Happy Hogmanay: 2011 Highlights

I say it every year- but I can't believe how fast this one's gone. There's been a lot of hard work, and I feel like so much has changed after looking back on my blog posts from this time last year. I'm planning on celebrating Hogmanay and the end of a really good year with the people closest to me in Glasgow this year. Here's a run-down of my highlights of 2011:

• I introducing a new collection of 6 cushions throughout the year

• Exhibiting at my very first Trade Show with Spotted at Top Drawer Autumn

• Meeting some exciting new stockists (who I'll be unveiling in 2012)

• Quitting the day job (WOOHOO!)

• Hitting the 800 sales-mark in my Folksy Shop

• Acquiring my first International stockist in Australia

• Receiving the Dundee Craft Maker's Award

Happy Hogmanay Everyone!

A Day in the Life- December Date

For those of you who regularly read my blog posts you may have noticed a few posts entitled A Day In the Life. It's my turn to choose the date for the next post, and I have chosen Sunday the 26th of December- Boxing Day!

Everyone has their own rituals at this time of year and I thought it would be nice to share a slice of our lives at this much-hyped time of year. If you're taking part- don't forget to leave me a comment with your post's url so that I can collate them all at the end.

You can read the lovely Laura's belated Day In the Life from November here- along with a list of all of the other posts from this day.

Happy blogging!

Get it for Christmas 2011: Last Posting Update

If you're keeping up to date with all of my news at the mo- you'll know that my last posting dates for standard UK delivery have been and gone.

I know how busy everyone can be at Christmas (I, for one am nowhere near finishing my Christmas shopping) so I thought I'd give folks a chance to carry on shopping and still get their orders delivered in time for the big day with the option to upgrade your postage.

I'm offering an upgrade to First Class, or Next Day Special delivery, starting at only £1.00! This is available only for orders from my Big Cartel Shop, so avoid my folksy or etsy if you want to go for this! Check out the listing here for more information.

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Hope everyone's starting to get into the Christmassy mood now! If you're not- here's a really brilliant How-To by Flora of Through the Round Window for beautiful Eastern European Embroidery inspired paper chains! She's even included printable PDF's of the lovely patterned paper she used. Thanks Flora!

Vitra Christmas Market 2011

My fabulous central Glasgow stockist, TOJO Design at The Lighthouse are setting up a little slice of TOJO magic as part of the Vitra Christmas Market at the Vitra Showroom, Clerkenwell London. (Above is a photo via Someday London off last year's market. Doesn't it look lovely!)

They'll be showing my Teacake and Caramel wafer cushions as part of their stand at the market which opens today (Monday 5th December) and will run until the 22nd of December 2011.

You can stop by Vitra for all of your Festive shopping (which in my opinion is always more fun when the shop looks like a little Swiss Chalet!) as well as picking up some classic design for your home (Santa- if you're listening- you could pick me up a nice Eames Chair for my studio desk!)

Check out the Vitra Blog for the official press realease. Hopefully I can squeeze in a trip to London before the end of the year to have a look myself and see how my cushions are getting on!

UPDATE: The nice people over at @VitraUk have tweeted some photos of the market as it is- now all set-up and open to your good selves! Here's their snap of my cushions alongside the beautiful work of Donna Wilson!

Photo Blog: Bunty and Bella's Boutique Bash

Ideal Home Show at Christmas: an exciting update!

With only a few days before I leave for London to set up shop at this year's Ideal Home Show at Christmas- I'm all prepared and starting to get properly excited about a week in the capital city at what is shaping up to be a super-festive show!

I've been lucky enough to have had my cushions selected as one of the show's Top Gifts: they'll be featured in a special display at the entrance of the show- which is a really fabulous opportunity! I've also been asked to contribute cushions to the show's famously inspiring Room Sets- along with Top Drawer friends Goodwin + Goodwin and Design Bark.

I wanted to share this time lapse video of the build-up of last year's show- the transformation from empty space to the show in it's finished state is truly incredible!

If you're in London between the 16th and 20th of November- pop along and say hello! I'm travelling down for preparations this Monday- so you can keep up with me while I'm on the road via twitter and instagram.

Last Christmas Posting Dates 2011

With the nights drawing in and the Scottish air getting cooler every day I can't believe how quickly the Festive Season is approaching us!

So without more ado, here are the last Christmas posting dates for 2011 for all orders from my Online Shop (Etsy and Folksy included): please ensure that you order before these dates to make sure your biscuity goodies arrive in time for gift-giving!

Last International orders: Friday 2nd December

Last UK orders: Wednesday 14th of December

With last year's winter weather and subsequent postal delays in mind I would of course recommend that orders are placed ASAP to avoid disappointment.

Tour De Biscuit 2011

Ok, so I may not be going to France, but I thought Tour De Biscuit was a pretty catchy name for my upcoming project.

Back in 2007 (During my days as a Kid's club rep overseas- I bet that's something you didn't know about me!) I was lucky enough to share an apartment in the Algarve with another lovely Kid's rep who was just as crazy about tea and biscuis as I am.
Every week we would sample a different biscuit and score it on a chart in our kitchen:


The top scoring biscuit, "Princess Biscuits" (with 73%) is a biscuit that you can actually get here in the UK, for about 80p from Lidl. They're basically two rich tea biscuits with chocolate (flavour!) cream in between, and come to think of it now, I don't know how they got such a high score. But we were addicted to them!

So, in the spirit of what was a really fun project, I've decided to do the same during my trip to Cyprus. I'll be scoring each biscuit I try on:

• 
  
  Appearance



• 
  
  Smell



• 
  
  Texture/Flavour



• 
  
  Size & Value For Money



• 
  
  Dunkability

If you want to join in, you can download your own Biscuit Score Sheet to print out, and fill in with a doodle of the biscuit in question and the all-important scores. I'll be uploading all of my biscuit analysis along when I get back, but in the mean time, you can post your completed Biscuit Score Sheets in the new Tour De Biscuit flickr group. Happy Dunking/Drawing/Scoring!

Here's a tea-inspired tune by the The Kinks to get you inspired!

DJCAD Degree Show 2011: My Highlights

Well- time really does fly and I can't believe that it has been three years since I put on my Fine Art Show at Duncan of Jordanstone. My work has changed so much since then- and I'm altogether more design-led in what I do now- but if you fancy a nosey at my expressive Fine Art roots then you can peruse the photos from my show- feedback welcome!

Anyway- less about me...the current DJCAD Degree show opened last Friday, and runs all of this week until Sunday the 29th of May. There is tonnes to see- and today I went back for my second look. Below is a list of my personal recommendations of what you should explore the Duncan of Jordanstone labyrinth to find.


Sarah Johnston - Fine Art

I really liked Sarah's whole space- it had a lovely crisp, minimal feel but with plenty of humour and character. I especially loved her "My life is a mess: Why?" book of questions. You can see more of Sarah's work here.

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Hannah Champion: Art, Philosophy & Contempory Practices

I'm not usually one for video art- but I spent ages in this space. The aerobics ladies are teamed up with a pretty repulsive eating-cake-off-the ground video. While the repetitive audio/visual of the 80's aerobics gals takes precedence at first glance, I found myself filtering the beat out to concentrate on the cake video. I'm not sure if it made me want to do any excercise- but it did put me off cake (a bit- this a pretty mean feat when it comes to myself and cake). You can see more of Hannah's work over on her blog but her space (the outdoor sculpture sheds) is definitely worth a visit! [screenshot courtesy of Hannah's Blog]

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Nicola Keir - Textile Design

Nicola Keir's work was easily my favourite part of the textile design show. I felt that there was quite a noticable presence of new technology amongst the exhibits (hello, laser-cutter!) and it was really nice to see someone going back to basics with an entirely hand-made approach. I'd happily have any of these gorgeously chunky and nostalgic floor cushions and pouffes- they are lovely!

A Year in Prints

A few months ago, fellow DJCAD graduate Hilary Grant and myself embarked on a project to collaborate with 10 other artists to produce a collection of original artwork to see us through the following year.

Each artist involved produced a limited edition run of only 50 silk-screen prints- one for each month of the year. We had submissions from all over the UK, and even one from across the water in the United States. Each print in the collection is individually beautiful and together, A Year in Prints is an eclectic and original way to enjoy a different piece of art every month.

With original prints by: Jen Collins (aka hellojenuine), Chloe Cook, Jo Foster, Tracey Smith, Rae Duncan, Mahala LeMay, Liz Myhill, Lauren Gentry, Jordan Butler, Hilary Grant, Heather Page and myself, our calendar, A Year in Prints is available at our dedicated online shop, for only £24- which works out at an amazing rate of £2 per print. Pretty sweet, right?

For more photos, head on over to our Flickr group, or visit our shop to bag yours today.