DESIGNER - mercedes cortes

mercedes cortés is a spanish designer and illustrator. under the name garabateo prints mercedes has created a blog where she posts her latest illustrations and prints. its well worth a look at her sophisticated florals and geometrics, and seeing how she imagines the designs on clothing, homewares, and accessories. as seen here.

DESIGNER - sally boyle

i was blown away when i first saw these designs by sally boyle on etsy. she has a fantastic look and highly stylised but cute subject matter such animals, trees, flowers and birds. sally is a graphic designer from leeds, UK who creates her cards and wall decals for sale on etsy, dawanda, etc. you can see her designs on etsy, or for design commissions (sally loves to design stationery and logos) and more info click here.

STORE SNAPS - gisela graham

these are some store snaps i took in a garden centre of products by gisela graham. the company provide gifts and decorations to retailers, especially those who go for a country or shabby chic style, and they usually have things based on the current print trends.

TABLEWARE - entre platos

we're off to argentina for the next post to see the designs of belén lagar and florencia mazza who are entre platos. together they've created a range of tableware and although i couldnt read their brochure they are big print & pattern fans. you can check out their current catalogue here.

CARDS - alexander girard/lagom

uk card publishing company lagom were chosen by the girard family to produce their new range of alexander girard greetings cards. girard is a design icon whose mid century designs are still in production today on textiles, homewares and papergoods around the world. lagom were honoured to entrusted with such design classics for cards and are planning to launch the very first ever alexander girard gift wrap collection. you cansee the range online here.

BOOK - alexander girard

if you feel inspired or want to find out more about alexander girard's life and works then this book by leslie pina is your best choice. 'alexander girard's designs for herman miller' is a lovely hardback illustrated book that features many of his classic designs on textiles in good quality detail. see it here on amazon uk or amazon usa.

ILLUSTRATION - jim flora

talking of classic design and illustration did you know jim flora has a website that documents his work and is reviving various prints for sale. james (jim) flora worked as an illustrator and became well know for his record sleeves in the 40's and 50's. you can browse the various galleries on the site here.

CALENDAR - emily ann designs

for a fun calendar next year take a look at 'the art of...' by emily ann designs on etsy. each month features a creative hobby such as jewelery making, knitting, sewing, writing, interior design and photography.

DESIGNER - graphic nothing

graphic nothing is the studio name for graphic designer gary clarke. gary has spent most his career in the music industry in manchester (after being inspired to move there by bands like new order and the smiths). now working freelance, gary recently began creating graphical pictures inspired by geometric pattern designs of 60s and 70s pottery, books, wallpapers, fabrics, record sleeves etc. he then started to recieve requests to turn them into posters and so the graphic nothing shop was born. gary sees it as fun side project from his normal graphic design work. see graphic nothing's online shop , or check them out on etsy too.

CARDS - yellow owl workshop

i first heard of the yellow owl workshop through anthropologie when they opened in london last month, and decided to look them up online. i love their style which is hand drawn but retains a very strong graphic which is the work of christine schmidt. their typographic cards have been in stock at urban outfitters, and the NYC stamps below are a kate's paperie exclusive, and i see they've now caught the eye of chronicle books who are working with yellow owl on stationery lines. check out their website here.

DESIGN STUDIO - lotsa presence

angela rekucki is a surface and textile designer who until recently worked as a senior product designer at a paper company in minneapolis, mn. but angela has now launched her own design studio called lotsa presence. one of angela's goals as a designer is to start her own fabric line and someday have my own brand in scrapbooking materials. check out the lotsa presence portfolio here.

URBAN OUTFITTERS - rob ryan

this month sees the arrival of the rob ryan lomography fisheye camera designed exclusively for urban Outfitters. rob told urban "i couldn't wait to get started on this project, i don't normally do packaging design but implementing my designs onto this specific shape was a great challenge." see it here online. regular readers will know i used to love to do monthly features on urban outfitters but unfortunately they've changed the photography on their website so we dont get the lovely pics we used to, but its still worth checking out their site in a regular basis.

DESIGNER - donna gorman

surface and textile designer donna gorman has worked for both crate & barrel and marimekko, where she was vice president of licensing and design until 1992. being at the top donna found she was no longer designing anything, just directing designers and managing people. so donna started her own design firm and retained marimekko as a client. you can see donna's fresh, painterly, and colourful portfolio online here.

ONLINE STORE - illustrated living

i really fell for this pattern by lotta odelius for sagaform. i came across it on the website for an online shop called illustrated living. the store has a super stylish selection and is based in cornwall, england and run by rosie & chris houghton. they obviously have a good eye for design with british, japanese, and scandinavian influences. brands include orla kiely, isak, ferm living, and lotta kuhlhorn. take a look at their lovely online shopping and gift ideas here.

SHOPPING SNAPS - bath

a trip to bath on tuesday was my first chance to see the latest additions to orla kiely's mug collection. i spotted them in rossiters one of bath's nicest home and gift shops. they also had lotta kulhorn's retro etc apple mugs. co-incidently i then heard they were online at illustrated living as seen in the previous post.

also in bath a couple of snaps from scandinavian store shannon.

angie lewin book cover seen in a shop window.

CHRONICLE BOOKS - holiday sale

DESIGNER - natalie alaimo

natalee alaimo is a designer based in london, who works for a company designing underwear and nightwear for clients such as topshop. but natalee also works freelance and has recently started a blog to showcase her projects. she is currently represented by cainesclarke and sells prints in the UK and USA. see more of natalee's designs here.

DESIGN STUDIO - follow up

back in september pink light design placed an advert on the P+P jobs board for freelance designers to join their team. and so it was lovely this week to hear a follow up story of who the chose and see some samples of their work. so this post features the new team at pink light design starting with above alison butler and below liz caldwell.

above : philippa waite, below : lauren willhite.above : esther loopstra, below : andrea jasid.

above : lucy oldfield, below : kim anthony

below, pink lights latest collection 'miss kelly' has just been added to their folio.

TOTE BAG BOOK - call for entries

laurence king and the tote prints blog are planning a book on the fabulous designs found on canvas cotton tote bags. if you have designed or created a tote then they want to hear from you. you can see all the submission guidelines here.

STORE SNAPS - cath kidston

as well as their signature rose prints cath kidston always have a funkier retro floral design, and this season its 'electric flowers'. it features on bags, stationery, kitchen textiles, fabrics, etc. here are some snaps i took in london last month.

DESIGNER - tracy-lee mcguinness

teelee design is the work of tracy-lee mcguinness a designer based in cheshire, england. tracy has produced illustrations for books and magazines (including her own book 'bad cat'). with teelee tracy has created several collections available for licensing on bedding, youth fashion and tabletop. click here for more designs.

ONLINE STORE - blafre

i discovered these beautiful 'blafre' goodies through holly becker's blog decor8 and was instantly drawn to their bright graphic cards and products. the company is based in oslo, norway and was started by ingrid erøy fagervik and remi gagervik. ingrid takes care of design, and remi takes care of everything else. they have a fantastic website you can browse here.

PAPERCHASE - letter sets

a couple of cute letter sets spotted in paperchase. love the tree design and the pandas by jilly phillips.

KIDS DESIGN - new eleanor grosch

wall art company artaissance are debuting new work from artist eleanor grosch that is perfect for kids! from farm scenes to animals, from boats to bugs, these new prints make cute, fun additions to children’s rooms. they can be printed on paper or canvas and customers choose the size that fits what they need, so these can be custom-sized for any room! the launch includes 30 new designs. click here to see the full set.

BOOKS/POSTERS - visual aid

here are a couple of books that have just gone onto my wish list. 'visual aid' looks like a feast of illustration and colour and for some reason i have missed them until now (they've recently launched the sequel to visual aid - visual aid 2). the books created by london graphic designers draught associates limited have proved such a success that the team have now expanded to print & posters for homes, schools, workplaces, etc. visit the visual aid poster shop now or see them on amazon uk or amazon usa priced at around £6 ($11).

STORE SNAPS - magma

i want to post a few more store snaps this week - before we get all christmasy with holiday and festive designs. these are from magma a stylish home and gift shop in earlham street, london. as you can see they have discerning taste with products by the likes of 'people will always need plates', lotta jansdotter, sukie, 'cutom made', and much more. the seperate bookstore is located just down the road a few doors along.

DESIGNER WANTED - hallmark UK

Hallmark Cards UK are looking for a confident, innovative designer with strong Mac skills and heaps of enthusiasm. Whatever your design background you’ll own a portfolio brimming with enviable design that demonstrates confident composition, strong typography and a flair for colour. You’ll be joining one of UK’s largest creative studios so it’s vital that you’re a good team player but also possess the ability to create, develop and communicate your own ideas. You will preferably have a graphic design or other art related degree and must be fluent in Photoshop, In Design and Illustrator. In this position, you’ll work on a wide range of products from greetings cards to books, point of sale to packaging. Every product we create is focused on our consumer and must bring them something new and exciting that they’ll love and remember. If you can take that brief and see it through from concept to production, you could be the next member of our creative team.

Please visit http://www.hallmark.co.uk/info/careers/vacancies.php to apply.

DESIGNER - little beehive

bee strong also known as little beehive is a freelance illustrator/designer from melbourne, australia who has just opened a shop on her website, with a brand new range of greeting cards, invitations, art prints and more.her super cute products and a fabulous pattern design portfolio can be viewed here at little beehive.

DESIGNER - marceline smith

i really enjoyed seeing this pattern design from glasgow based artist marceline smith. through her freelance design website marcelline showed the original vintage buttons she used for inspiration, her sketches, the resulting pattern and its application onto products. marcelline has also launched a retail website called 'asking for trouble' which sells a variety of hand printed goodies and kawaii items here.

STICKERS - tiny bazaar

if you are someone who sends pictures, photos or prints through the post then you will love these cute little vintage camera illustrations from tiny bazaar. being an absolutely ace photographer herself danielle thompson created these to keep photos safe en route, but they would work with anything you want handled with care. available as a pdf download or as professionally printed stickers from here.

DESIGNER - art tray

lollipop flowers by nadia khafagi in dubai who keeps a blog called art tray.

CARDS - absolute zero degrees

i love it when i see great designers getting together with card publishers, and so it was a real treat to hear of this latest collaboration between absolute zero degrees and the carte postale. together they are launching two ranges 'jamboree' and 'moo'. jamboree is a fun mix of animals, flowers, and retro motifs unified with a stylish scalloped border, whilst 'moo' featured in the next post takes us onto the farm. all the cards are printed with vegetable inks on 100% recycled paper in the UK and will be available 2010. to see full details or stockist enquiries please click here.

CARDS - absolute zero degrees 'moo'

the second collection created by absolute zero degrees and published by the carte postale is called 'moo' a set of twelve farm and countyside themed cards. with a stylish colour palette and silhouette style illustrations each card is printed with vegetable inks on 100% recycled paper in the UK. 'moo' will be in the shops for 2010. for more info and stockist enquiries see here.

BOOK - floral & folk pattern

here are two books you might want to add to your christmas list to either give or recieve this year. the 'flora' and 'folk' pattern books were put together by djerba goldfinger from reprodepot and each book features 225 vintage inspired patterns (75 different designs in three colourways). you can use these books as a reference to flick through or use them for paper crafts. each pattern is also on the cd tucked into the back of the books so you can creative. there are also some project ideas provided by mollie green (of la familia green) that look fab. published by chronicle books and priced at around £10 ($16) each see them here along with stationery lines at amazon uk or amazon usa.

GRAPHIC DESIGN - muse

love the cover design for muse's new single designed by la boca.

KIDS DESIGN - olive & moss

olive and moss are a small british company that have gone from strength to strength since i first blogged about them in 2008. with a growing product range and a published card line with 1973 olive and moss's creator and designer is nina clarke. its well worth taking a look at her latest designs which include wall decals, blankets, cards, bibs and of course amazing outfits.click here to see more.

CARDS - orange beautiful

i loved the striking contrast between the black & white patterns of the cards and the spectrum envelopes at orange beautiful. it makes for a great look and is just one fine example of their amazing letterpress ranges. as seen here.

STORE SNAPS - harrods

i wanted to post up some snaps of greetings cards ive taken recently before we go full swing into looking at christmas cards. i loved these cards by liz & pip and caroline gardner, and miscellaneous wrapping paers which were seen in harrods, london.

STORE SNAPS - inklings

more liz and pip cards, this time as seen in a little card shop i enjoy visiting in hungerford, wiltshire called 'inklings'. they also stock caroline gardner and another company with a great card range called earthworks.