A happy, happy, happy new year to you all! We’ve been snowed in at home for the best part of 3 weeks and at last the thaw has reached us. We also spent a few days without water due to frozen pipes which has made me really appreciate the smaller things in life like being able to take a bubble filled bath. But today the sun was shining brightly and it was warm enough to have the windows open so things feel full of optimism. I love this time of year, it is a chance to start lots of new things and to promise yourself that the year will be packed full of wonderful things and people. I thought I would show you some beautifully bright and optimistic photographs today from one of my favourite photographers, Ulf Huett Nilsson. His work is so fabulous, it makes you happy just looking at it. I would absolutely love to use some of his photographs in a graphic design project but it costs over 500 euros to use one picture and I’m not sure if my clients would be open to that!! Never mind, it is wonderful being able to just gaze at them and dream of spring days and summer evenings.
Archive for the 'Miscellaneous' Category
Well I just thought I’d end the year with details about an inspirational creative that I have just read about, who gives me enormous hope for the future! She is a Danish (what else?) designer called Jette Frölich who, at 69, has just launched a new range of products called Nordic Living which focuses on breathtaking Nordic Christmas decorations and interiors. She has been designing in many forms since the Seventies and says “Many friends wonder why I don’t stop to enjoy my “third age” but when I finish one thing, there is always something new to do”. Oh how I can identify with that. Well, I shall raise a very chilled glass of bubbly to Jette and hope that in the future when I reach that age I still have the creative energy to keep coming up with new ideas but I have the feeling that even if I was in a nursing home I would be trying to redecorate the interiors or redesign their branding!
Anyway readers, I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and hope you get a chance to relax over the holidays. Thank you all, customers & blog readers, for making this such a successful year for Ruby Rose Creative, I am blown away by the way things have gone this year given that it is in the middle of a recession, but I will not take it for granted that it will stay that way. Whatever is meant to happen will happen. Fingers crossed it will all be positive. Now go and put your feet up in front of a roaring fire and crack open the red wine! Happy Christmas!!!
I mentioned before that I thought I had lived a previous life in Sweden due to my endless addiction to all things scandinavian (in design terms) but now….I think I may have been Japanese!!! I LOVE everything kawaii (japanese cute) and they capture simplicity, minimalism and elegance in almost everything they produce. The items I have listed here are from a well known company called decole. Their site is in Japanese but hey, just take a look and if necessary use a dictionary or hijack a japanese friend!
I have been very poor at sticking to my blogging commitments recently due to a million other things going on. My design business is busy, busy, busy and will be like that until after Christmas at least. I am certainly not complaining but I feel I have been neglecting some other things and have to get a balance. Must try to get time to update this on a more regular basis….”in my spare time”…. 
Autumn is such a mixed season. It is lovely to have the long nights in front of the fire and the breezy walks on the beach but it seems a long way from the long, warm evenings of the summer. But funny enough I find that outside imagery and photography from the Autumn are much more interesting than summer shots. I suppose there’s so much more detail with the blankets of falling leaves before they disappear in Winter. Rachel Whiting, a UK based photographer, captures Autumn beautifully. The styling and art direction in her shots are so beautifully done, very casual and gorgeous. It’s worth losing summer for this type of wonderful imagery! Take a browse through her portfolio.
There are very few people that I can honestly say have inspired me both creatively and on a business level but there are a few that I have discovered over the years that I acknowledge have inspired me to set up my own creative business and I have found their passion and business ideas a great help. One such person is Amy Butler, the absolute queen of pattern. You’ve probably heard of her already but I have been a fan of hers since she first started out.
It is not just her beautiful textile design that I love, it is her whole ethos. She set up her design company with her husband who is a graphic designer (she also started out in that industry). Her belief is that you can succeed in business without getting in over your head with bad debt. I totally agree with her on this point and I think it is best to stay small until you have the security to grow to a new level. I have known many people over the past couple of years who have borrowed phenomenal amounts of money to keep their businesses afloat and now they are in a very bad way. It’s not worth it and it’s not good business practice. I think that if you have a creative business you need to keep your mind free of money worries so that you have the space to be creative…a bit pie in the sky perhaps but it works for me! Work with what you have, don’t live in a permanent state of debt and grow your business slowly. Thank you Amy for spreading your words of wisdom, I have followed them to the letter and it is certainly working for me!
It’s so nice to find something that you like and then find that it is created by someone locally. The ceramic beauties produced by Letterkenny based artist Emer O’Sullivan are so delicate and whimsical that I would love to buy all of them! Yes, that’s it, I’ll definitely have to get married again so I can put her pieces on my wedding list. Guess I should mention this to my husband first
I joined a group on Facebook called ‘Scandinavian textiles make me happy’. Most people would see this and think ‘very strange person’. However there are other people who understand. They also look at Scandinavian design and it makes them smile. One of the people who can cause this reaction is a wonderful designer/illustrator called Bo Lundberg. He lives and works in Stockholm and his designs have an effortless charm that encapsulates the beauty of Swedish design work with his own unique style. I must say that living in Stockholm must be a great source of inspiration for him. It is a recent desire of mine to go there as I would love to immerse myself in the beauty and simplicity of the city. Perhaps I was Swedish in a former life?
Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I am a sucker for all things (a) retro and (b) feminine. Florabella photographer Shana Rae manages to combine both of these elements in her stunning work. It’s so fresh and gentle, just beautiful. She specialises in floral prints and childrens’ portraits but it is definitely the florals that take your breath away. I feel very inspired by her work and will certainly be considering buying a few pieces for my home. She also sells fine art textures which you can use in photoshop to enhance your own shots to give them a similar feel but I think it would never be the same as purchasing one of her own photographs.
If someone had told me 10 years ago I would like looking at quilting patterns I think I would have locked myself in a room there and then. But it’s amazing how things come back into fashion. I recently spent 2 hours in a quilt fabric store and it was fabulous! The colours, patterns and variety is unbelievable. As a designer you can get much inspiration from the colour combinations and the ‘clash’ of over the top patterns (which I adore). There are a lot of contemporary quilt designers out there now so the twee-ness of quilting has become a thing of the past. Quilting classes are becoming the thing to do (I guess it has followed on from Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston becoming knitting fanatics!). To see some really beautiful patterns using quilting fabrics go to Portobellapixie where you will see what the fuss is about.
