cool fabrics / illustration

one of the first things i posted here on P+P was the wonderful fabric of st.judes, i loved the simplicity of the prints and the fantastic illustrations of their designer of angela lewin. well now they're back with a new design and a nomination in the elle deco awards for best fabric. seedheads is the third pattern to be added to their excellent collection. click here for st.judes website and here for the work of angela lewin.

textile designs

virginia johnson is a wonderful canadian textile designer and illustrator with a fashion background. in 2005 she turned her talents to a home collection, and has just exhibited this month at the new york gift fair.

her designs are created using watercolours and are often based on organic patterns inspired by her travels.

catalogue

p.s click here to see the virginia johnson homewares catalogue.

soft designs

beautiful rugs and cushions from toronto based designer bev hisey

john derian

decoupage plates featuring beautiful birds and flowers by new york artist john derian. john also produces the most amazing seaweed images on trays.

kitchen patterns

super busy prints on a chopping board and a tray from kensal & gretel

wall art

these P.I.Y (paint it yourself) kits featuring dark and exotic florals are from uk company maisonette. you may have come across their canvases in the tate moden shop where they sell a range of tate exclusives.

rug designs

yellow and grey (predicted trend colours for 2007) feature on these contemporary rugs by kate blee, available from christopher farr's studio series.

collection

donapaula have taken a selection of fabric prints and put them on pillows, lampshades, and rugs. check out the website for more detailed images.

APOLOGIES

apologies to anyone who tuned into P+P earlier to see new posts - ive been having technical difficulties!. still it seems to be fixed, and im back to work after the last public UK holiday until christmas. we are finally kicking off the new week with these beautiful designs from rosehip cards. the designers are inspired by wallpaper and i think it shows in the wonderfully ornate patterns.

fabric swatches

cool fabrics from swedish company boras cotton but best seen at noasis.

retro cushions

if you are a fan of vintage fabrics from the 50's,60's, and 70's then take a look at the beautiful cushions available from refab.

stationery

stationery from claire fontaine available in selfridges.

marimekko mice

you've seen the fabrics, the tableware, bedlinen, etc but have you seen the marimekko computer accessories ?. their trademark prints are now available as these cool mice, that you can even set down on a marimekko mousemat. as seen at kokoyo . hopefully these will be available worldwide.
not from marimekko, but still very cool is this stem print mousemat, also from kokoyo.

cushions / pillows

fab designer clare nicolson has just launched a new range of digitally printed cushions.

called mini cushions, these 14"x14" designs cost £40 each.

vintage mugs

be inspired by these fabulous vintage motifs on pyrex & fire king mugs. as seen on a cool little website from japan called mugshop.

graphic knits

one designer who finds inspiration in vintage ceramics and 70's style graphics is michelle over at mod to modern who creates these cool recycled sweaters in vancouver.

postcards

beautiful postcards from mocchi mocchi.

conran prints

its a holiday weekend here in the UK so i'll be back on tuesday for another week of pattern posts. for now i thought i'd leave you with a few snaps of jasper conran prints as seen in debenhams.

cards

im looking at cards again today on P+P. starting with these simple, beautiful, organic designs by bookhou. this toronto based husband & wife team have been fairly well blogged lately, but i just had to show these cards. click here to see the full range of stationery, plus homewares.

contemporary

i love these wonderful cards from 1201 AM, especially the contrast between the cool graphic patterns of the background and the plain linear drawings of the birds. for me they manage to look cool, contemporary & smart, yet cute as well. 1201 AM is the work of graphic designer laurie forehand, and the brand name refers to the first minute of the day.

florals

i first heard about herman yu's cards through designsponge's fabulous ICFF report. this seattle based designer produces great shadow print designs and colourful florals on cards and calendars.

bold

lovely bold designs from brenna giannini at sugar lily.

scrap papers

these are fantastic patterns on scrapbook papers from imagination project. this terrific website offers hours of fun browsing through the different categories. i couldnt stop choosing my faves hence there are so many posted here.

more paper prints

i couldnt resist - a few more great scrapbook papers from imagination project.

placement prints

cute little bits and pieces as seen on japanese site chottofutto .

tableware

cool contemporary prints on tableware, from good old marks & spencer.

neisha crosland

a selection of patterns featured on fabric, wallpaper, fashion, and stationery by neisha crosland.

ps. click here to see an apartment designed by neisha and her sister charlotte

fabric swatch

featured today just because its beautiful, a fabric i saved along time ago, (i think its no longer available) from the magnificent repro depot.

new print book

regular readers will know that my favourite patttern designer is orla kiely, just one of the many great designers featured in 'print in fashion'. this fabulous book by marnie fogg features work & interviews with many of todays top print people : orla, neisha crosland, ann-louise roswald, eley kishimoto, paul smith, and tons more. it gives inside info on the process and inspiration for the designs. i bought it in waterstones for £17.99 and its worth every penny. i'd rate it 10 out of 10. plus its an absolute steal on amazon at the moment just £11.97 !. i cannot recommend this book highly enough. if you love print & pattern you must get this book !
above, the work of orla kiely- below ann-louise roswald
above and below, alexander henry fabrics.
above , 'countdown' by alexander henry, below two from eley kishimoto.
all images taken from 'print in fashion' by marnie fogg. ISBN07134 9012 8.

ILLUSTRATION DAY 2

its illustration day 2, and these birds are the beautifully drawn work susie ghahremani, who is the talented artist behind boy girl party. here you'll find susie's work on cards,bags,badges & mirrors.

intricate

this is the wonderful & intricate work of stockholm based illustrator maja sten.

cute

im just mad about cute illustration, and it doesnt come much cuter than seamripper. i love the look & feel of this website, especially kathleen's illustrated profile. wouldnt it be brilliant if all our CVs looked like this ?.

bold

the dark backgrounds give lucy vigrass' work a distinctive look. very atmospheric.

delicate

pretty florals from artist & illustrator jen lewis . jen also has a cafe press shop here

graphic

finally i couldnt take a look at the world of illustration without including the genius of bo lundberg.

ILLUSTRATION DAY 1

im going to dedicate the next two days on print & pattern to illustration. ive got 10 artists so far that i'd love to feature, so i hope to do 5 today & another 5 tommorow so as not to cause excitment/information overload. first up its the fun & colourful work of yamauchi kazuaki.

weekend stroll

this is the wonderful work of rica takada, the tokyo based illustrator with a fabulous retro style.

rica's work is available on curtains, cushions, and canvases, and books.

stationery etc

its fabulous when an illustrators work is used for surface pattern design to create a whole range of interesting products. here the work of ed emberley can be found on everything from writing paper to laundry bins.

cute

super sweet illustrations from akemi tezuka.

birds

bird design from travis stearns , an illustrator who is still a student but launches a freelance career shortly.

designers

todays posts feature three very talented designers, co-incidently they are all called jill. first up its the wonderful jill bliss, who many of you will already know, but i thought it would be great to take stock of this brilliant portfolio of work. also i see a wide range of prints and illustrations but jill's are pretty unique.

letterpress

next up the most amazingly beautiful letterpress designs from jill deluce.

cards

our third jill is another talented designer. fab cards from jill smith design, and are taken from a wide range of 'social sets' she produces in fresh contemporary styles.

fruit print

i just cant seem to resist looking at japanese websites, so today im doing a little round up of cute things ive seen lately. i saw this folder a while ago on korean website babosarang. it appealed to me because of the bold fruit print and the orla kiely style colour palette. if orla did plastic folders they might look like this.

japanese patterns

wonderful graphic patterns, and simple florals from seiko do

textile prints

next up japanese style with really sweet printed textiles from la chouette.

japanese wrap

cute wrapping paper from wrap fun

sweet

finally today,cute piglets & birds from fabric sachet .

ceramics day

its a ceramics day here on print & pattern, and we're kicking off with these colourful designs from finland's finest marimekko. the diffrence here is that you can get great photographs, maybe better than on marimekko's own websites?, in fantastic detail from japanese website noasis.

retro ceramics

i mentioned this wonderful japanese website in my fukuya post the other day. but here are some more lovely finds from flaska. these are vintage pieces of finnish 'arabia' ceramics, and i especially love all the fruit designs.
all the pieces below, also from flaska, are swedish and by gustavsberg.

designer mug

taken from a range of designer mugs produced for homeless charity 'shelter', this minimal but effective design is by lucienne day. available from heals.

modern ceramics

stunning modern ceramics, but with a nod to retro, by not neutral. i love the whole idea of mixing up lots of different patterns, but keeping them in the same colours. all of these black & white designs would work together.

more mugs

cute spotted mugs from marks & spencer.

paper patterns

more cute scrapbook papers this time from 2 peas in a bucket. there are lots and lots of lovely patterns to browse here.

teatowels

i posted on the gorgeous textiles from clare nicolson back in may, (but i didnt have so many readers back then !) so i thought id do a reminder about this great designer with these lovely new teatowels.

cute badges

regular readers will know that badges feature quite a lot here on P+P, so when i saw these little beauties over at decor 8 the other day i was smitten. holly was doing a piece all about a great company called broadway paper.

graphic motifs

when i first saw these ceramics in the window of heals i thought they might have been by shinzi katoh, but on closer inspection they were from french company ledean & pauvert.

canvas prints

brilliant UK card & gift company earthworks have just launched a range of canvas prints. the designs feature mainly florals & geometrics, and these lovely cakes. in stunning colours they have prices starting at just £10 !. ive posted lots of them because i couldnt decide on favourites, they're all so nice. at the bottom of the post is a reminder of earthworks great cards as well.

retro motifs

vintage ceramics are a constant source of inspiration, and there are plenty of great japanese websites that, luckily for us photograph them in close detail.remember flaska back in april ?. all these images are from fukuya (who also have a really cute logo).

more vintage motifs

another interesting site is kamille .the white pyrex really throws out the designs.

yellow

bang up to date with these ceramics by trish richmond from macy's. i posted them because of the fact they use yellow, something we need to look at for future trends. its a nice combo teaming it with the aqua.

cards

above sophisticated, and below cute, all from kate spade.

kings road shopping

if you're coming to london on research or shopping trips, then a good place to visit is the kings road in chelsea. this is home of top UK british fabric company designers guild. there is a large homestore where you'll find all the beautiful bedlinen, cushions, tableware and accessories, and almost next door on the corner is the showroom. in here you'll find all the fabrics, wallpapers and paints. the images above are from their website and below are those i took at the weekend (it was very sunny hence a few window reflection problems).

kings road dept store

if you arrive at the bottom of the kings road in sloane square (the nearest tube) you will see the department store peter jones, a must see location for pattern fans. the ground floor covers tableware,fabrics, and bedlinen. the store is part of the john lewis group but is far more stylish than its oxford street counterpart. plus its more modern, and its also quieter. i took these snaps last saturday.

kings road cath kidston

there is also a branch of cath kidston on the kings road thats well worth a visit, and a small branch of graham & green which will save you a trek to notting hill if time is limited.

also on the kings road

other stores to see on the kings road are a good sized branch of the UKs best card shop and stationer 'paperchase'.
the london showroom of fabric company 'osborne & little'.
and that of 'crowson' fabrics
and a cute shop owned by emily dyson called 'couverture'.

vintage wallpaper

if, like me, you enjoy browsing through vintage wallpaper designs then eripalmo is a site well worth a visit. the family firm based in ecuador have neatly divided up their wide range of papers into categories making it good fun to search through.

mugs

i bought a great orla kiely mug from the GTC shop in sloane square featuring orla's signature stem print. i cant resist this type of motif so i had to buy this stem print mug i saw in heals too.
below are some further orla kiely mugs in GTC and some cute bird designs too.
above are a few mugs seen in cheap and cheerful wilkinsons.

inspired by.......

.......stem prints. inspired by the mugs in the post above i collected together some stem print images, many of which have been featured on P+P before.

magazines

can anyone help ? ive been to selfridges to look for a copy of the american 'home' magazine. they stock dozens of foreign titles but unfortunately not this one. apparently the magazine has written about print & pattern so i was curious to know what it was all about. if anyone could email me a scan of the page i'd be so so grateful, or i could organise a swap and send over a UK magazine in return.
whilst in selfridges i purchased this italian textile magazine. 'mood' is A3 in size and unstapled so it forms a series of A2 posters. each one has swatches of new fabrics for spring summer 2007 shown at italian trade fairs. the magazine cost £6.90 and can be ordered in the UK through your local newsagent via comag. its also on amazon in the US but not individually, and at the time of writing there is little to see on their own website mood magazine .
if you are really keen you could try the foreign press.

this will show the size of the posters when compared to an adult sized cat. they would be great for a design studio wall as inspiration.

the top two fabrics are from liberty, bottom left by guest, bottom right by mantero.

patterned papers

my research into scrapbooking has led me to the fantastic designs of american crafts .these patterns are from their large collection of papers,but they also have great patterned ribbons and sweet transfers. ive been browsing the site for ages and they are definately one of my faves.

IKEA 07 catalogue

the new ikea book has just dropped through the letterbox. as i flicked through the pages i was amazed at the boldness of the patterns this year. it seems they dont feel the need, like a lot of UK retailers, to 'play it safe' when it comes to textile prints. you only have to look at the double page spread below to see what i mean. ive taken a few snaps of some of the pages for those that have yet to get hold of a copy.

scrapbooking

fellow blogger sarebear left us a comment yesterday saying how she was going to buy these gorgeous stamps by rhonna farrer . obviously that made me curious to find out more about this designer. one thing led to another and i found myself delving into the wonderful world of scrapbooking.

hence todays posts are all about patterns ive seen whilst browsing a few scrapbook sites. starting here with rhona farrer's lovely scrolls, birds, and florals.

contemporary scrapbook

im glad i discovered fontwerks as i really loved this daisy and lattice type design. a great site for contemporary patterns.

patterns

next up its ki memories, who offer fantastic browsing on their website - lots and lots of patterns to see and in a wide range of colourways. really inspiring stuff.

scrapbook tags

ki memories also do these great tags - it fascinated me on the site to see the same designs in different colours and see how it changed.

papers

more interesting designs from we r memory keepers with these patterned papers.

collage press

finally today, patterned cards and envelopes from collage press. but i think the world of scrapbooking has more designs to offer up yet so i will continue my research.

stationary prints

designs on stationary from lab clip.

kath jerrard

cotton canvas artworks for walls from sydney based designer kath jerrard

japanese fabrics

inspiration from la ronde d'argile.

paper bags

i have no idea why they have them, but ive noticed on quite a few japanese sites that there are these little bags for sale, some imply that they are for sugar,coffee, rice etc. im not entirely certain but i do know that these ones from air souvenir have great patterns on. its a curious website that has a passion for retro french souvenirs.

illustrators

whilst researching the work of sanna annukka (keane illustrator) for a moodboard, i somehow stumbled across the work of alice stevenson.(they were possibly on the same course together at brighton uni). i cant seem to resist anything that features birds these days, and the design below is a favourite because it has a really interesting repeat. lovely stuff.

kids design

if you design patterns for children you'll probably be interested to see these 'rub a dub dub' accessories from japan(below). above are cake cases by shinzi kahto. i just liked the fruit design ! all as seen at quatre leaves.

vintage patterns

a few patterns spotted in a charity shop last weekend.

fabric swatch

swatches from fashion fabrics club.

colours

check out these colourful cards by tobi wood. i love the solid backgrounds, where else would you find this much colour outside of a pantone book. tobi sweetly summed up her work when she told me "it seems that whenever i sit down to doodle, flowers come out." have a look at tobi's beautiful designs here, they look so good in sets that it would be cool to put them on the wall together.

new prints

these are gorgeous textiles from newly graduated textile designers barbara massey & helen rogers. the collection has just been launched at the 'one year on' exhibition. no website or details yet as these girls are brand new- but look out for them as im sure things are about to take off for massey and rogers.

japanese fabrics

these patterns are from another one of those japanese websites where you dont know much about it (because you cant read japanese) but you know you like it. fabrics from mamekichi