Hoog en laag: first glimpse

So I have neglected my blog for over a month now and am very disappointed in myself. I have had a really busy September though, I started a Masters course in Design cultures at the VU in Amsterdam and am enjoying it a lot. I am also in the process of registering my business so it's official and I can really have a go at making it successful. On the downside this means that designing has taken a back seat and I hardly get anytime to sit down and really get my teeth into new ideas, but I have had a few free days recently and have come up with quite a few designs and here is the first that I have actually got around to making:

It's called Stenen and will be in my etsy shop soon and hopefully will have some friends joining it from my Hoog en Laag collection.

The Critters take over Woool!

I went and did a little photo shoot at Woool today. I had the best models, my critters:

Spot the squirrel!

Get down to Woool now before they all go :)

Woool

 Westeinde 61, 

2512 GV Den Haag

woooldenhaag@gmail.com

0703629000

woool.nl

HUGE SALE IN MY ETSY SHOP!!!!!!

To celebrate fair isle inspired knits and snow themed collections on the cat walk this season I'm selling my Talvi collection knits for even less! go check out my etsy shop and grab yourself an original snowflake scarf!!!!!!!!!

Check out Lumi I and II
Also my Poro with his snowflake body is in the sale.


GO GRAB A BARGIN NOW!!!!!!!

The Critters are complete!

So I finished off my critters collection yesterday and they are now for sale in Woool

L-R  Sunny, Oli and Bill

Smartie

(prices range from €25 - €34)

Critters!

I have been absent for a while due to creative block and due to being super busy. I am now full of ideas and have a new collection on the way...

But right now I have a critters collection specially designed for a shop here in the Hague. It's a knitting shop called Woool run by a lovely lady who has helped me out so much since I moved to this strange country. She took some of my work back in February and since then has sold quite a few of my toy animals, so I decided to make a small range of animals that she can sell at her shop. Currently they are exclusively for Woool but if they're successful maybe they will be seen elsewhere. These are the first 2 critters:

Oli and Smartie

new ideas

I have started working on a collection for autumn/winter 2010, it's inspired my home countries landscape, Scotland, and my new landscape, the Netherlands. I've begun playing around with some ideas, first of all looking at Dutch city patterns Scottish country landscapes. I'm thinking of working colour and texture from the rugged landscape of Scotland and regimented, neat patterns from Dutch landscape.


But first of all I have worked on some cheap skinny felted scarves that will be the basis of my collection, this first design is inspired by Dutch buildings, I have a mountain Scottish inspired one coming soon...  I hope to have the collection finished by the end of July and things may have changed a lot between now and then. I hope you like it, tell me what you think.

This is just a a design in progress, but I hope you like it!

Creative problem solving

I am currently working on my collection for autumn/winter 2010 but I have come to a block in my design process. My problem is that i have only been working on my business for 10 months so can't work out what sells best. So what should i make for this years collection:


Should I make more of cut out designs such as:

I did sell more of my cut out scarves last winter than any other design

Or work more on patterned fabrics such as:

I feel patterned cushions or scarves could be successful if I produce them in a more appealing end product and make sure the pattern is exciting and desirable.

Or should i go in a completely different direction following my creative developments and coming up with different finished fabric idea altogether.

I was thinking of creating cotton/lambswool fabrics using finishing processes to create unique fabrics that have exciting textures.

OR....

Should I just do a bit of each and see what sells this season coming.  I would love your suggestions!