Sian Kellaway

I spotted the work of Sian Kellaway, aka Sianuska, via a pin a friend of mine posted to Pinterest the other day. Sian is UK artist who lives on a hill by the seaside in Brighton, UK, with her partner and toddler. She recently set up a tiny print studio at home and has been enjoying making new work ever since (you can see photos of her studio here). Sian takes her inspiration from BBC Radio 4, cups of tea, her grandmothers, hand-knitted jumpers, analogue phones, vintage buttons, halftone and toast. And I don't known about you, but I can definitely see those inspirations shining through in Sian's work.

The thing I like about Sian's prints, which are all screenprinted by hand, is how decidedly British they are. There are rich tea biscuits dunked in cups of steaming hot tea, hot water bottles, tights, Radio 4 shipping forecasts, little sparrows and ... toast. Well, toast isn't decidedly British, but it definitely goes well with cups of tea and hot water bottles! These are the sorts of things that remind me of living in England, and I can't wait to see what other delights Sian adds to her growing collection of prints.

If you'd like to see more of Sian's work, check out her website, Etsy shop, Folksy shop and blog. Oh, and have a happy leap day!

Debbie Powell for Lagom

I adore the new range of greeting cards that London illustrator Debbie Powell has created in collaboration with British stationery company Lagom. Debbie works with water colour, ink, linocut, pencil, pen and printmaking to create imagery for an range of international clients, including Penguin, Tesco, Jamie Oliver, Marks & Spencer, Simon & Schuster and Readers Digest. She draws her inspiration from Scandinavian prints, patterned origami papers, textured fabrics and metropolitan cities.

The Logom range of all-purpose greeting cards have been illustrated by Debbie and crafted by British printers with the special added touch of gold foil blocking. I do love a special finish, and foil blocking always adds an element of class and sophistication. I especially love Debbie's London, Paris and New York themed cards - too cute!

Visit the Lagom website to view the full Debbie Powell collection, and visit Debbie's website and blog if you'd like to see more of her awesome work.

Besotted Brand

Hooray, it's Friday! It's been a long and busy week for me, and I cannot wait for the weekend. To get us there, I thought I'd share some lovely stamps and paper goods from Los Angeles-based stationery label Besotted Brand. Refined and elegant gift cards, gift tags, prints, letter writing sets and rubber stamps are at the core of Besotted Brand, with more products in the pipeline that I have no doubt will be equally as lovely.

Besotted Brand have some great ready-made stamps on offer as well as some gorgeous custom-made monogram and calligraphy stamps. I'm starting to really get into the idea of rubber stamps and being able to quickly whip up a lovely gift card in just a few minutes. I think I will have to invest in a few! Another thing I like about Besotted Brand is the photography and product styling - very enticing.

To see more from the Besotted Brand collection check out the website. Miss B of Besotted Brand also has a great blog here. That's all from me for the week - I'm off to enjoy the sunshine. Have a lovely weekend all!

Cushions by Erin Dollar

Erin Dollar is an artist-maker who lives in Pasadena, California. Erin used to spend a lot of time making fake beards (over here), but her creative pursuits are now mainly dedicated to making prints, drawings and cushions. I personally love a good cushion, and all of Erin's cushions feature a lovely geometric pattern and are hand silkscreened by Erin.

All of Erin's cushion covers are made from scratch by her, and the fabric is hand printed in tiny batches in her studio, making them pretty much one-of-a-kind. I'm loving all of the great colours (especially the mustard) and simple, bold geometric shapes.

If you'd like to see more of Erin's work, check out her Etsy shop and website.

Jing Wei

Jing Wei is a Chinese-born illustrator and printmaker. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she first started developing her signature woodcut style, and specifically became interested in reduction cuts, which allows her to work with more than one colour using the same wood block.

Jing now resides in Brooklyn, NY and works out of a studio in Greenpoint. Since moving to New York, she has found a number of different outlets for her work, including editorial illustration, gallery exhibitions, apparel design and character design for production. Her illustrations have been seen in publications such as the New York Times, Bitch, Boston Globe and Time Out NY.

I really like Jing's sweet illustration style and use of bright colours, and also how her wood prints are quite tactile. You can almost see the process that has gone into transferring the ink to the paper. Jing has a range of originals, prints and cards available in her online shop, and to see more of her work also check out her website.

Mrs Eliot Books

Mrs Eliot Books is the Etsy shop of London-based artist and designer Francesca Iannaccone. Francesca makes little wooden books, prints, cards, tea towels and original collage pieces from the north London house that she shares with her husband and two little boys. Named after the first book Francesca bought while at art college to cut up and use in her work, The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot by Angus Wilson, Mrs Eliot Books is inspired by surfing on etsy, super 8 film, vintage teacups, all things stripy, writing, vintage sewing patterns and taking pictures.

What first attracted me to Francesca's work was her set of modernist prints. Each print features a midcentury sideboard with a different arrangement of objects, such as a John Clappison Aphrodite vase, a Tapio Wirkkala Polo vase, a Kaj Franck Hearts bowl, a Meakin teapot, a Kaj Franck Sunflower bowl and a Stig Lindberg Bersa jug. Francesca designed her modernist set as a kind of dream collection of things, and I sure would like to be in on that dream (but perhaps I'll just settle for one of Francesca's prints, which would still be rather lovely!).

I really like Francesca's style and the colours and shapes she uses in her work. If you'd like to see more, check out her Etsy shop and blog.

Evajuliet Atelier

Well it's Friday (hooray!), and I thought I'd round off the week with some gorgeous artwork. These prints are made and designed by art director, graphic designer and illustrator Eva from her little design studio in Quebec, Canada. The Evajuliet name is a combination of Eva's name and the name of her antique tabletop letterpress, Juliet! Eva's collection of prints includes inspirational messages with a typographical slant, as well as custom-made family trees, but it's her botanical and herb prints that I love the most.

Eva's botanical, petit fruits and herb prints are classic and elegant, and would look lovely hanging in the kitchen. I really like the stylish calligraphic touches as well.

To see more, check out Eva's website, blog and online shop. And on that note, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and see you back here next week!

Ferm Living Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

Have you seen the latest Ferm Living spring/summer 2012 catalogue? It's ever so lovely, full of even more well designed homewares . The Ferm Living ethos is about valuing sustainabile and honest materials, high quality and good craftmanship. The spring/summer collection (much like the autumn/winter collection before it) is full of geometric shapes, shades of grey with splashes of colour and Scandinavian wood.

Ferm Living really can do no wrong, can they? I pretty much want everything here. The new catalogue can be viewed here, and check the Ferm Living website to see more.

Blogging for the Creative Women's Circle

I have some exciting news to announce - as of today, I am officially a columnist for the Creative Women's Circle blog. The Creative Women's Circle (CWC) is a Melbourne-based group organised by graphic designer Tess McCabe that hosts a series of events for women working in the creative industries, and acts as a place to share information, inspiration and ideas (you might remember this post about an event I attended at the Harvest Workroom last year, and I also reviewed the CWC book not too long ago too). I think that the CWC is a fantastic resource, and I feel privileged to be a part of it.

My column for the CWC blog is called 'Bricks & Mortar', and each month I will be taking readers on a tour of an actual bricks and mortar establishment (shops, studios, cafes, etc.) run by a creative woman or women. This means that I have to actually get out of my comfort zone and go and take photographs and speak to people, but this will be good for me, I think! My first post, which is up on the CWC blog today, profiles Sedonia, one of my favourite Melbourne shops. Here's a little taster of the tour, but if you'd like to see more please check it out on the CWC blog.