Tuesday 9 November 2010

Barneby Gates Wallpaper

Barneby Gates was started by ex-Vouge Living editor Vanessa Barneby and Alice Gates, a City of Guilds of London Art School graduate. The two together created this a quintessentially english feel company in London in 2009. Their designs have featured in top class magazines such as Vogue, The Field, The Telegraph Magazine and The Sunday Times magazine. Their aim is to create wallpapers which give a contempory and modernised look to historic and aged designs. This historic rivival is very effective due to the simplicity yet boldness of the designs. My personal favourite of their wallpapers is the 'Deer Damask' design in both duck egg blue and the scarlet maroon. I can see this wallpaper up in a country house boot room, or even any room of the house. I like the reference in the picture above of the typically English hunting boots and whip. The stag skulls give a regal effect. The metallic finish also hints a feel of the wallpaper coming of the wall and giving a more 3-D effect.

Friday 5 November 2010

The First Sales of handmade Jessie Joo Products


During the summer, I bought Cath Kidston's 'Sew' book to use the patterns so that i could then make things to sell. I sourced some season relevant high quality materials from the internet and my local material shop, CB Furnishings.

Inspired by Pippa Caley's  colourful and textural cushion designs I decided to make some of my own. Idealy, I would have liked to design my own prints, however during the university holidays i do not have the resources to screen print my own. The scotty dog material is sourced from Clarke and Clarke. This material is fun, any age friendly and perfect for all seasons. I decided that I wanted a theme through the collection of cushions to take to the fairs as that way it would look good on the stall. Blue, summery, and boat house was the theme i wanted to portray with my cushions. The cushions looked plain when i sewed them and i wanted to give them a finishing touch which made them more appealing and a bit more exciting. I attached wooden and plastic buttons to the cushion. I think this technique means i could charge slightly more to the cushions and it also makes them look less plain and more embellished. I had labels made to seem a bit more professional. They said in cream and blue 'Handmade by Jessie Joo'. I think Jessie Joo was quite catchy. Its my nickname at home and I think it was better than saying 'handmade by Jessica Osborne'. I then went to sell these cushions at fairs and I will continue to make more cushions for the Christmas fairs.  I would appreciate any comments on any aspect of the cushions or the name. Let me know what you think.