Inspiration Profile - Julie Maclean

Welcome to the first Inspiration Profile for 2013 - we are delighted to have Julie Maclean, a New Zealand born, New York based textile designer.
After 15 years designing fashion prints for the likes of DKNY, Oscar de la Renta, Diane Von Furstenburg, JCrew, Topshop and The Gap, Maclean started Goodship in 2009. Check out this cool line of printed canvas accessories - I'm rather partial to the gorgeous Colourblock Totes. Enjoy!

Julie Maclean at work 

The divine Tan/Red Colourblock Tote (left) and  Orange/Blue Colourblock Tote.

Name: Julie Maclean

What do you do:I'm a textile designer; I've been designing prints for fashion companies for around 15 years. Several years ago I was looking for a change in the same line of work so I started Goodship, a range of printed textile goods and accessories.

Where do you live: New York, USA

What are you working on: A new range of home wares - cushions, kitchen linens and eventually bedding, plus several collaborations with other designers and artists, including a kids range. We're also putting the finishing touches on a Goodship site for Australasia. There’s a lot going on right now!

Carolina Fold Up Tote

Chevron Fold Up Tote

Hand Dyed  Fold Up Tote

Who/what inspires me:I'm a collector and my weakness is vintage fabrics (of any era), but I also collect bits and pieces of all kinds that I think will spark an idea. I'll usually start a project with a pile of visual reference - photos, tear sheets, vintage fabric swatches. Also, I like getting out and about and seeing what people are wearing on the streets, personal style is often inspiring - like how someone else will combine colours in a unique way.

I look at companies like Marimekko for how fantastic a print/textile lead company can be.

I work best:Unfortunately I work best at night but I'm trying to change that as I'm not getting enough sleep (we have some early risers in our household).

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: I gather all my reference around me and get out the paint brushes. Just starting something helps - this is where my collecting comes in handy because I can usually find a starting point amongst my stuff. Working in textile studios is a training in pushing though uninspired moments, we all kept sketchbooks on hand to refer to in those creative lulls.

My latest discovery is: Coclico shoes and boots, love em.

Books that I get inspiration from: A book about Vera Neumann I bought as a gift for myself and Twentieth-Century Pattern Design, a bible for textile designers.

Carolina Day Clutch - Blue

Gisella Coin Purse - Green

Marais Coin Purse

Magazines that inspire me: Lately my taste in magazines has been very pragmatic, Vogue and Womens Wear Daily to stay on top of industry news. I go to New York Magazine online as they publish photos from all the fashion week shows from many cities - it’s a huge resource.

Blogs that I enjoy: I don't have time for a lot of reading at the moment. I randomly find things online but I'm not a regular of any blog. However in saying that, I do like to check out Anthology magazine, Apartment Therapy and The Purl bee.

My favourite room at home is: Our bedroom - it’s small but it’s the quietest room in the house, and at night we have a view of the city lights.

My office is: Our kitchen table

Looking forward to: Moving back to New Zealand is high on the list. Closer to actually happening, I'm looking forward to moving into a studio that’s not in our home. 

Want to find more awesome Goodship goodies? Go here to their online store (the Australasia store here) and if you want to keep up to date with Goodship news, check out their FB page here.

New Geometric Print - so new it doesn't have a name yet!

Tote Bag

All photographs are used with permission from Julie Maclean and Goodship.

Inspiration Profile - Jantine Vaartjes

Well, the week has flown by and it has been a busy one - including being on a crew for a TV commercial shoot on Wednesday! I will let you know more about that later.
I am 'officially' finishing work today and I am really looking forward to a relaxing Christmas Day with my family next week.
Staying on the Christmas theme, this week's Inspiration Profile has done some great and cosy Christmas styling and is all the way from The Netherlands. Read and enjoy.
I would like to wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas. Take care and see you soon.

Jantine Vaartjes

X-mas by April and May.

Name:Jantine – April and May

What do you do: Stylist/interior designer and owner of April and May, a styling agency focusing on interior. Besides my job as a stylist I am also author of the blogs April and May STUDIOand April and May MINI where I share my inspiration in the field of interior, lifestyle and design. A home, a story, a feeling and a smile that's where April and May is all about.
New this year is the web shop byaprilandmay offering vintage and unique products of selected designers and our own collection made by April and May. We hope to inspire people with all our activities and show them the beauty of all things simple, basic, graphic and personal. I started my company and after that my blog in 2008.

Where do you live: I live in the Netherlands in a town called The Beemster. It is a just 30 minutes away from Amsterdam.  The Beemster is on the word heritage list and a beautiful place with lots of green, nature and space.

What are you working on:  I am working on several interior projects that vary from interiors for private homes to work related areas. It can by a complete interior design with all the furniture included or just a part of an interior related field. Besides that there is the online shop that involves sales, photography etc. And we have our own collection made by April and May which will be extended the next couple of months and next year. We are working on some great ideas and really love having our own product line.

Products from byaprilandmay online store.

 

Who/what inspires me: I can be inspired by little things around me, but also magazine, blogs, pinterest and for example instagram inspires me. And I have some great people around me who really are passionate about their work, interior and styling. If you do things with passion…it makes me smile and really gives me positive energy.

I work best: not really a specific moment…I am not a very early person. And in the evening I sometimes get a work flow. But try to avoid that a bit because I am pregnant now of our second child and I have to take my moments of rest also.

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: Well I tend to force myself in finding things which is not the most right thing to do. It is better to take a moment of doing something else and then the inspiration will come in the most unexpected moment. But sometimes I do not allow myself the time for doing that. I am getting better in doing that though…

The best advice I have been given is: follow your heart and don’t try to be someone else or pretend to be different.

My latest discovery is: instagram…I am using that already some time but am finding it more and more inspiring lately…meeting lots of other creative people.

X-mas by April and May

 

Books that I get inspiration from: not really books…more magazines or blogs and pinterest boards that inspire me.

Magazines that inspire me: RUM, ELLE deco, VTwonen

Blogs that I enjoy: The Style Files, A MerryMishap, Elv’s, Vosges Paris, Bloesem, Annaleenas Hem, Emma’s Design blog, Loppelilla, Trendenser, Moastidrom and many more…

My favourite room at home is: our living room I think…but really like all the spaces in our home

My office is: at home at the top floor and is really my work studio. Black wooden floor, lots of magazines, my computer…the place where everything happens…

What am I looking forward to: Launching the new products for our made by collection with two great designers. Really excited about this. And of course our second child arriving around March 2013. Can’t wait to see this unique and small little boy and our son Storm seeing his little brother for the first time. Because in the end that is all that counts…

April and May MINI - all about kids...

All photographs are used with permission by Jantine Vaartjes and April and May.

Inspiration Profile - Justin and Louise Wright

Hooray - it is Friday once again. Are you all surviving the mad rush towards Christmas? One more week of work to go for us lot down under.
Now for this week's Inspiration Profile - they are on the cover of the latest HOME New Zealand magazine and were studying Architecture at the same time as I was at Design school. How far they have come since then! Enjoy the profile of architects Justin and Louise Wright from Assembly Architects Ltd. Happy Friday all.



Louise and Justin Wright - Assembly Architects Ltd.

Louise on the cover of the latest HOME New Zealand magazine.

Name: Louise and Justin Wright

What do you do: We are architects, together we run the boutique architecture practice Assembly Architects Ltd. We are also parents to 3 young children. We have been in the architecture profession for 12 years, Assembly just turned 7, and our kids are 5 and 3 and 3 (nearly 4 and 4).

Where do you live: We live in Arrowtown in the Queenstown Lakes District of the South Island of New Zealand. Close to mountains, rivers and lakes.

What are you working on: A massive range of projects right now. New houses in Queenstown, Wanaka, Wairarapa and Mangaweka, and prefabricated marae building projects for Tuwharetoa. Our work at the moment encompasses a range of construction types from primitive rammed earth to cutting edge prefabrication techniques. We love the environmental performance and the aesthetic of the earth, it brings a lovely weight, sense of permanence and timeless quality to a space. And prefabrication allows us to deliver buildings such as the marae and classroom in an ultra-fast time frame.

Kamalas Pavilion, Wellington Zoo.

The Arrow Private Hotel, Arrowtown

 

Who/what inspires me: We have a passion for architecture and good design. Inspiration on the other hand, comes at unlikely moments. From seeing a hay bale in a landscape or a texture in stone, the patina of aged timber and metals, an effect of light on water, or a particular tree or garden - when it is right and appropriate we apply those moments of inspiration to opportunities in projects. In some projects we can look back and identify the one catalyst or trigger of inspiration that drove the ideas.

Storing ideas happens with sketching and drawing, photography, instagram, pinterest and sometimes memory - long may that last.

Feeding the passion comes with talking, sharing ideas, reading books, magazines and blogs, travelling and of course working. Doing what we do and then seeing the end result realised.

We work bestwhen in the flow - that full immersion state when our energy is concentrated on the project - it’s all clicking in to place and we are enjoying it. Often there aren’t enough hours in the day and our work carries on into the night shift. Morning coffees are essential, and we always have a good lunch. Though we work side by side we work fairly independently in the mornings, and save up our discussions for the lunch break, or for after work drinks. When the kids are home we are either with them together or taking turns to be at work.

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: If the energy and passion for a project is waning we talk, go for a walk, get down to the water, or stop and have a coffee. We love the river for fishing and playing with our kids. They can sit and make rock piles or dams for hours. It’s a good space to think and process ideas. The kids will be getting gold pans this Christmas.

House in Butel Park, Queenstown

New House, Wellington - exterior courtyard.

The best advice I have been given is: Work with people who are excited by and committed to a great design outcome for their project.

My latest discovery is: Always posted to Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Pinterest.

Books that I get inspiration from: Most of the ones on our shelves and plenty more on the wish list. We love books as objects and for their content. Lou reads and re-reads novels, collects them, gives them away, sometimes buys them back again. We love architecture books, idea books, and big fat photographic cook books. Justin designed the Stackweave bookshelf, we have a few of those yet to fill.

Thorndon Villa, Wellington with Stackweave bookshelves in the dining area.

 

Britomart Showcase, Auckland, with Cheshire Architects Ltd.

 

Magazines that inspire me: Detail. Dwell.

Blogs that we enjoy: Architecture blogs Architizer,Archdaily, Dezeen etc. Online extensions to magazines such as Home and Urbis, Denizen, miss minty herself, and basically the leap-frog journey of random link ability that blogs provide.

Our favourite room at home is: The one with the sun in it. Morning sun to wake up to, evening sun in the living room to unwind.

Our office is: In a bright white attic above the house. It gets too much sun for the computer screens, but it’s a total luxury to be able to work from home.

What am I looking forward to:Building our own house (soon), going fly fishing (soon) and having a holiday with family and friends (not soon enough).

See more of Assembly Architects Ltd's work here, read their blog, follow them on Facebook, check out their pinterest boards or tweet with them on Twitter. Phew!

Villa Renovation, Wellington.

All photographs are used with permission by Assembly Architects Ltd.

Inspiration Profile - Alana Broadhead

Welcome to this week's Inspiration Profile and we have Alana Broadhead from Fancy - 'an online magazine devoted to the best design from New Zealand. And from around the world. But mainly from New Zealand.'
Fancy is fresh and colourful and so are all the other projects Alana has under her belt - read further to learn about Design Yeah and Foundry. Happy Friday all.

Alana Broadhead

Fancy

Name: Alana Broadhead

What do you do:  By day, I’m a copywriter and brand strategist, which I’ve been at for 13 years. And also by day, and by every-other-moment-I-get, I run a NZ Design Blog called Fancy. It’s filled with graphic design, homewares and textiles, furniture and amazing interiors from NZ and around the world. I’m also beginning to work on other design projects, which is a dream come true for me.

Where do you live: I live in Mount Maunganui, where it’s summer longer than anywhere else in New Zealand. Come visit! I used to live in Auckland, and I do miss it sometimes, so as of next year, I’ll be spending a couple of days a month there.

What are you working on: I’m working on doing more and more of what I love – design and blogging –  and less and less of the ‘real job’.

Right now, I am waiting for Design Yeah 2013 to come back from the printer. What’s Design Yeah? It’s a calendar that features the work of 12 of NZ’s best graphic designers and illustrators, but…and this is the best bit… it also converts into 12 limited-edition, A3 art prints!  I’m also working on the re-design of Fancy (a fresh new look), and a design event which I am putting together for next year.

I’m also working on inventing a new name for blogging, because it always makes me cringe! Bloggy bloggy blogger. See? Awful word.

Prints from Foundry - all for sale.

Who/what inspires me: I’m inspired by all of the designers I post about on Fancy, and anyone who does what they love and follows their passion.

I’m also inspired by the idea of doing ‘Good Work with Good People’. To me, this means awesome design and interiors projects, with passionate and ridiculously talented, yet totally generous and down-to-earth people.

I work best: I’m at my creative best in the morning, but I’m so much more productive in the afternoon.  Still trying to work on that balance thing… we all are, right?

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: When I’m stuck, I just need to clear. my. head. I know there are ideas in there, waiting in the wings to be called up, I just need to clear some space on the stage. Some of my favourite ways to clear my head are to re-style my own spaces at home, or to get in the car and head for the open road – windows down and music up far too loud. Anything off-computer and off-iPhone, really.

Steal this Idea Interiors from Fancy

Inspiring Interiors from Fancy.

 

The best advice I have been given is: "Do Your Thing" and "Have ridiculous self-belief, but be a nice person."

Blogs that I enjoy: This list is VERY very (very) long, but here are a few:
DesignLoveFest,  DesignforMankind,  Decor8,  SwissMiss, Say Yes to Hoboken, Oh Happy Day

My favourite room at home is: My little studio. Because it is 100% my space, I can have anything I like in it, and I change it up often. Everything around me in this room inspires me. Only this morning, I picked up a huge wall banner from the printer - that I’ve designed - to put on one wall. 

Alana's workspace.

 

What am I looking forward to: I’m alwayslooking forward to the next new awesome bit of NZ design I see, so I can share it – be it a new piece of furniture or a brand identity.

I’m also looking forward to growing Fancy beyond being just a blog. I have so many ideas for homewares and other design products, and would eventually like to realise them. I’m looking forward to the future of NZ design, and to my part in it.

Want to keep up with Fancy and all their news? Go to their website, follow them on Twitter or Facebook and check out their boards on Pinterest.

 

Design Pick n Mix post from Fancy.

Design Pick n Mix

All visuals are used with permission by Alana Broadhead.

Inspiration Profile - Katie Treggiden

This week's Inspiration Profile is Katie Treggiden, a writer obsessed (her words!) about design. She writes for several publications, including her award winning blog, Confessions of a Design Geek. I particularly enjoy her Interviews with all the cool designers (she even has one with the much admired Ilse Crawford). Enjoy this profile and happy Friday.

 

Katie Treggiden. Photo: Kirsten Everett.

confessions of a design geek

Name: Katie Treggiden

What do you do: I edit a blog called confessions of a design geek, which I have been doing since April 2010 and I also work as a freelance design writer, which I’ve been doing for almost a year.  

Where do you live: I live in a little village in Surrey, I spent a lot of time in London and my heart is in Cornwall where I grew up. (All in England!)

What are you working on: Lots of things! I write for LivingEtc, WRAP Magazine, London Design Guide, Design Milk, We Heart and Heart Home Magazine – and I’m also working on a few new projects for my blog, so watch this space!

Interviews Volume 1 by Katie Treggiden 

Cornwall

Who/what inspires me: I can be inspired by absolutely anything as long as I am in the right frame of mind. To get in that frame of mind I need sleep, food, exercise, time and the great outdoors!

I work best: I’m not sure it’s a time of day thing for me – I think it’s about getting into the “flow” which has to do with the above and working on something that is both inspiring and challenging.

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: Change something – whether that’s getting up and going for a walk, working on a different project, or just sitting somewhere else in my studio or changing the radio station.

The best advice I have been given is: If you’re half excited and half terrified, it’s going to be one of the best things you ever do. My step-dad told me this as I set off travelling around the world on my own aged 19. I don’t think I’m as brave as I was then, but this advice has definitely stood me in good stead in all sorts of situations.

My latest discovery is: The Simple Things Magazine – absolutely love it!

From the Photos of Numbers series.

No. 2 chalked on a egg in Thailand.

Books that I get inspiration from: Any and all of them. I have just got back from a week’s holiday during which I devoured seven books, from Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, to a travelogue I picked up from the hotel’s book swap called ‘Lois on the Loose’. I learnt something from all of them.

Magazines that inspire me: Elle Decoration, LivingEtc, WRAP Magazine, Coast, The Simple Things…

Blogs that I enjoy: It’s a terrible thing to admit, but I don’t actually read that many blogs! I don’t think you have time to read blogs when you write one – if I’m on my computer, I’m usually writing rather than reading. I think in some ways that’s a good thing, because it stops me making comparisons. I do a run a networking group for design bloggers though and we have some fantastic bloggers as members – check out it out here.

My favourite room at home is: My studio at the bottom of the garden. It’s a little world away from it all that’s just mine.

My office is: …a bit of a mess at the moment! The London Design Festival sort of exploded in it and then I went on holiday and left it all! There’s also a bureau I’m halfway through renovating in the middle of it on newspaper, surrounded by paint tins and paint brushes. A tidy up is required to turn it back into the calm inspiring space it is supposed to be!

What am I looking forward to: Seeing my Dad tomorrow. My parents live in Cornwall which is such a long way away! We’ve got a fab weekend planned and I can’t wait!

Find out more about Katie and Confessions of a Design Geek on her website, on Facebook as well as Twitter.

The Royal Festival Hall, Southbank -  Katie's favourite building.

All photographs, unless specified, are by Katie Treggiden.

Inspiration Profile - Bridie Hall

This week's Inspiration Profile is Kiwi expat Bridie Hall. She grew up in Taupaki, a little town north west of Auckland and went to London in 2000, straight after she graduated with a Bachelor of Design. She is now the Creative Director of the cool London company, Ben Pentreath Ltd and has her own homeware range.  Enjoy this great profile and happy Friday all.

Bridie Hall

Exterior view of Ben Pentreath Ltd.

Name: Bridie Hall

What do you do: I am the Creative Director for Ben Pentreath Ltd, where I have been since it’s opening four years ago and I have my own homeware range called Bridie Hall at Home

Where do you live: London, United Kingdom

What are you working on: At Ben Pentreath Ltd,  The Artists of Spitalfields Life exhibition, which  opened Wednesday 7^thNovember. It brings together 18 artists that the blogger known as The Gentle Author who writes the daily blog Spitalfields Life, has featured over the last few years, its been an exciting collaboration.

For Bridie Hall at Home I am working on a new scent with my perfumer for a candle based on an Orangery that would traditionally be found in the great Manors of yore, its going to be called Pavillion. Each scented candle I create is based on a room from a Grand English Manor, so far there is ‘Obelisk’ (the study of a gentleman – notes of cedarwood and vetiver) and ‘Roses’ (the grand reception filled with the roses from the equally grand rose garden outside).

Stock from Bridie Hall at Home.

Obelisk Candle.

Who/what inspires me:The English culture, there is an appropriate way to do everything and the history behind everything is awe inspiring. I think I can say after living here for twelve years I can call myself an Anglophile, I’m a sucker for all of it, even a deep fried mars bar.

I work best: With structure. I’m a creature of routine so treat my days like anyone going to an office would, except if I’ve really sunk my teeth into something I’m making, I could go all night or not get out of my pyjamas all day.

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: Forget about it all and do some cooking. Meet a friend for lunch, we never fail to reignite that spark in one another – wine and talking!

The best advice I have been given is: “Put your name to what you do” - I think you take it far more seriously if you do.

My latest discovery is: Faux Bois, I’m teaching myself how to do it….before I apply it to everything.
(note from CM - yes, I had to look this up and it is 'an artistic imitation of wood or wood grains in various media'. Now you know too!)

The Scholars Set. 

Inside the Ben Pentreath store.

Books that I get inspiration from: Anything with sexy pictures normally lures me in, I do love a good picture book, I wouldn’t even say mainly interiors books, anything goes when it comes to finding inspitation. Though looking at the stack on my bedside table  – Treasure Island, Celia Birtwell, Bringing Nature Home, English Country House Interiors, V&A Patterns for Papers, Colour, The Reluctant Gardener, English Decoration.

Magazines that inspire me: Again, I’ll let my bedside table tell me. British Vogue, House & Garden, US Elle Décor, Vanity Fair, The World of Interiors, Kinfolk, Grazia

Blogs that I enjoy: Spitalfields Life, The Peak of Chic, Ben’s ‘Inspiration’ blog, The Bible of British Taste, Consume Consume

My favourite room at home is: The Conservatory- after years of scratching our heads and wondering what to do with it, I finally had the brainwave to install a bookshelf down one full side, where before it just had this weird ledge (for a spider plant collection?). I’ve filled it with books and it now adds a weight and more of a purpose to the room. We’ve put a lovely table on one side for working and eating at and  arm chairs on the other for relaxing. We flung the doors wide open during summer and it was almost as if we were outside, just perfecting the heating aspect of it now winter is upon us as we still want to spend all of our time in there. It’s where everybody gravitates to when they visit.
 

The Conservatory.

 

 

My office is: At Ben Pentreath Ltd, an Aladdins cave in the basement of the shop filled to the gunnels, sometimes I wonder if I won’t be crushed by falling enamel ware and dinner candles.

For Bridie Hall at Homeit’s the kitchen table, I keep meaning to find a studio but I love the idea of world domination at the kitchen table, that’s where my grandmother taught me that it happened.

What am I looking forward to: Seeing how Ben Pentreath Ltd and Bridie Hall at Home grow and develop in the years to come. Ben and I have come such a long way in the four years since we opened the shop. We are always looking for new directions to take things. I feel lucky to say I’m looking forward to everything.

You can follow Bridie Hall and Ben Pentreath on Twitter (for Bridie go here, or Ben Pentreath go here.) Or just check out their cool websites Bridie Hall and Ben Pentreath (hover over the names to link through).

Decoupage plates from Bridie Hall at Home.

All photographs are used with permission from Bridie Hall.