http://www.johannabasford.com/ en-us The blog of Scottish designer, Johanna Basford. In one of those bizarre little round-about ways, I came across the fantastic work of illustrator / graphic designer Duncan Macdonald this week. His hand drawn linear work and edgy typography make for a super cool blend of visual nice-stuff. Check out his website here. Duncan also has a blog, Draw Forever, which he says is “a space where drawings, or images created by hand are collected, for no reason other than them being nice things to look at.” Lovely. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:09:43 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/57 Friends & Links I had my picture snapped last week with some of my work as part of the new Nesta Campaign (I was in the Sunday Times!). The article was to launch this year's call for applications for their Starter for Six Programme. The scheme runs in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow and offers people with cool ideas some business training...and the opportunity to pitch their idea in front of the Nesta panel for funding up to £10,000. Yip, that's 10K! The business training isn't the usual bog standard cash flows and spider diagrams, they take more of a creative (maybe even quirky!) approach and tailor the advice towards the type of business which think a bit more outside of the box. Nesta are a fantastic organization to get involved with; enthusiastic staff, great contacts, sound business advice, big cash investments and a super-cool HQ in London that's straight out of Ugly Betty! Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:49:45 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/56 Friends & Links I’m super-chuffed to announce I have won a 4Talent Award, Channel 4’s annual hunt for new UK creative talent. From over 700 applicants, the judges picked out 20 category winners. Along with those bright sparks that do amazing things with cameras and film, I’ll be picking up the Wildcard Award, which 4Talent delightfully describe as a “creative catch-all” encompassing fields such as illustration, fashion design and fine art and was judged by James Estill, Senior Producer at 4Talent and Jonnie Turpie, founder and Digital Media Director at Maverick TV. Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:27:09 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/55 Cool Stuff Late last night, whilst listening to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4, I finished the computer manipulation of the hand drawn design; tidying up the lines and flipping the half moon to make a full sphere. Today I’ll be printing out the motif on my A3 printer and popping along to the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art Library to photocopy the motif onto acetate. There’s lots of ways to transform artwork onto transparencies for exposing onto the silk screen, some people paint straight onto big sheets of ethulon paper (a glossy sort of hazy tracing paper) with a thick opaque ink called Speedball, others print the motif onto tracing paper in black and white but I think you get the crispest print by using acetates, it costs a bit more, but the result is a more defined image on the screen from which you get a beautifully detailed print. Nice. Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:26:34 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/54 Studio The dark, cold mornings are back with a vengeance - winter is here once more, boo. I thought I would give you sneak peek of my desk today. I've been working on a black and white design for a big Scottish organization (will let you in on their secret identity as soon as the commission is finalized - counting your eggs and all...) The brief was to create a limited edition print for them which could be presented as a gift to VIP's. I wanted to create one of my signature spherical black and white designs with a Scottish accent, so I intertwined the foliage with the odd thistle head and jagged little prickle. The hand drawn stage is now complete, so the next step is to scan it into my trusty Mac, tidy up the artwork and flip it in Photoshop to create a perfect circle. After that, I'll print the black and white sphere out onto acetate and expose it onto a silk screen, before getting mucky and hand printing the first few samples. The whole process should be complete by Monday, just in time to pop the samples in the post to my Mystery Client. Check back over the next couple of days to see updates on the process and see the first prints, hot off the print table! Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:08:41 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/53 Studio WGSN (Worth Global Style Network) is an industry biggy, a super huge, subscription-ony trend forecasting website for the fashion and textiles industry. The WGSN team first spotted my work at New Designers in 2005 just after I graduated and have popped along to all my London shows since to say hello and check on recent developments. A couple of their journalists even have Johanna Basford prints on their living room wall! I was chuffed to bits when they listed me in their Top 10 spotted talents over the last decade, (along with Christopher Kane, Giles Miller and fellow Aberdeenshire lass, Donna Wilson). The title of the article, “Before They Were Famous” made me giggle a bit… but I’m glad to say fame hasn’t changed me… where the hell is Jeeves with my morning de-caff soya mocha choca latte frappiccino bellino? Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:08:10 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/52 Friends & Links The first of the annual wave of vile “personalized” diaries have started to clatter their way through the studio letterbox…a sure sign that we are nearing Christmas. Year after year these nasty little pocket sized diaries, covered in attractive wipe-proof plastique covers and stamped with my business name and address (usually with at least one typo) land on my desk, followed by the obligatory sales call from someone named Geoff in Coventry who would like to know if I am interested in ordering more for my “valued clients”. Brilliant Geoff - I am sure my design savvy clients would love one. Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:52:57 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/51 Products I had a very early morning last week Friday (its so depressing to be getting up in the dark again!) and hopped on a train to Edinburgh and made my way along a very blustery Broughton Street to one of my favorite little shops which stocks my work, Concrete Wardrobe. Run by 2 fellow Scottish Designers, James Donald and Fiona McIntosh, Concrete Wardrobe is a treasure trove of hand crafted delights from fashion to homewares and art prints. It also happens to be decked out in some rather lovely Peking Wallpaper by yours truly. So why the jaunt to the capitol? Well, I was meeting the fantastic photographer Jannica Honey for an early morning photo shoot. Fuelled by a combination of Starbucks and funny stories about wedding photos, she snapped away and got some lovely pics of me and my work – not bad considering I got up at 5:45am and was still getting over the last of the Chicken Pox! The photos will be appearing in a forthcoming magazine article along with a rather special announcement… Intrigued?! Check back soon for the big reveal! Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:55:01 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/50 Cool Stuff I use the term ‘organic’ quite a bit when I describe my practice and I thought these photos kind of personified what that was all about. Far from being a battery-reared designer, penned in by computers and concrete walls, my creativity often takes form on regular trips back to my family home, the fish farm up in Aberdeenshire. Inspired by the freedom of the rambling countryside and zingy fresh air, many of the designs either take form on a battered little sketch book stashed in my childhood bedroom or are mused over on long walks with our Golden Labs. Last weekend we took an early Sunday morning walk down the old railway line to pick Brambles and Crab Apples (which later made their way into a pretty darn good crumble) as the dogs dashed about in pursuit of rabbits and pheasants I mused over my Spring / Summer collection. Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:00:28 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/49 Inspiration I’m delighted to welcome Mr Smith Interiors as the newest retailer of my hand printed wallpaper collection. This funky little store tucked away down in Brighton is run by Mr Ben Smith (funnily enough) and his family. They specalise in all things interiors from flooring, cabinet furniture, paint and of course, lovely wallpapers. A proper one stop shop, the friendly people at Mr Smith advise on Interior Projects big and small, as well as having an experienced team of curtain makers, carpet fitters and upholsters on their books. What more could you ask for? Black and White ceramics perhaps? If you happen to pop in, please let Mr Smith know you are hungry in Brighton for some fabulous black and white mugs and plates and kindly ask him to consider stocking those also… (they make magic Christmas Presents!) Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:59:47 GMT http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/48 Friends & Links