Tag Archives: surface design

Textile Collection Tropicana

We are right in the middle of a gorgeous Sydney Summer, and for most of us have gone back to work after a (hopefully) relaxing festive break. What better way to feel like we’re still on holidays than with the launch of a new range of summery prints- our Tropicana range. Time to take a very grown up trip to the tropics!

All of the designs began by taking inspiration from tropical flora and carefully hand painting a series of detailed Banana Palms and Monstera leaves. At Digital Fabrics we love all things textural, and by using one of our favourite mediums, watercolours, we were able to create really luscious leaf motifs to start creating textile designs from.

We wanted to rework classic tropical designs to create elegant and accessible prints. To achieve this we determined each design as a large scale print to celebrate the gorgeous watercolour aesthetic. We then primarily used a colour palette of contrasting neutrals with muted colours such as blush pink and sage to ensure the designs as timeless.

We see these designs being suitable for both interiors and fashion and just looking at these new prints has us dreaming about fabulous statement curtains or retro swimsuit designs. We’d love to hear about the kind of project you envision these designs for!

The Tropicana Collection is available for purchase in our Design Library!

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 8

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

Textile Collection Memphis Summer

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!

Textile Collection Artful Simplicity

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!

Holiday Break

This year Digital Fabrics will be closed on 22rd of December and re-opened on 8th of January with a skeleton staff, production commencing on the 15th January 2018.

How about if you still want to order fabric? Don’t worry, we will be accepting all online orders during holiday to be printed when we are back in action in 2018.

After the holiday first orders will be due to dispatch on Wednesday the 17th January.

Stay smart during pre-holiday rush, don’t rely on couriers services, they are busy! If possible, arrange a pick-up of your order from our Marrickville studio, we will be happy to say Hi.

CREATE YOUR OWN FABRIC CREATE YOUR OWN CUSHION COVER

To avoid pre-holiday stress and to receive your fabric before Christmas please note super important dates below:

Cut off times, if you require shipping

· 4th December – for Print and Make orders such as cushion covers, banners, scarves etc

· 11th December – All fabric printing orders that needs to be shipped and delivered before holiday. As much as we would love to, we cannot guarantee that orders submitted after this date will reach to you on time before Christmas.

· 12th December – last Express order for fabric printing or Print and Make orders

Orders for delivery, submitted after 15th December more likely to be printed and dispatched in New Year unless it’s an express order.

Pick-up orders cut off time

· 11th December Print and Make orders such as cushion covers, banners, scarves etc

· 15th December fabric printing orders

· 18th December last express order for fabric printing or Print and Make orders.

3 pm is our daily production cut off time, which means, if you placed an order after 3 pm, your order will be rolled over to the next day. Be that just an extra little careful when planning your fabric printing orders.

And as always, if you have any question, we are only a phone call away.

CREATE YOUR OWN FABRIC CREATE YOUR OWN CUSHION COVER

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 6

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

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 5

Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Lauren Bower from Lauren Skye Studio, a Textiles and homewares brand making unique cushions featuring original artwork ideal to brighten up your home and garden.

The Snippety Snips:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

Lauren Skye Studio is a handmade textile homewares brand creating both indoor and outdoor cushions as well as personalised name cushions.

From around the age of 7 I knew I wanted to be a fashion designer. It was all I was ever interested in and would spend hours cutting pictures from magazines (I bought my first issue of Vogue when I was 12) to make endless collages. I studied Fashion Design at TAFE and then started working as a Design Assistant and ultimately a Fashion Designer for various brands for about 10 years. After leaving fashion to start and raise a family, I desperately missed working with fabrics and colours so I started buying fabrics and making cushions (a task perfectly timed to a babies nap!). It didn’t feel authentic enough to be using a fabric that someone else had designed so drawing on my skills acquired during my years in fashion, I started creating my own fabric designs and quickly found that it is my favourite thing ever! I feel so fortunate to live in a time where digital fabric printing has made textile design so accessible for small businesses. Even during my fashion years it was outrageously expensive to have an artwork made, get a screen cut and get a strike-off printed.

Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?

I live for design, particularly the search for inspiration. I love starting from nothing and just allowing my eye to be led and tell me where I should be. If inspiration is not coming then it is not the right time. I never force it.

Which five words best describe you?

Determined, thoughtful, conscientious, friendly, chaotic.

How would you describe your work, and what influences your style?

I would describe it as unique and colourful. I think my biggest influence is my years in fashion. To counteract the things I didn’t like about fashion design, particularly the copycat aspect, I am purposefully different to other designers. I don’t follow trends and will go out of my way to ensure my work is unique. Also colour, I am always inspired by colour.

What does a typical day look like for you? I have one child in school and one at pre-school three days a week, so the juggle is a little crazy right now. My three days with no kids have to be efficiently managed. From the minute I get home from drop-off to the very last minute I have to leave to pick them up I am like a woman possessed. Sometimes I’m enjoying my work so much I forget to eat! Then when the kids are home I spend time with them doing homework and just hanging out. After they are both in bed I start working again until late. Weekends are spent either selling at the local markets, or trying to juggle work and family time. It sounds terrible but I love it really!

If you could only use one colour in your work what would it be?

I’m drawn to pink always, and I have a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with having two sons!

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside:

Roseville NSW

Favourite spot for a bite:

Salt Pepper Nutmeg or Sous le Soleil, both at Roseville

Secret Inspirational spot:

Swain Gardens, Killara. It is almost literally a secret garden.

You can follow what Lauren is upto here: Website, Instagram, Facebook

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 4

Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Gabby Malpas, an artist with a flair for painting detailed still life of Australian grown flora and fauna with a hint of what Gabby calls ‘chinoiserie.’

The Snippety Snips:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

I’m Chinese, I was born in NZ and adopted into a white family of 9 children making me #10. I trained as a potter in Dunedin, after Art school I started using inks and watercolour on paper – as it is very much like liquid glaze. I left NZ in 1988, lived in the UK until 2003 and arrived in Sydney later that year. I’ve been a professional artist since late 2014 but exhibited and painted the whole way through since leaving art school.

I’ve been a digital project manager in agency and corporate since around 1992 – girl’s gotta eat and pay for holidays! These days I license my work, exhibit regularly, work with clients on creative stuff and get involved in a lot of adoption and community causes.

I am still learning how not to be a dick.

Which five words best describe you?

Most can’t be repeated in public but how about: scary, mad, loyal, loud, and dependable.

How would you describe your work, and what influences your style?

My work is figurative watercolours. It has been dismissed as purely decorative but a lot of my work actually communicates my life experiences as a trans racial, Chinese adoptee. Some of the messages are a little hard to swallow – which is why I temper these with lavish and engaging imagery. I am influenced by a lot of artists and things: from Paul Klee, Matisse and Elizabeth Blackadder as European artists, to Japanese woodcuts and traditional SE , Central and West Asian imagery, textiles and ceramic designs.

What would your dream creative project look like?
Anything that gives me free rein to do what I like and I get paid for it… hang on – that’s a lot of what I do now.

Which other Australian designers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment?

Well I discovered Cressida Campbell when I got here and she’s my idol but there are a heap of fabulous designers I follow on Instagram and Facebook – I appreciate artists who just do their thang and are not worried about fashion or what’s hot. Oh and I’ve loved Ken Done since 1988 when I went to Brisvegas expo.

What has been your proudest achievement to date, creative or otherwise?

There have been a few: Getting some artwork into Liberty of London in the 90s, getting into the Affordable art Fair Sydney in 2009 was the first step to getting somewhere in Oz but finally calling myself a professional artist in Dec 2014 has got to be up there after nearly 30 years of slog.

In another life what natural talent would you wish for?

It would be infinitely cool to be good at math.

If you could have your portrait painted by any artist dead or alive, who would you choose?

Not one for portraits but would love to see what Robert Crumb would do.

If you could only use one colour in your work what would it be?

PINK!

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside:

Alexandria Sydney – yep, a local

Favourite spot for a bite:

Fratelli Fresh, Mitchell Road or Tuki Kanuki Erko. Fave pho place is Phd in Marrickville

Secret Inspirational spot: can I have 3?

The Asian Galleries at the AGNSW, the lotus pond in the botanic gardens and Kinokunya bookshop though I wish they’d let you sit on the step stools.

You can follow what Gabby is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 3

Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Darren Church, graphic designer behind ‘Raw Inc’ a street design division based in Australia. Inspired by graffiti and street culture they design and create unique apparel, cushions and accessories.

The Snippety Snips:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

I’m currently based out in Penrith in Sydney’s lower Blue Mountains, but personally I enjoy the days out into the city and other areas I have to go, walking between stores and checking out what’s new on the streets in the graffiti scene catching up with shop owners.

How would you describe your work, and what influences your style?

I base 99% of our designs around graffiti and the classic sneaker culture, and we’re all about bold clean lines with fresh colours, using illustrations and different elements in photographs to create for that next cushion design. It’s our little niche and very different to what is out there in the industry.

We find people can relate to our different types of cushions, by bringing out what they grew up with a twist and purely for the love of the novelty of the item. We get contacted all the time by paint companies asking when are we going to do a cushion of their design.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Always finding myself sketching up new designs and redrawing artwork ready for print for clients. And always hunting around Sydney fabric stores to find that perfect fabric to match artwork being printed. Cutting and sewing up fabric for those store orders.

It does get chaotic sometimes and a little stressful but very satisfying and it’s worth it in the end to see people loving the products.

What has been your proudest achievement to date, creative or otherwise?

After many years of Managing retail stores here in Sydney and while living in the UK for 10 years, I got to the point of having enough and had to do something I enjoyed. So I studied Diploma in Graphic Design and a quick 12 month course in Screen Printing and realized I had so much to artwork and ideas I could do.

Now I have people coming up to me here in Sydney and in other states, that don’t even know me and treat me with a lot of respect. When we get emails weekly from European and US stores asking for order forms, it makes your day.

Tell us something people may not know about you

I’ve been doing graffiti since the late 80’s and I like to combine the elements and influences into my work and whilst living in the UK I studied fashion and design for 2 years. It really opens up your eyes to how things are designed and so easily produced.

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside:

Sydney West

Favourite spot for a bite:

I don’t really have a favourite food spot, I like to try new things all the time and sometimes catch up with friends for lunch or drinks and talk about new projects and ideas.

Secret Inspirational spot:

I’m always out and about in the city. I like to walk around the city and look at all the different graffiti, art, stickers, advertisements and t-shirts people wear, I carry around a little sketch book and I’m always stopping and sit down somewhere doodling ideas down.

You can follow what Darren is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook

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Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 2

Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Jasmin Owen, the designer behind Jazminbell, a homewares brand that designs and creates heat packs from fabrics she designs and prints.

The Snippety Snips:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

Hi there, my name is Jasmin Owen and I am the founder of the jazminbell® brand. The dream of running my own business all started at the age of 4 when I decided that I would work within Australia’s creative industry. After completing my design degree I went on to deliver my products to the world. I never realised how much there is to learn in the world of business and it has been the most amazing journey.

Jazminbell® began as a homewares brand, offering a unique range of cushion covers. With a pile of scrap fabric I sought to make mini hand warmers and they instantly took within the market. I never really saw success until I took the brave initiative to turn the business into a cold/heat pack brand and it has thrived ever since. It is hard to imagine now that it all began with tiny hand warmers – That is the incredible and unpredictable journey of business, I guess!

Working with Digital Fabrics has given me the opportunity to deliver a unique range of textile designs for my products and also create a relationship with another local business within the Australian industry.

Which five words best describe you? Quirky, happy, bright, inspirational, goal-digger.

Which other Australian designers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment? I am forever inspired by the creative practice of Nicola Cerini. Her beautiful studio and printed textiles are so inspirational for me and what I do.

What has been your proudest achievement to date, creative or otherwise? Completing a Bachelor of Design Arts and Graduate Certificate in Accounting, bringing the most wonderful daughter into the world and having the opportunity to work on my business and have the freedom of my own career.

If you could only use one colour in your work what would it be? Pink!

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside: Canberra, Australia

Favourite spot for a bite: Canberra Yacht Club

Secret Inspirational spot: Lake Burley Giffin

You can follow what Jasmin is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook

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Tag Archives: surface design

Textile Collection Tropicana

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 8

Textile Collection Memphis Summer

Textile Collection Artful Simplicity

Holiday Break

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 6

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 5

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 4

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 3

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 2

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