print & pattern: November 2006

IM ON HOLIDAY

huge thanks to everyone whos been reading print & pattern, as from today im off on holiday for a few weeks, taking in new york, las vegas, and san francisco. in the meantime i'd invite anybody who has landed here searching for inspiration to check the archives, (just click on any of the months listed on the right) where you'll find hundreds of images and links to brilliant designs, companies, and stores. big apologies to anyone who has emailed me lately, ive gotten a bit behind on corrspondence what with preparations for the trip, plus my brothers vegas wedding, the UK wedding, and getting my work up to date before i go away. ive had around 250 emails over the last month or so, hence i havent been able to reply to everyone yet. rest assured all recommendations and images are saved, and i'll post the good ones on my return. thanks to everyone who has emailed kind words about P+P. hope to see everyone back here in december.

ONE LAST POST BEFORE I GO - my personal favourite blogs below ....

IF YOU LIKE PRINT & PATTERN...

........ then you'll love these.

seeing as im deserting you for the rest of the month i thought i'd share with you my personal favourite blogs that i love to read. you'll never be short of daily eye candy with these great blogs. many of you will know them already, but if any are new to you please give them a look.

and of course dont forget old favourites we all love like design*sponge

and decor8

paper bag pattern

cute carrier bag from fabric company jane churchill featuring a bright foliage pattern.

digital prints

theres a great range of digital art on display using florals and geometrics at image service. visit the sight for illustrations and abstracts that can be printed onto any substrait for use in interiors.

placement prints

patterns on mugs, doormats & a screen from the dot com gift shop.

books i dont own

when im browsing websites i often come across bookcovers that catch my eye, so i save them in a scrapbook. these are some of the designs on books i dont own but enjoy looking at the covers anyway.

VINTAGE PATTERNS

ive got that vintage feeling again on print & pattern today, with a series of posts featuring designs on vintage ceramics and glass. i recently found these lovely close ups of fire king on the website heavenz kitchen. does anyone know where i might see some fire king in new york or san francisco ? it would be great to find some pieces when im on holiday next week.

RETRO MOTIFS

regular readers will know i have a slight obsession with vintage milk glass patterns. here are pieces by fire king, pyrex, federal, and glasbake all from rough diamond.

GLASS PRINTS

vintage motifs on ceramics & glassware from collectibles website blue dot.

PRINTED GLASS

vintage patterned glass by hazel atlas, as seen at japanese site dips.

WINTER TIME

with the new emerging trend of trees and woodland motifs i thought i'd take a look at illustrations from the book 'era inverno' (winter time) by aoi huber kono.

click here for aoi's website and to view her extensive portfolio of work.

ILLUSTRATOR

the work of illustrator yoshiko inaki as viewed on the pict website. see the next post for more artists.

ILLUSTRATION AGENCY pict

cool japanese illustrations from pict an illustration management company. top image by ikemi tezuka, above masashi uno. below image with vases from tesuro ohno!.

above the work of yukiko takamiya.
below designs by yumiko adachi.

cozy tomato

the cute works of cozy tomato, a japanese illustrator who produces work for books, magazines, products and advertising. if you are designing print or pattern for children this work could be pretty inspiring.

WRAPPING PAPER

some wrapping paper picked up this weekend in my favourite stationery shop paperchase. above brightly coloured deer who have angular edges and below, beautiful black & white baroque paper that will do for christmas and beyond.

christmas inspiration

ive been looking back through my archive of christmas cards & wrap. some are from cards i bought in packs and kept one back for myself, others are saved from those given to me. ive picked out a few here that still look great despite being from past seasons.

paperchase xmas cards

various christmas cards seen in paperchase this season.

CAT WRAP

the excellent 'absolute zero degrees' have designed patterns for wrapping paper as part of sheba's christmas advertising campaign. whats so cool about it is when you look closely at the snowflakes they are made from cats in various poses (apparently modelled by their own cat lucan !). they've also had their wallpaper featured in the book 'new decor' by elizabeth wilhide.

kelly hoppen at BHS

top interior designer kelly hoppen has teamed up with BHS (british homes stores) to design an exclusive range of accessories. entitled KHOME there are over 180 products split over two collections, all very stylish and featuring some great patterns, like this vase above.

IN STORES - style

the following posts are all snaps of patterns seen this weekend. above, branch type print on a cushion from cargo homestore. below black & white designs from tiger.

below, bag prints, and 'country living' design all from boots.

chandalier notebooks from paperchase.

IN STORES - cute

a selection of cute designs snapped in stores, everything in the post from accessorize, except the badges at the bottom of the post from wh smith.

IN STORES - window graphics

visual merchandising graphics seen this weekend as christmas windows begin to pop up all over the high street. above, snowflakes from marks & spencer, below loosely drawn motifs from new look.

below ornate graphics from top shop.

DESIGNER

i recieved an email on monday from illustrator and graphic designer sandra isaksson inviting me to view her newly opened web shop. based in the UK sandra is originally from sweden and has a fantastic portfolio of work. i love so many of her designs, especially the use of graph paper as pattern within the motifs.

ISAK products

as well as being a wonderfully talented illustrator and graphic designer sandra has also applied her patterns to a range of products, and has opened an online shop. click here to view the shop, or enquire about stocking her lovely goods in your own shop.

retro prints

vintage wallpaper prints, as seen at 5qm

PATTERN CRAZY

these gorgeous designs are the work of pattern crazy a UK based design studio. rachael and stephen allen have been designing patterns for stationery, textiles, tableware, etc, for 10 years and have built up an impressive list of clients. click here to visit their pattern website.

above, just some of their various designs for products , left, a picture from their studio in gloucestershire. pattern crazy also have a graphic design sister company called 'one point oh', where they've recently started a blog.