Meet the Designer – Tamsin Smyth

Our next artist in focus for The Designer Project, with her groovy, fun loving prints is Tamsin Smyth! Tamsin brings with her TWO incredible collections ‘Sunny Side up” & ‘Carnivale Geo’ for this feature, which we are ever so grateful for. 

Along with that, she has also put together this blog which invites you into her creative studio to see the behind the scenes to her creative process and how she dreams her patterns into being. Keep reading to find out more! 

Tamsin Smyth

Hello you! My name is Tamsin Smyth, and I am a surface pattern designer and illustrator living on a creek near Byron Bay. I have always had vivid dreams about pattern and fashion and colour. I was fairly obsessed with the wallpapers of the seventies, and I can vividly remember the fabric patterns of my colourful wardrobe from my childhood and my glamourous Mum’s outfits. Thanks Mum! 

Designing Process

I was absolutely obsessed with rainbows as a child, and my Mum helped me collect rainbow EVERYTHING. My life feels most centred when I am creating with and surrounded by colour, and colour makes my heart go plippety plop! Colours that sing, chubby shapes and flowers with a retro twist, is how I might describe my designs. With a passion for folk art and the natural environment, my designs tend to come from my imagination, which is my favourite place to dwell. I like to create my own sunshine through my art, and then share it with others. I am always surprised and delighted when someone likes my designs! 

Rainbow Clouds Sketches

I am so excited to share my collections, Sunny Side Up and Carnivale Geo, with the Designer Project and Digital Fabrics. Woot! I quite often dream a pattern into being. I will wake up and scrawl a pattern I envisioned while asleep. That’s why my sketches are so brilliant! LOL. The sketches never quite match the dream, but I really love where they take me. 

Fabric Swatches

I tend to create bold shapes with no outlines, but I do love a bit of hand drawn line and texture too. I am also entranced by the rhythms of meadow flowers, and I have tailored a rolling meadow and some sweet snowbells for this collection. Once I have the sketch scanned into Adobe Illustrator, I can begin creating the vector shapes and playing with a colour palette. Often the elements evolve way past the initial sketch, but it’s a sure-fire springboard (the peekaboo rainbows sketch is a great example!). Quite often my designs end up large scale like my sunrise and sunset blooms, and my lolly jumbo gingham. I love a chubby check! 

Tamsin in her Studio Space

I hope you find something in this collection to bring a little fun and whimsy into your life. I’d love to see what you create with them, so be sure to tag me on Instagram @tamsin.smyth so I can share the love!  

Sunshine and rainbows, Tamsin x 

Bum Bag Baby Muse

Sunny Side Up is a curated collection with a little bit of everything that Tamsin loves. The sketch here called Bumbag Baby is the muse of this collection, and she encapsulates the sweet fun and playfulness of Tamsin’s 1970’s childhood. The Carnivale Geo collection is a retro rainbow of tumbling fun inspired by the Ballet Russes costumes and vintage carnivals. Both collections feature the soothing hues of the seventies: peach orange, yellow and pale pink with pops of purple and blue. These designs would be great for any number of applications such as fashion garments, swimwear & beach wear, cushions, beanbags, table linen, tea towels, hair towels and robes! Each of Tamsin’s designs are available to be printed onto any of our stock fabrics. Simply head to our Fabric Shop online to view the whole collections and choose your favourite fabric!