I really hope I don’t cross the boundary and fall off the cliff!

Because it’s not really about whether the agent decides to take me on in the end. It’s about whether I can respond to his direction in a way that is suited to his market but also reflects who I am as a designer. That is the challenge.

If you too are in the throes of the decision about whether or not to work with an agent, here is an interesting article at Joan Beiriger’s blog listing the reasons agents don’t take artists on. It might also be helpful to consult this article if/when coping with rejection. That’s because there are, in fact, quite a few explanations for not being “accepted” by an agent, besides just that the work is not “good enough”. Maria Brophy, who handles all the licensing deals for her husband Drew Brophy, writes extensively about art licensing on her blog. She recommends that artists represent themselves anyway. After all, who is going to be more committed to your success than you yourself?

 

New design completed earlier this week

 

For inspiration for my upcoming ethnic/tribal series I’ll be heading to the Museum voor Moderne Kunst (MoMA) in Arnhem, NL this weekend. They have an exhibit of Vlisco fabrics. Vlisco is a fascinating company which has existed in the Netherlands for almost two centuries, and is responsible for supplying the West African market, for all those years, with it’s most desirable printed fabrics. Think ‘the Chanel of West Africa’. There’s a fascinating article about them at Slate.com if you’d like to now more about the history of “Dutch Wax Prints.” Or, just enjoy the images …

 

 

Oh, and before I forget, as for #10 (Let other women know they are brilliant), I’ve been thinking a lot the last few months about what I want this blog to be. A couple of weeks ago I learned that a couple of former Sellable Sketch classmates had made it to the final judging round in the Threadless loves Gap contest after reading about the deadline on this blog. That made me feel really good!

My dream is to be able to be of some use to people who share this passion and ambition of mine. So, I have talked to a few brilliant women who have agreed to be featured here on my blog. More about them in future posts :)

If you have work or thoughts you’d like to share here, please get in touch!

Share
Filed Under: Blogs, My Surface Designs, Websites Tagged With: , , ,
New class, new work, new tools

New class, new work, new tools

March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Share

This week I started the Textile Design Master Class with Michelle Fifis of the Pattern Observer blog. Like her other classes, this one is also really well-organized and full of great information. It has a sort of individual coaching element, so I got a chance to bounce some ideas off of Michelle this week, and that was really helpful. If you’re ever on the fence about taking a class with Michelle, I can highly recommend it!

I’m really enjoying getting to know my classmates (via Facebook) too. I think there are about twenty of us, from all over the world, all really enthusiastic about this art form and pursuing it in unique ways. It’s so nice to have these forums for sharing in the learning/growing process, as it can be really easy to feel isolated when you’re burning the midnight oil behind a computer screen, night after night, sometimes feeling good about what you’re doing and sometimes not …

This past week was a real struggle for me. I got a brief from an agent I’d contacted and struggled for days with how to deliver on the agent’s requests without sacrificing my own aesthetic. There were moments when I just thought “forget it, I’ll make what I want to make!”, but not making good on the promise (to the agent and to myself) just didn’t sit right. Plus, it doesn’t seem wise to ignore an agent’s direction, experience and insight into the market.

 

 

As we round out the week I’m happy with where I ended up (see above and below). I discovered a lot of new capabilities in Photoshop, giving me new ways to combine digital and painterly ‘feels’. That’s what has me interested these days. So at the end of the day, no matter what the agent’s response is, I feel like I was able to take their request for some swimsuit concepts and create something with my own original stamp on it. And that was the challenge, as I saw it.

 

 

By the way, there’s a Beta version of Photoshop 6 out and you can download and test it for free. Yippee! On lynda.com, which is one of the other ‘classrooms’ I’ve been frequenting over the past months, they have a video to introduce you to the new features. I see a new oil paint filter, blur filters and stroke and fill capabilities for shape layers. Ooooh, sounds like good viewing to this Adobe-aholic!

Share
Filed Under: My Surface Designs Tagged With: , , ,
New books and Colorstrology

New books and Colorstrology

March 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Share

In February, a couple of new books were published on textile/fabric design and printing (see image above). I haven’t purchased either yet, but the “Mastering … ” book (on the right) is doing a blog tour and you can find reviews at a creative mint and print + pattern blog. “Mastering …” is written by Laurie Wisbrun, a designer who has created several best-selling collections for Robert Kaufman. Besides information on finding inspiration, designing repeats, and digital/hand printing, the book includes a series of interviews with experienced designers Heather Moore (Skinny laMinx), Heather Ross and Joel Dewberry. Tips on trade shows and marketing techniques also sound interesting. As always, you can find these books (and anything else you could ever dream of wanting) on Amazon.

Have you gone to www.colorstrology.com to find out your color sign? If not, do it! It’s fun. According to Pantone®, we all have a color that suits our personality, depending on the month and date of your birth. I thought mine would be blue, but surprisingly, my color sign is ‘Muskmelon’, a subdued orange. It represents my generosity, sense of responsibility, and my optimism :)

Share
Filed Under: Books, Color and trends, Websites Tagged With: , , , ,
New (to me) blog on surface design

New (to me) blog on surface design

March 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Share

This morning I came across a great new (to me) source of inspiration at www.patternprintsjournal.com. It’s a blog about “trends, news, inspirations about patterns, prints and surface design: daily reviews from fashion, interior design and home furnitures, textiles, paper goods and stationery, illustration, books, arts and crafts.” Well, that sounds like it could keep me busy for a while … like a lifetime maybe … how about you?

It is written and curated by Barbara Mazzoleni, who is herself an illustrator and designer, as well as a teacher of graphic design, digital illustration, textile design and computer graphics for fashion and interior design. She lectures at several universities in Milan. It’s nice to see what she describes herself as “an Italian point of view on the actuality of decorative arts, graphic and surface design.”

image from www.patternprintsjournal.com

Today her blog features the new wallpaper line recently released by the Colombian illustrator/designer Catalina Estrada and Cordonné. These wallpapers are representative of Estrada’s highly detailed, richly colored, folky style, which adorns everything from calendars to evening gowns these days. For more on Catalina Estrada, you can visit her website at www.catalinaestrada.com.

Share
Filed Under: Art and design, Blogs, Color and trends, My Inspiration, My Resources Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
Next Page »