Artwork update

 It's been really busy in the studio since Indigo, but we

have finally managed to pull together a preview of some

of our latest artworks available.

Louise & Kate have been busy working on some fanatstic new characters, 

we think Mr elephant & Miss Fox are super cute!!

We thought it would be nice to show the team  busy working away , unaware they are being photographed! They are working away on several projects, clearly absorbed in what they are doing.

 

Print & Pattern Book 2

 Paper & cloth are really pleased to be featured in Bowie's Print & pattern book 2.

Opening day at indigo Paris

After shelves falling down , artworks flying around the stand , 50 metres of fishing wire , ribbons and double sided sticky tape , we finally finished our indigo stand design! ( simplicity is so going to be on trend next year).
Our opening day today has been fantastic with lots of familiar faces and a few fab new clients , suddenly it all seems worth it.
We hope you will get to drop by and say hello if you are visiting the show.

Update

Looking for a designer to join our in house team

Curious and Curiouser...

Hello  peoples,  it's that time again, the studio has been getting ready for Printsource next week and we thought it would be ever so lovely to share another sneaky peek of the delights we have been working on!  First up is the fantastical and wonderful Curiosity collection...

 

  Be sure to come visit us at 

Stand F11,

7 West 34th St at 5th Avenue NYC from the 1st-3rd of August!

Here's a cheeky snapshot of the stand to whet your appetite...

And finally, our yummy new postcards are printed and ready to be be carted off to NYC with us...

Back down the rabbit hole as there's still so much to be done! See some of you next week!

Beautiful things everywhere

If you haven't already, check out the P&C range on the 1973 website which includes our card collection and BRAND NEW postcards too!  Designed by the oh-so-talented Kate.

After an exciting and successful Surtex show, it's worth mentioning how fantastic the National Stationery Show was and it was only next door!  A fave by far was  Mr Boddington's Studio . Stunning, original work and topped off with an amazing stand design. I would love to have this display wall in the studio to exhibit our favourite artworks each season.... an ongoing visual catalogue of our best bits.

Ohsobeautifulpaper blog gave the best coverage, with 12 posts covering 90 booths!
Also worth looking at the fabulous Katie's blog http://www.theobsessiveimagist.com/
her photos on flickr are also far better eye candy than I could hope to capture on my iphone...

What Else is Going on?

If you're heading into London this summer, check out everything that is going on at venues across the Southbank Centre for the Festival of Britain Sixtieth Anniversary Celebrations.  The Centre is divided into four 'lands', which take as their inspiration themes from the 1951 South Bank exhibition - People of Britain, Land of Britain, Sea and Ships, Power and Production.  Featuring work by artists, designers and curators including Andy Holden, Michael Marriott and Colette Bailey, events celebrate culture and creativity through performances, talks and exhibitions and runs right up until Sunday September 4th.

Whilst enjoying the glorious sunshine, we're cracking on with our exciting AW12/13 range, can't help still being in love with the beautiful work of  Donna Wilson. 

Inspired by beautiful woodland imagery and the whole 'getting back to nature' theme. Donna's products are just so covetable.

How lovely is 'Cyril Squirrel-fox'??!! He must now have design classic status.

                                                  

Toasty camp fire anyone??

On the woodland theme, LMNOP's recent post on artist Jayme McGowan is just beautiful, we ADORE her cut out artwork for Roald Dahls classics Fantastic Mr Fox and Charlie and the Chocolate factory...

                                 

These are part of the 4th annual 'themed' edition of LMNOP Magazine, which is dedicated this year to the wonderful world of children's books.  TOO excited to see this when its published!!!

To round up what else has been keeping us creative at the moment, we totally adore the new designs by Caroline Gardner...

                              

Images are  from Bowie's ,ever on the pulse, print pattern blog,  http://printpattern.blogspot.com

The painterly florals are simply lovely, such gorgeous colours.

We wonder if our friend, the lovely Emma at Caroline Gardener will have her new range developments in the shop soon! Can't wait she is soo fabulously talented , looks like the hugely creative team at Caroline Gardener are going to  be going from strength to strength!

'Art for Art's Sake'...

With our Surtex debut in full swing on the other side of the Atlantic, I took the time last week to check out the exciting things that were going on at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

It is definitely worth going to see the The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1990 exhibition currently on show until July 17th, which is full of beautiful paintings, drawings, sculpture and furniture from Aesthetes such as William Morris, James McNeill Whistler and Gabriel Rossetti.

Sadly, photography was not permitted (even more reason to go take a look) but some favourite pieces were 'The Butterfly Cabinet' (1877) designed by E.W. Godwin and Whistler and the selection of stunning book illustrations and covers by artists such as Walter Crane and Kate Greenaway.

It has to be said actually that even the walls were beautiful, deep turquoises and reds throughout, covered with projections of peacocks and flowers.  Walking through the four sections, there honestly wasn't a single space of wall or floor that wasnt presenting something that would look oh-so-yummy in our studio... ahhh...

Towards the end of the exhibition, it was so interesting to read about the Aesthetic Movement as a 'way of life', the ideals of the time expressed through not only art but fashion, interior design and architecture.  It also meant we have some super cool new quotes for the studio such as 'One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art' (Oscar Wilde).
But our fave has to be 'Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful' (William Morris)... funny how we seem to always fall in love with things that are in no way useful but just totally yummy... and now we don't even need an excuse for it! Thanks Bill.

As the textile gallery in the V&A is shut until May 2012 for refurbishment, it meant wandering through all sections of the V&A to comb through for inspiration.

In particular, the European florals were so inventive in shape and design and it was refreshing to see florals as huge detailed fruits or with really detailed petals and buds.

Images Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

And abstract designs such as this GORGEOUS embroidered Ottoman gem...

It was interestng to see these contrasted against complex abstracts such as the wallpapers and tiles in the Medieval Britain section...

Finally, elsewhere in Asia and Eastern Europe, the Japanese kimono designs and tiles from the Ottoman Empire were really beautiful...

 

(These were actually supposed to represent animal print!)

Feeling fully inspired, it's time to dive into the Autumn collection...

Inspired By London

With the new Autumn Winter season looming, we headed out into the real world to have a look around, see what's going on and  to soak up some directional and inspiring design.
We took a trip around Sloane Square and peeked a look at the stunning colours and summer prints in Catimini http://bit.ly/kAXCmC.  Even the shop window displays are fun and absolutely filled with bright colour! 
Loving the multi-cultural mash-up trend coming through for AW12/13 with an eclectic palette and mismatched patterns. Anthropolgie bit.ly/kz32f9 has some really beautiful examples of this in bedding and home accessories.  With chevrons and patchwork also really on trend, they had some yummy designs on curtains and packaging.

Loving the idea of mixing floral with geometrics...

Even the way the shop is presented is really inspirational for this particular trend with mismatched furniture, knotted wood, painted wood and raw edges. 

So yes, we are maybe a little bit obsessed with Anthropologie but it's so hard not to be! 


Another essential stop off is Designers Guild http://www.designersguild.com/ for some super yummy and delicious kids bedding and bedroom accessories.  We were especially loving the map and travel themed bedding and also the woodland creature/forest set for design inspiration.

To be completely honest we did contemplate for a very long time buying one of those beautiful (and actually really comfortable!) pink circular chairs too... ahhh...

In the 'grown-ups' department, we couldn't take our eyes off this stunning chest unit and desperately tried to find a reason we NEEDED one in our world.. 'we could put snacks in that drawer and little pencils in that one...'

How seriously delicious are the coloured notebooks too?!

As always, we couldn't have a day in London without visiting Liberty's bit.ly/cFKgpq and perusing the lovely textile collections, here are a few of our faves...

So after a super inspiring day it was back to the studio for moodboard-making and planning (always the best bit) for the next collection!  Here's a look through the peephole, we couldn't show you everything now could we...

But in the meantime don't forget to check us out at Surtex debut next week at the Jacob K.Javits Convention Centre NYC! visit us on Booth 250!!!  

And a final little peep of the goodies we'll have there...