21st Century Design Lecture at DJCAD

A little while ago the lovely Kate Pickering got in touch with me to ask me to be part of the 21st Designer lecture program at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. Being on the other side of the lecture theatre during my studies at DJCAD from 2003 - 2008 I was really excited to go back and give it a go!

I spoke to 2nd year Design students about my journey since leaving art school, my business and the joys of twitter!

I got some lovely tweets from students attending my talk as well as a few blog posts later on in the day that I've linked to below. Thanks so much to Kate Pickering and Jonathan Baldwin for having me along- and also for inviting me to stay to talk to 4th year textiles students in the afternoon with Angharad McLaren.

Thanks to all of the students who blogged about my talk (If I've missed anyone, drop me a line with your link) Thanks also to Kate for taking the photo above!

Chloe Henderson

Helen Witham

Alison Best

Shonagh Gardiner

Sheila Roussel

Craig Gilroy

Tarka Heath

Rebecca Black

Laura Speirs

Errin Miller

Wing Lam Chan

Brian Davidson

Kristen Neillie

There's still a week left to enter my competition- so make sure you get your comments in before the 9th of March for your chance to win!

Stickygram Vs Goodwin + Goodwin

A little while ago I picked up this amazing Speech Bubble magnetic whiteboard from the fabulous Goodwin + Goodwin- the talented duo behind Signs For Homes.

Although I wasn't sure quite where I was going to hang it in our flat- I knew that I needed it in my life! The perfect opportunity arose last week, when I received my Stickygrams in the post. For anyone who's not already been swept away by the joy that is Instagram- Stickygrams are little magnetic versions of your Instagram photos.

Anyhoo- my new shiny white Speech Bubble whiteboard is the perfect blank canvas for my Stickygram magnetic photos! I love that I'll be able to rearrange the pictures and even add more to my collection.

It comes in an oval shape too and as a piece of British made design (hooray!) is a bargain at £34.95.

AWOB (Absent With Out Blogging)

Night owls- I've been super busy and therefore a bit absent from the blogosphere- so here's a wee video (it was made entirely using my phone- filmed and edited- so don't judge!) of what I've been up to- for those who are interested! With only 8 days until we leave for London for the Ideal Home show- I'll be doing a lot more of this in the days ahead- it's cushions-a-go-go here!

Enjoy!

p.s- It's stated at the end of the video- but music is by Frightened Rabbit- they're pretty great, I think!

Going Back to My Roots

My friend Sarah and I on our last day of School, Alloa Academy c. June 2003
(At the dawn of digital camera technology- check my 1MP photo!)

This week I'm stopping off in my home town of Alloa to attend my former secondary school, Alloa Academy's Open Evening. I was contacted by one of the current Art teachers (who is also a DJCAD grad) a week ago to invite me along, as some of the kids have been making biscuit-inspired artwork!

I was one of those geeky kids who actually really liked school (especially in 6th year when Art & Design/Portfolio work made up about 80% of my timetable) and was sad to leave.

Although the original building is now long-gone, the new and improved school is now home to a few of those who taught me between 1997 and 2003, including my ever-supportive and inspiring Art and Design teacher! The new school's running some new subjects too, including "Creative Cake Production" which I wouldn't mind studying now!

To go along with the pupil's biscuit inspired artwork, there's also a Biscuit inspired prize-raffle for attendees of the Open Evening- which includes one of my Bourbon Biscuit cushions, along with loads of other biscuity goodies!

My New Cushions and Our New Couch

One of my goals this year was to design a new cushion- and I did that a wee while back when I introduced the Custard Cream cushion. I had a few more doodles in the sketchbook- and I was saving them until I had a week away from the day-job to try them out- and these are what I came up with- all new Chocolate Bourbon Cushion (And here they are displayed on our smart new couch!)

They're bigger than any cushion I've made yet (at a whopping 12" x 24") and are made from a lovely thick chocolate brown cotton.

On another note- I recently entered the Honda: Made in Britain design competition- and was lucky enough to be asked by their team to do a little interview with them. You can read what they asked me and what I said here.

I've noticed a few new followers lately- so hello to you all! Don't forget to leave me a wee comment to say hello :)