What's been happening this Spring? . . .

I realise it's been ages since I last wrote a post (naughty me!), but in my defence it's only because I have been such a busy bee!

Planning new colourways

For me this Spring has been all about the production of the new 'Regal' colourways.  The 'Regal' collection is my lightweight cotton stripe design and I've been itching to expand it for ages.  So now 'Charlemagne' and 'Francois' have been joined by 'Claude', 'Josepha', 'Lucienne', 'Antionette', 'Cecilia' and 'Agnes'.  I launched them at the Contemporary Craft Festival a couple of weeks ago and now I am working on getting them up on the website as soon as I can.  My in house photographer (Richard Foot) has been a busy bee too lately, working on lots of new films for R&A Collaborations, so pinning him down to take some product shots has been tricky.  But fear not, I shall be bribing him with biscuits next week! In fact I'm also planning a styled photoshoot of them for next weekend.  I shall be working with Ella Ruth Cowperthwaite again, who took the beautiful modelled pictures of the 'Festival' collection last year.

On show with the 'Festival' scarves at the Contemporary Craft Fair, Bovey Tracey.

But for now I'm off to London for the week, helping my Hereford students at New Designers and making sure I visit as many exhibitions as is possible while I'm down.  Once I'm back it will be the beginning of my summer production run and I shall thankfully have the assistance of some lovely interns for a couple of months.  So watch this space for some Limited Edition colourways, new gift products and an entirely new collection . . . .

styling shoot . . .

Here are some images from a styling shoot with Ella Ruth Photography and Styling by Rosie Taylor which were taken in January . . .

with thanks to Ella Ruth Cowperthwaite, Rosie Taylor, Rich Foot and the three models, Amber Risdon, Jenny Hosty and Eric Heath.

it's all about photography . . . . .

For the last couple of weeks I have well and truly dipped my toe in to the world of photography (I guess it was inevitable given that I share a studio with my brother who is a photographer).  Though Im still unable to identify what all the models in his camera collection are I can at least pick out the SX70 now, so I've learnt something!

images by Martin Parr

Last week I had my introduction to the work of photographer Martin Parr.  Im extremely pleased that I tagged along to see him talk at the Lighthouse in Wolverhampton.  Not only was his presentation utterly engaging but I am now completely in awe of his work.

Photography Month at The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse

I've also been helping Footprint Photography (Richard Foot aka my brother) set up Photography Month at The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse.  Submissions of work came in from across the country and we had just shy of 100 pieces to hang altogether.  Now the work is up on the walls (in an old school Royal Academy style) visitors can vote for their favourite piece.  The 6 photographers with the most votes will then be judged by a panel of experts and the overall winner will be given a solo show in March 2012.  I've picked my favourite . . .

My Manic & I, by Ella Ruth Cowperthwaite

Check out Ella's website for more examples of her beautiful work. Of course there are many other lovely images to be seen and I even got a piece of my own work in as well . . .

Cones, by Helen Foot

Over the course of August their are many other photography related events happening at the Coffeehouse.  These include a series of talks by professional photographers and a photo treasure hunt, all great events to gear Shrewsbury up for the arrival of The Shrewsbury International Festival of Photography which will take place next year.  The Festival, which focuses on music photography, looks set to be a fabulous event with talks and exhibitions by some pretty famous movers and shakers in the field.  Check out the new facebook page for details: ShrewsburyInternationalPhotographyFestival.  Can't wait until next year now . . . .

Images from facebook and www.martinparr.com