Here's a fun French style piece for Atlanta magazine, to celebrate Bastille Day. I tried to think of all the wonderful French things I could, to decorate the page. Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!
shopping
HOKK fabrica interview
I was interviewed for the online fashion & lifestyle magazine Hokk fabrica this month. You can see the full interview here. This month's issue is about the concept of 'local', and they sent me questions which I was asked to answer by hand, like this...
I was asked about my first memorable piece of artwork...
It's a print I did in Japan. I really love it.
Take a look at the full interview and hope you enjoy!
aloof
I went to the launch party of the new Bonaveri mannequin collection 'Aloof' this weekend, hosted by Blue Studio (a favourite client of mine) in London. The display of the mannequins, the delightful dinner and the utterly gorgeous display of peonies and poppies was truly wonderful. I hope I can work on a window display soon!
Pyaar
I recently designed the logo for new lifestyle store Pyaar in Hong Kong. It features hand-made and eco-friendly products from around the world, with a relaxed and modern aesthetic, and I tried to show this in the logo.
I hope you'll all drop by! Totally loving the house-shaped cookies...
Design School Wisdom
I gave a quote for this book published by Chronicle Books, containing sayings and advice from a variety of designers and design teachers.
My quote has been featured on the inside cover. In all my time teaching at St Martin's, this is perhaps the most important thing I wanted to get my students to understand: know, and be able to articulate, why you're making your design choices...
It's out now, full of all sorts of good advice, and available from Chronicle Books and Amazon.
happy Easter!
Hope you're enjoying some tasty chocolates this weekend. I saw these in the window of Woodhouse Chocolate in Napa Valley.
Such chocolatey goodness!
Tiffany mug on lifestyle blog
My NY Tiffany mugs have been included on the Top 5 High Fashion Designer Coffee Mugs list on luxury lifestyle blog Affluence Avenue. Thanks guys!
gardening
I did this fun piece for the home/gardens section of the current issue of 5280 magazine, with growing vines and flowers intertwining the product photos. I really enjoyed drawing the little bugs and butterflies...
cactii
On a very sunny day (before all this rain!), we went to Sunset in San Francisco to see the sea, and visited the General Store. I adored their relaxed vibe and especially the garden filled with cactii and succulents...I also have a bit of thing for watering cans. OK, any gardening tools at all really...
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
I designed 2 different sets of adorable lai see red pockets for clients in HK this year. The first were for BEYORG, celebrating the year of the horse, with cute horses doing various traditional New Year things, in lucky red and shiny gold. . .The second were for Grand Century Place shopping mall. They asked for a pattern incorporating Chinese New Year elements, but also fashiony things like a dress and jewellery. I love the coppery gold colour they used for the foil highlights, to match the pink. They also made a promotional fabric ipad mini case for VIPS with the same pattern.
Have a wonderful year of the horse everyone!
Chinese New Year ceramic gift set
Chinese New Year is rapidly approaching, and this pretty new set of my HK toile ceramics might be just what you need to see in the start of the Year of the Horse...I love the little dim sum and egg tarts in the centre of the plates and bowls!All are available direct from faux in HK..
Tiffany & Co. mugs
My Fifth Avenue Tiffany designs have been made into special little versions in Japan, with angled sides. Little and cute works well there! They're available exclusively in Japan, either in store or online.
Hong Kong food guide
I've recently done the cover and inside chapter artwork for the Word of Mouth restaurant guide for Hong Kong and Macau. It's full of amazing reviews and ideas...I worked on the book with Sandy at Lui & Co design company in HK, which is always a pleasure. It's available at most book stores in HK.
Christmas drinks
I drew some festive line decorations around seasonal wine bottles for Waitrose supermarket's free Christmas drinks guide this year.I created a green-on-green patterned wallpaper for the background, so the white lines would pop, and the lovely rich colours of the wine bottles would sparkle.
You can pick up the guides in any Waitrose around the UK!
christmas lights
Things are starting to get Christmassy, and I'm getting excited. Here are two of my favourite little lights I designed for thinkgadgets. They contain mini LED lights that slowly change colour. I love Mr Moon, who isn't just for Christmas, and the snowman, that is definately more wintery...
They're available in all sorts of small stores around the UK, and lots of Christmas fairs!
Sparkhouse mural
I've just been to Sparkhouse, in South Orange, New Jersey, to add another little character to the growing collection on the walls of my friend's toy store. It's always nice to do a little favour...I'm now trying to think of a name for the mini supercute robot...
New York collection
River Cottage veg USA
River Cottage veg everyday has been re-printed in the US, and the publishers here have taken the illustrated endpapers I made for the original UK edition, and put them on the front and back covers of the book, with a short dust jacket. I like it. Though I kind of miss Hugh on the cover.Vegetable books are super popular in the States at the moment, and I saw the book in a nice article in a foodie magazine...
I was also super chuffed when I saw it in the anthropologie online store...
and even more when I saw it in the actual store!
It's available on amazon US.
my birthday!
It was my birthday this week, and I spent it in San Francisco. I went to the Asian Art Museum to see the Japanese art exhibition, and admired some lovely ceramics (this is a birthday peach from a Chinese plate),and some Japanese sculptures and painted screens.
I walked through the civic centre and then on to the Hayes Valley to look at some pretty boutiques...
...and then in the evening we went to Sons & Daughters, a lovely little restaurant in Nob Hill. The service was delightful, the food exquisite. I drew each dish in the tasting menu as it came out...
and took some photos of the colours and presentation. Yum in every way.
BEYØRG
I worked with organic cosmetic company Beyørg (Beyond Organic) in HK this year, to create images they could use on promotional products, supporting the Breast Cancer Foundation charity.I drew pandas (cutest of all Asian animals) interacting with various ingredients from the cosmetics, such as acerola fruit, ginseng root, and white lupin flower. The illustrations also featured a farm element, as the client wanted to emphasise organic farming. I tried to make the pandas cute, but not too cute. They were used on packaging, and promotion for the brand.
I created a repeat pattern with the pandas along with some extra elements, and this was used on a patterned white umbrella. I love it!
The umbrella is a limited edition gift item for customers in the shop, and will only be available until the end of August. There's also a cuddly panda...
The products have been featured in various local magazines, along with a little about me. How nice!