Snippets’. Chats with Creatives. Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes designers tick. This series is all about asking some fun and different questions and learning about the inspirations and ideas behind the artist and their work. We hope to inspire others by sharing snippets of these creative stories. We gave the artists and designers featured a varied list of questions to choose from so we will learn something new from everyone involved, should be fun!
Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Anna Hayman, a UK based print designer who creates fabrics, wallpaper and other homewares from original lino printing and ink drawings. Her work is influenced by the art and craft era as well as the sixties and seventies which is clear in her current work.
The Snippety Snips:
Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:
I am a British print designer specialising in printed lampshades, wallpapers, fabrics and cushions. I create my designs from linoprints and ink paintings. I began trading in February 2016
Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?
My favourite part is transforming artwork – in my case a Lino print or an ink painting – into a pattern. Pattern is my utter obsession so creating repeat designs from artwork is a really exciting point for me, often there are literally endless possibilities of how it can be repeated, mirrored or formed, and seeing that take shape is completely thrilling. That comes just before the worst part, getting the pattern to repeat, which can take forever and is truly boring! Luckily I’m a bit of a geek 🙂
How would you describe your work, and what influences your style? I would describe my work as half hippy, half traditionalist, intricate, relaxed and colourful. I’m influenced by old English styles, I visit a lot of old places, and 1920’s places, but also love Bohemian 70’s style. Creatives I’m influenced by are Celia Birtwell, Biba, The Bloomsbury Group, Olaf Hajek, Aubrey Beardsley and many more.
In another life what natural talent would you wish for?
Writing! I have been reading a lot about the lives of writers recently and I must say it does seem an appealing occupation. I’ve always told myself I am terrible at writing, especially copy, but really I just haven’t had the space to explore it. I would love to take a summer learning how to construct a book, for instance.
Which other Australian designers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment?
Estelle Briedis, for her exacting palettes of colour, Nine Lives Bazaar for their beautiful brand building skills and photography, and Instagram legend @labohemehouseofthewishingtrees for her inspiring and abundant use of brights with white, and layering of textures.
If you could only use one colour in your work what would it be?
Hard question! But I’m crushing hard on jade at the moment, a sort of greenish turquoise, a colour which can be hot and cool, and quenching somehow. I’d find it hard to live without orange though, deep vibrant orange, warm and fresh at the same time.
If you could have your portrait painted by any artist dead or alive, who would you choose?
Lucian Freud, not just because I love his work (I love flat looking paintings with a lot of detail) but because I feel I have the right sort of face for his portraiture.
Which five words best describe you?
English, rebellious, clever, arty, fun.
Love your Locals:
City/Town/Village where you currently reside:
Ringmer in Sussex, England.
Favourite spot for a bite:
Any good seafood restaurant, or sushi place.
Secret Inspirational spot:
Charleston farmhouse, the Bloomsbury group country house hotspot of the 1920’s, which is 15 minutes from where I live.
You can follow what Anna is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook
Here at Digital Fabrics we have a very exciting textile collection to launch just before the end of the year, with a really fun range of fabric prints to get you through Summer. The designs are inspired by dynamic and quirky Memphis design surface patterns and uses contrasting colours, shapes and textures to create playful designs that can be used together or on their own.
All of the print designs started out on paper! By using different mark making processes with a variety of materials such as markers, paints, pens and sponges, graphic shapes and surfaces began to emerge. These were then dissected and collaged together to create interesting designs with lots of energy.
Colour is such a key component of this collection and it was really important to get them right. We combined very on trend pastel shades, with timeless neutrals, and whites to contrast with bold blacks and splashes of electric warm colours.
The Memphis Summer Collection is perfect to get those creative juices flowing over the next few months! Whether it’s making something in time for an event over the festive season or it’s because you’ve finally some free time to work on a DIY project, Digital Fabrics can help out with your fabric printing needs. We see these designs working for both interiors and fashion, with statement cushions and fabulous Summer dresses being the first things that come to mind!
The Memphis Summer Collection is available for purchase in our Design Library!
We’re very excited here at Digital Fabrics to be dropping another range of yummy prints! This time we’re inspired by bold earthy colours and organic forms, bringing to you a collection of hand painted, textural abstract designs.
Our Sunset Gum design is a small scale abstract print with bold contrasting colours. Who doesn’t love a splash of red?
Our Blush Pebble design is a medium scale graphic print. We just can’t get enough of pink!
Our Ochre Scatter design is a small scale print with a fabulous burnt vermilion colourway, able to liven up any space or outfit!
Our Clay design is a medium scale print with bold geometric shapes and a deep warm colour palette.
The Artful Simplicity collection is available for purchase in our Design Library. We can’t wait to see what you do with them!
Exciting news! We have a new competition for all Textile designers out there, budding or experienced. The theme is ‘Palm Springs’. We know, fun right?
Create a fabric design for ‘interiors’ or ‘fashion’ inspired by ‘Palm Springs’ using any method you want. This could be photograph, paint, collage, sketch and could be based on colour, texture, architecture or landscape, there are no boundaries. Let your creativity GO WILD!
There will be 3 winners:
1st Prize will receive $250 worth of custom printing on a fabric from our stock plus a 45cm x 45cm cushion on waratah with their winning design, insert included.
2nd Prize will receive $100 worth of custom printing on a fabric plus a 45cm x 45cm cushion on waratah with their winning design, insert included.
3rd Prize will receive $50 worth of custom printing on a fabric plus a 45cm x 45cm cushion on waratah with their winning design, insert included.
All top ten designs will receive a strike-off of their design.
How it works:
Create it. Design it. Share it! Get your friends to share it too.
Why?
The top 10 designs will be voted for by the public, so share your designs with your friends, get them voting for you!
From the Top 10, there will also be one public voted winner, this will be the design that gets the most likes and the prize will be one 45cm x 45cm cushion with their design. Yay!
The competition will open on Saturday 21st October and close on Thursday 16th November at 9am Eastern Standard Time. All voting will close at 9am Eastern Standard Time Monday 20th November.
Top 10 will be announced on Monday 20th November on social media and will be featured on our website.
Winners will be announced on Friday 24th November.
Rules:
- Upload your design onto your Instagram account.
- Add the tag: #dfpalmsprings and tag us: Digital Fabrics @digitalfabrics so we can find your entry! If you don’t use the correct hash tag we may not see your design.
- We love to know the story behind the design and what inspired you so tell us everything!
All designs must be submitted by Thursday 16th November 9am Eastern Standard Time to be included in the competition.
Just a little inspiration for you to enjoy:
Terms and conditions:
This competition for Australian residents only.
Please use the correct hashtag to be included: #dfpalmsprings and tag us @digitalfabrics to ensure we can see your entry.
Only entries with the correct hashtag #dfpalmsprings will be in the running of the competition.
Unlimited entries allowed.
The team at Digital Fabrics will choose the finalists.
The winning prize can be used for one fabric type only from our stock fabric collection.
The 45cm x 45cm cushion will be printed front and back and mailed to you.
We can’t wait to see all the designs!
DF Team
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Snippets’. Chats with Creatives. Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes designers tick. This series is all about asking some fun and different questions and learning about the inspirations and ideas behind the artist and their work. We hope to inspire others by sharing snippets of these creative stories. We gave the artists and designers featured a varied list of questions to choose from so we will learn something new from everyone involved, should be fun!
Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Margot Warre from Margot Design, a Sydney based Textile artist and designer with a passion for supporting Local and Ethical Production.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:
Creative practice for me is all about telling a story through my designs. That story will be carried all the way through the complete integrity of the design – where the designs are printed, finishing style and packaging.
I want to tell stories about the city I love. When I first started designing it was all about the trends in NY, London etc which didn’t resonate with me. I felt that my country and city is so unique that we didn’t have to look to others for inspiration it is all around us. Inspiration and stories such as uniqueness of Sydney summer, the beach on a winters day and more recently the beautiful Art Deco buildings all over Sydney.
After I have the realised the story – I start researching images, sketching, painting patterns sometimes in gauche, water colour, texta, collecting scraps of fabrics, paper – a real mixture of process, never are two collections developed the same way.
The sketches are scanned and then played with in illustrator and photoshop to create the designs digitally. I started designing my own range of textiles after years of designing for some of the industry leaders, such as Warwick Fabrics. I moved back to Sydney after living in Melbourne and began my own ranges.
Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?
Putting a concept / mood boards together, sourcing images that communicate your idea and colour palette. I could look for images for hours.
Which five words best describe you?
I have been told and don’t disagree: Energetic, Fun, Personable.
How would you describe your work, and what influences your style?
It has a very distinctive style, it not pretty style but handsome and I would hope reflects how we live in Australia.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I am up early and generally do most of my work after a morning workout before heading to my “day” job.
What would your dream creative project look like?
I would love to work on a full collection of prints, weaves, knits, embroideries all made here in Australia and then work with an amazing photographer to shoot the collection.
Which other Australian designers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment?
Loving what the Mirador team are doing with their textiles and knits
What has been your proudest achievement to date, creative or otherwise?
That changes, I had so many amazing moments working with Mokum and Warwick, travelling to international mills and textile trade fairs. But I do get a huge buzz when someone buys one of my designs.
If you could spend a day in another artist’s studio shoes who would that artist be?
Ahhhh that is SO hard – Sonia Dealunay
In another life what natural talent would you wish for?
I would love to be a dancer….. Another way of using my energy and being creative
If you could only use one colour in your work what would it be?
PINK! And all is shades.
Love your Locals:
City/Town/Village where you currently reside:
Sydney
Favourite spot for a bite:
Love Supreme, Oxford Street
Secret Inspirational spot:
Swims at Bronte pool on a winters day
You can follow what Margot is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook
WIN! Halloween is around the corner and we want to celebrate with this week’s giveaway! Digital Fabrics prints all sorts of designs on fabric so we wanted to celebrate with Halloween print fabrics and 2 lucky winners will get 1m! OR we will print the Halloween print on matt lycra with leggings shape so the winner only needs to cut and create it.
You probably have several ideas in mind but maybe you don’t know where to start as you never designed a print. Digital Fabrics helps you bring your creative ideas to life and this week we used Picmonkey to make it happen.
The Halloween print designs were created by Jocelina Paixão Fortes, the creative behind the sewing & travel channel Pink Chocolate Break and webshop Paixão Fortes. She created these fun & spooky prints with Picmonkey.
“Picmonkey is a great tool to create unique designs with as they have custom layers and visuals for every festive occasion from Halloween to Valentine’s Day. I used the edit option and choose the Halloween prints available and pasted it on a white canvas.”
Now join us on Facebook & Instagram and win 2m of Halloween Print fabrics! The winner will be announced on Wednesday!
If you don’t win, don’t worry as these Halloween print fabric designs will be available in the DF fabric shop for purchase.
Good luck!
Halloween is one of those holidays you can go all out when it comes to creativity. From DIY Halloween costumes to spooky table runners, it’s the perfect event to go all out and add a personal touch to your outfit and your home. Our mission at Digital Fabrics is to help you to bring your creativity and your amazing ideas to life!
If you’re having a themed Halloween party creating custom made fabrics is the way to go to make it cohesive, fun and have the colors that you want. But what do you choose?
If you’re in need for some fun Halloween prints ideas for fabrics check out these 13 ‘scary’ designs below for inspiration. Create your design, Upload and pay, Receive your fabric!
All our products are 100% Printed and made in Australia
Which print is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below?
We are introducing our new fabric designer JeliRAD. JeliRAD won our Winter Blooms fabric design competition and her winning design is for sale our fabric shop!
Her Double Exposure print is a beautiful romantic floral design that is great for a dress or swimwear and is easy to wear and implement within various fashion garments.
JeliRAD is a passionate surface designer her work is inspired by surrounds and nature. She lives in beautiful Byron Bay surrounded by pristine beaches, sunshine & rugged wilderness.
She made this design using 35mm double exposure photos. They are of her husband, her daughter, & landscapes that are overlapped with pink & purple flowers from all over the island.
Do you love this design? Support JeliRAD! Pick this design and print on any of our stock fabric, whichever is suitable for your project!
And for a limited time only, we are offering an introductory prices. Don’t miss the chance to buy JeriRADs Double Exposure fabric, use INTRO promo code on checkout and get 10% off. This offer will last till the end of this month only!
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Till the end of this year we will be running creative fabric design workshops and classes. Please check our dates below, spaces are limited so book your workshop now!
Courses and Workshops :
- Fabric Design Course “Ideas to Reality”, Every Tuesday evening from 2nd of August till 30th of August.
- Design Your Own Scarf, 16th July Saturday, full day
- Design Your Own Scarf, 20th July Wednesday, full day
- Design Your Own Cushion, 27th of July Wednesday, full day
- Design Your Own Leggings, 3rd of August Wednesday, full day
- Design Your Own Cushion, 6th of August Saturday, full day
- Design Your Own Leggings, 20th of August Saturday, full day
Spaces are limited! BOOK IT NOW!
Here are this weeks print collections picks from the ever growing print collection, these designs have been printed on headers for viewing at our Erskineville studio, contact us if you would like to come into our show room