One of the joys of Winter is the wardrobe that comes with it! The layering of textures and garments and accessories – oh my! For those who think prints are best saved for Spring & Summer, think again! The layering and clashing of prints is perfectly suited to an outift where more is more.
We thought we’d put the spotlight on a few of our Fabric Shop classics which are perfect textile designs to wear during the cooler months. What ties these designs together is their cool colour palette, a heavy focus on texture and their creation which relied on purely digital techniques and methods of manipulation. Introducing ‘Blue Fall’, ‘Brilliant Cactus’ and ‘The New Check’.
Blue Fall
This dizzying haze of aqua, violet and jade features digital paint brush textures which create a print that feels like an abstract checkered design. We love this contemporary reinterpretation of a winter wardrobe staple.
Brilliant Cactus
This graphic print pairs bright and neutral colours to create a design that is both bold and versatile. ‘Brilliant Cactus’ is bursting with energy and is a great example of a deconstructed floral print.
The New Check
This geometric print puts a kaleidoscopic spin on a classic red tartan print. This design works well worn on its own, or if you’re feeling adventurous, take some style tips from Fran Fine and pair this with an animal print!
We’ve popped some inspiration below of similar design styles and print combinations!
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
We’d love to know what you think these designs, or any of the others in our Fabric Shop, would be perfect for – so get in touch!
Snippets. Chats with Creatives.
Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes print designers tick.
This series we are focusing on textile designers as our creatives to get into the nitty gritty of the thing we love the most, textiles and surface design! We have asked a different set of questions relative to this and as always we hope to inspire others by sharing snippets of these creative stories.
Today we are chatting to Crystal Kruger from Sydney based Textile studio ‘Skye St Studio‘ who offer a range of services such as textile design, colour matching, pattern grading and mood board creation. They have a range of fun, bright and often hand painted prints that you can license or buy exclusively for all sorts of projects and needs as well as offering custom illustrations and design work.
Tell us a bit about yourself, your brand/label name what your creative practice is, how and when you began:
My name is Crystal Kruger and I am the designer behind Skye St. Studio. I am a textile and surface pattern designer and also a design educator. My career began straight out of school, studying fashion and textile design and technology education at the Whitehouse Institute of Design in Sydney. I have spent the last decade both teaching textiles and design subjects to students, as well as starting my own business as a textile designer. For me it has always been textiles or fashion in some form or another that fill my heart and fuel my inspiration. It took me a bit longer to realise the textile design was the right fit.
Where do you call home and what is your favourite thing about where you live?
I live in Sydney, Australia which is such an exciting, vibrant and inspiring place to be. Everything is fast paced but there is a wonderful balance between the urban and natural landscapes. I love being able to explore the ocean, the rivers and the mountains which surround Sydney but then also experience the wonderful, eclectic mix of cultures (and foods!) that inhabit this place. Culture, travel and nature are some of my biggest inspirations.
What 3 words best describe your creative style.
Colourful, painterly and fun! Trend-driven designs with soul.
Tell us a bit about what kind of studio, space or practice you run? Do you sell online or license your prints, do you do commissions or lots of freelance and what do you like doing the most?
Skye St. Studio is a very flexible design studio. Because it is so small I can be agile and accommodating to the needs of different clients. I sell the copyright to textile and surface pattern designs outright, as well as licensing prints through the catalogue on my website. At Skye St. Studio, I often work with local makers and other small businesses, but also larger companies and I love the variety that comes from working with different creative businesses. I do commission based pattern design and have worked with clients to design a range of other products including logos, tote bags layouts, soft toys and bespoke wall art for giftware. Skye St. Studio offers freelance design services as well and I would love to build that side of my business further. I also have an exclusive collection of designs available through Pattern Observer Studio. These are shown at trade shows such as Premiere Vision and Surtex but are also available for viewing at any time through Pattern Observer.
Do you have a favourite medium and/or method to work with, if so what is it and why?
My favourite way to design Skye St. Studio prints is to paint. I love to put some music on, something like The National and let the creativity flow. Sometimes I will just paint freehand, other times I will sketch first. I love to use gouache paints mostly, but also ink and watercolours. Not all Skye St. Studio prints are painted, but all are hand-illustrated before they are digitised. Colour is quite intuitive for me and so I tend to pick my palette right at the start of a project. I usually work with inspiration images in front of me, such as a Pinterest board I have created, a mood board I put together, or reference images from a client brief. I love the subtle variations of colour and texture that paint allows me to capture in my prints. I really feel this adds life and soul to my prints.
Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?
Well, I love all of the creative process! But I must say, there is nothing like getting your hands on a new design brief or a new idea. I love that inspiration and idea development phase, putting together a mood board and sourcing amazing imagery. In that moment I love the sense of purpose, drive and that excited feeling in my stomach. I love the potential of that stage and the intuitiveness of being inspired. I feel that this is a real strength of mine as a designer, I am very good at synthesising the mood of a brief and bringing ideas together.
What would you say is the biggest challenge when running your own business, what is your favourite and least favourite part?
The biggest challenge is the potential for isolation. As a designer we can get some absorbed in our thoughts and be in our heads too much. But also as a small business, it is easy to forget that other designers just like us are struggling with the same business challenges. It is really important to try and build a network of people that you can chat with and share your journey with. Often you are working from home or in a studio on your own and it can be a bit lonely at times. I love having someone else around to just ask, ‘what do you think of this?’ Otherwise it is so easy to overthink things! Finding the right clients can sometimes be a challenge as well, being a small business.
The best part is the creative freedom and the satisfaction I get from fulfilling my creative goals. When you have a win, it is amazing! I love it when a client gives me great feedback and I see them getting excited like I am about a print I am working on. That validation is amazing as a designer. It is wonderful working for myself, because I can choose what and who I want to work with as well. After the restrictions of working in schools for many years, I love the flexibility of being able to work from my studio or a cafe, to set my own schedule and to dress like me!
What would your dream creative project or collaboration look like? Tell us about why you would love to collaborate with them and what you find inspiring about their work.
My dream project would be to have my own print-driven, body positive clothing range. My background is in fashion and I have always approached clothing as a form of expression. Prints say so much about the wearer, which I love! Yes, trends come and go, but if you can find pieces for your wardrobe that really sing and show the world who you are, then that is a wonderful thing. I feel it is especially hard to find fashion like this for women size 14 and up. Your options become so limited and I think everyone deserves to be able to buy clothes they love, no matter your size.
What projects or collaborations from last year stuck out, good or bad and what is coming up over this year that you would like to plug!
I have a brand new collab which is launching right now and I am super excited about it. I recently worked with fashion designer Kathryn Shaw of Rattamatatt on her new spring collection called Jungle Fever, which is available for preorders on Etsy from 5th August. She has featured Skye St. Studio hand painted patterns from my Jungle Snakes print collection on her garments and it all looks so amazing! Kathryn has been a dream to work with and I am so proud of what we have created – we hope you all love it too!
All of Rattamatatt’s designs are classic and vintage cuts with a focus on fit and they all feature gorgeous, fun, modern prints with personality. Kathryn is all about slow fashion and ethical clothing production, making everything herself. I love this design philosophy and she has made my prints look absolutely fantastic on her garments! With Rattamatatt’s silhouettes and Skye St. Studio prints, the Jungle Fever collection is fun, bright and whimsical – check it out online! Stay tuned to our social media accounts also, as there may just be a fun little giveaway in the works, where you can score yourself some original Ratamatatt x Skye St. Studio goodness! Jungle Fever Collection available for preorder on 5th August 2019 at Rattamatatt’s Etsy store.
Where would you like to see your work featured?
One day I would love to see my work adorning some amazing dress in Vogue or for sale in Gorman! I am obsessed with their artist collabs haha.
You can find what Crystal is upto here: Website, Instagram, Facebook.
Back in 2016 we worked with designer Elba Valerde from Live Colorful to create a range of prints for our Fabric Shop which perfectly encapsulated her fun and vibrant style. We thought the change in season made for the perfect time to revisit one of our brightest collections; the Live Colorful Collection, and hopefully inspire some creative DIY projects for the Winter months!
The Live Colorful range has been inspired by the beauty found in nature. Floral and botanic shapes have been photographed, studied and doodled, translating intricate forms into minimal, playful shapes.
Selecting a vibrant yet restricted colour palette was also essential to creating these designs. The use of primary colours, white and hot pink, give this range a carefree feel. The chosen colours paired with simplistic shapes results in a collection that is both timeless and fun, with a touch of Scandi textile flair.
The Live Colorful Collection can be used for cushion covers, tablecloths, table runners, napkins and curtains, just to name a few. Check out our DIY resources for both curtains and bean bag covers using these designs for more inspiration!
Whilst the range was originally designed with homewares in mind we’ve found this bold style of design is perfect for fashion applications as well! We’ve included some images below of similar prints to show you how they can be used in your wardrobe!
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
We’d love to know what you think of the Live Colorful Collection, so get in touch!
It’s that time again – our design team has been busy working to deliver new range of textile designs for our Fabric Shop that delight and inspire. Having focused solely on digital methods to create designs for our previous launch we’ve returned to hand-drawn and hand-painted motifs, texture and line for our latest range. Introducing our Wildflower Collection.
Once again we found ourselves being inspired by nature. It’s hard not to be when it still feels like Summer in Sydney. Our research began by collecting imagery of picture perfect gardens and the creatures that lie within them. These were then used to start drawing and painting interesting forms and surfaces.
From the variety of motifs drawn, a selection of watercolour elements were chosen to develop further for the range, with detail rich designs being an area of focus. We wanted to create a range of prints where the designs could work on their own as well as complement each other when used together. By choosing the unifying feature of watercolour motifs across the range we knew we could be experimental with colour and still create a balanced and harmonious collection.
The Wildflower Collection plays with primary colours throughout the designs, with warm and cool variations of reds, yellows and blues being seen throughout. This balancing of undertones and vibrant colours results in a fun range of designs perfect for those who love to make a statement by mixing and matching bold prints together. We’ve included some reference imagery below that show not only designs comparable to those in this collection, but also those that celebrate the art of clashing prints.
image via Pinterest
image via Pinterest
image via Pinterest
image via Pinterest
image via Pinterest
The Wildflower Collection is full of dramatic colours, textural hand-drawn elements and motifs that feel both ‘naughty and nice’. Whilst ‘Viper Sun’ and ‘Tea Party’ are best suited for fashion rather than homewares, ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Zephyr’ can definitely work well for both. We’d love to know what sort of applications you think these designs would be perfect for – so get in touch! Designs are available in our Fabric Shop now.
Recently when we’ve launched a new range of prints we’ve taken the time to put together a blog post that details the creative process behind the collection. We thought it would be a fabulous opportunity to revisit some of the past textile collections in our Fabric Shop and share the inspiration, techniques and methods that went into the creation of these designs. For this textile retrospective we’re focusing on one of our most popular ranges – The Luxe Collection. The range features 6 key designs, with some available in multiple colourways, resulting in a rich 10 piece collection.
Palazzo Colonna Rome – nikyrovis.com.au
Dulux Styling – we-are-scout.com
Dulux Styling – we-are-scout.com
Villandry Wallpaper Styling – stylelibrary.com
The Luxe Collection wanted to celebrate the essential role that textiles and prints play in designing really sumptuous interiors. The layering of different colours and textures together elevates a space and gives it that luxurious feel. Our design team wanted to apply this same logic to a textile collection by playing around with different colours, techniques and imagery.
The first design element we worked on was colour. We wanted to select a colour palette that created a sense of opulence all on its own. The secondary colours of green and purple were selected as focal points, with distinct choices for each being used, including hot pink, sage green, indigo and spearmint. The colour palette has cool undertones throughout and is reminiscent of gem stones.
The creative process then varied for each of the designs. For the ‘Bold Rose’ prints, photographs taken at The Royal Botanic Garden were digitally manipulated to create moody large scale prints. The ‘Watercolour Pink’ and ‘Circular Peony’ were created from hand drawn watercolour illustrations which gives the designs a free-flowing aesthetic. ‘Mramor Ice’ was created using marbling techniques, which also provides an organic feel, whilst ‘Elephant Ear’ and the ‘Cutout’ prints were designed entirely digitally as a point of difference within the range.
This variation between designs creates a really interesting narrative throughout the collection where the prints can either work alone or harmonise beautifully together. The Luxe Collection is a series of statement prints certain to give any space a touch of flair.
We’d love to know what sort of project you would like to use these designs for, or perhaps the projects you’ve already used them for – so please get in touch! Designs are available in our Fabric Shop now.
We had so much fun creating our last collection we thought we’d release another range of beautiful fabric prints dedicated to florals. This time round we completely changed our creative process to deliver fabric prints that felt entirely different to the soft, inky designs of the Palamporia Collection. Introducing our new Folk Flora range, which is available now in our Fabric Shop.
To make sure we were creating floral motifs that felt new we put the watercolours away! This time we wanted to focus on the textures and line work that could be achieved by working digitally only. This does unfortunately mean that we don’t have any gorgeous process illustrations to share, however we think the end results are stunning enough!
We began by collecting images of flowers to draw from, as well as endless scans and photographs we’d gathered of interesting textures. We drew our floral motifs digitally, giving them crisp sharp lines and overtly simplified shapes reminiscent of retro floral forms.
We then began to play with our gallery of photographs and scans. These images were manipulated, distorted and layered to come up with interesting designs to use to fill our floral motifs. Some designs, such as ‘Kaleidoscope Garden’, layer several of these digital textures to create a really rich patchwork, whilst others like ‘Stormy Blossom’ choose to showcase just one gorgeous texture. The strictly digital process of drawing, cutting and collaging resulted in designs that had a vintage flair, so accordingly we chose a warm colour palette that reflected this outcome.
With so many of our prints starting with hand-drawn elements it was refreshing to try a whole new process with a different set of restrictions and possibilities. The Folk Flora Collection creates retro feeling designs for the digital age, and can work for both fashion and interiors applications.
We’d love to know what sort of project you think this range would be perfect for – so get in touch! Designs are available in our Fabric Shop now.
Hello 2019 – we hope everyone is feeling refreshed after the break! We know it can be hard staying motivated after taking some much needed time off, so to help keep everyone on track with making 2019 a year full of creativity we’ve launched a brand new range of textile designs that feel summery, fresh and timeless. Introducing our Palamporia Collection.
When embarking on designing a new range we found ourselves being drawn to the intricately detailed and beautiful tradition of Palampore textiles. These textiles were common across India during the 18th century and often featured hand-painted and hand-dyed designs depicting botanic motifs.
The creative process began by collecting gorgeous reference imagery and local flowers to draw from, and then illustrating the motifs in pencil. A warm colour palette was then selected inspired by colours commonly found in natural and vegetable dyes, such as indigo and turmeric. The painting of delicate floral motifs using water colours then became a worthwhile labour of love.
When putting the textile designs together it was important to mimic the undulating nature of the inky textures with interesting use of negative space and organic placement of elements. In some of the designs that have a more formal layout, the curved lines and water colour medium helps to give them a free-flowing feel.
The Palamporia Collection puts a contemporary spin on the tradition of Palampore textiles, providing a pared-back style with a limited colour palette. The play between lovingly painted details and crisp negative space shows its versatility. We can see these prints working well for both fashion and interiors applications. Gorgeous summer dresses and linen pants, and fresh feeling bedding and cushion covers spring to mind. We’d love to know what sort of projects you think these designs would be perfect for so please get in touch! Designs are available in our Fabric Shop now.
The end of year break is almost upon us! It’s a time that feels undeniably Australian for many of us, with road trips to the beach, seafood on Christmas Day and the annoying song of a mosquito to keep you up at night. We let this drive our creativity for our latest textile range, and have produced a range of prints inspired by the uniqueness of Australian flora and fauna. We’re excited to introduce our last range of prints for 2018, our Native Whimsy Collection.
Sprinkled Gumnut
We feel like the magic of Christmas invited our inner child to take control of our approach to this range as were drawn to naïve, rounded forms, reminiscent of the images found in children’s books. This sweet illustrative style gave a soft finish to typically jagged plants and bushy animals.
Ruffled Feathers
Ruffled Feathers
The elements which feature in the Native Whimsy Designs were first drawn with pencil before being brought to life with watercolour paints. The inky textures of watercolours suited the sweet drawing style we has embraced. The hand-painted nature of the designs provides textural balance for otherwise simple motifs.
Sprinkled Gumnut
Sprinkled Gumnut
Native Whimsy pairs big bold colours, such as hot pink and emerald green with plenty of white negative space and earthy neutrals. The result is a set of prints which makes wearing colour, or introducing statement hues into the home, a breeze.
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
The Native Whimsy Collection is a celebration of the wildlife that doesn’t make the regular ‘animal print’ or ‘floral print’ cut. We’d love to know what you think of these designs and how you think they would best be used so get in touch! Prints are available in our Fabric Shop now.
It feels as though we’ve been hit with a heatwave! & what better way to celebrate things heating up than with a fun new range of textile prints that simply scream Summer. For these designs we’ve been inspired by the beautiful simplicity of summer fruits. We are very excited to introduce our new Tutti Fruity Collection.
Creative inspo came straight from our green grocer, and we were really excited to create a range of playful designs that celebrated simple motifs familiar to everyone. The range includes a quirky minimal print, a tangerine dream and a seriously sweet statement print.
A mixture of acrylic paints and watercolours were used to create the artwork for this range, resulting in a range of interesting and juicy textures. The hand-painted nature of the designs gives the range a lazily elegant feel.
It wouldn’t be a summer fruits inspired range without plenty of colour, and our design team did not hold back. The collection features plenty of bold colours and primary brights in perfect contrast to ensure balance within the prints.
The Tutti Fruity collection has been designed as a celebration of enjoying the little things, and we must admit we are definitely enjoying the change of season. We love to know what you think these designs would be perfect for so get in touch. Prints are available in our Fabric Shop now.
This year’s big chill has had us dreaming of warmer climates, and in anticipation for sun drenched adventures and hot summer nights, our design team has been working hard on a new range of exotic prints for our fabric shop. We are very excited to introduce our new Animalistic Innocence Collection.
To create this playful range we we’re taking creative cues straight out of the Jungle Book, and wanted to create a visual narrative around the serene beauty of temperate forests, the thrill of being wild and the romance of being far away from home.
The gorgeous jungle inspired artwork for this range was painted using both inky watercolours and rugged dry brush techniques to create a variety of textures, line and form. It was important to maintain a naivety to the style of the design elements to give a sense of child-like wonder and curiosity.
Colour was central when designing this collection and a palette of luxurious greens, blues, golds and blush pinks were chosen. All of the motifs were then digitally manipulated and layered to create lush repeat patterns, full of interest and drama.
The Animalistic Innocence Collection has been designed to help you shake off those winter blues by taking you off the beaten path, so go wild for your next DIY textiles project and let our playful range of prints stir up some creative instincts. We’d love to know what you think these designs would be perfect for so get in touch! Prints are available in our Design Library now.