Dream Design 10 - Maria Jose Bautista Vargas

Today I am so pleased to welcome Maria Jose Bautista Vargas (Majo) to Dream Designs. Originally from Colombia she is a Surface Pattern Designer based in Milan, Italy. She has chosen to show us a collection of patterns called 'Happy Party' and explains to us why it features as her 'Dream Design' at this moment in time.

 

I was very excited when Dawn asked me to be part of her showcase. I'm a HUGE dreamer so I really felt close to the fun theme she chose. It was very difficult to choose only ONE dream design though. Sometimes we (designers) consider our creations our little babies, we want to see them all succeed out in the big world and we don't want to let down any of them by choosing only 1 {giggles}. But I had to compromise in some way, so I asked Dawn if I could choose a collection instead of just a single design (at the end, when we work with collections all the designs are supposed to compliment each other, right?).

Happy Party!, my first giftwrap collection are the lucky babies I've decided to promote for now. The collection was created to suit different occasions with whimsical characters/motifs and happy lettering. I would love to see this collection manufactured by a company like Paperchase or Tigerprint (I loooooove both of them!) It'll be a dream come true to see gifts that make people happy wrapped with my designs. I hope you like it! 

Majo studied Fashion and Textiles in Milan and is now making her way as a Surface Pattern Designer. Her work is fresh, bright, fun, whimsical and colourful, and I personally think her background as a Fashion Designer shows through in her work. Although she produces many modern textural designs and patterns she has a soft spot for the children's market. I can imagine her collection Happy Party working wonderfully as a giftwrap children.

I consider Majo as a friend (even though we are yet to meet up), we became friends before the great ABSPD course started and we have come through all three modules together. She has a positive character, is very friendly, fun loving and enthusiastic about everything... and last but not least is also a very talented designer! These traits give an extra 'happy' quality to all of her patterns. I believe Majo is also working on a 'secret' project to launch her own brand in 2013 so remember to follow her closely.

You can see more of her portfolio on her website here. Majo also has a fun blog called 'La patisserie des idees' and she is the baker! 

Bits in Black and White

I have been working on some patterns to enter in the Tigerprint Black and White print competition. I just love bold Black and White but I found in quite a few designs I had to add a bit of graytone to make them work. I designed about 15 patterns, but I could only send in a maximum of 5 designs! You can see some of them below and perhaps choose your own 5 favourite pieces! 

Dream Design 9 - Amanda Taylor

Today I am pleased to welcome Amanda Taylor to Dream Designs. She is a Surface Designer, based in Leicester, UK. Below you will find her lovely bold floral pattern and discover what her dream application would be for it.

I have always loved home interiors, and love looking for new ideas and inspiration for my home. This Poppy repeat is one of the 1st designs I created on the ABSPD course but it is one of my favorites. I would love to be able to paper one of my walls at home with it so my dream application is wallpaper on a site such as wallpapered.com or wallpaperdirect.co.uk. I think it would be a great bold floral feature wall to give maximum impact to a lounge or dining room wall.

Amanda is a very creative person and declares to 'have a passion for print, pattern, colour, design, graphics and craft'. She draws inspiration from the outdoors and you will find florals and wildlife are heavily featured in her work. 
Although Amanda has chosen a very bold and colourful pattern for her Dream Design I find a lot of her work is very 'pretty' with a lovely use of colour. Sometimes graphic, sometimes hand drawn, sometimes whimsical her collections are a delight to see. Amanda has a very versatile style making her work perfect for interiors, homeware or stationery products. 
Please find time to browse over at her blog here and take in her lovely designs. 
P.S. From reading her blog I have realised that she loves making lists... just like me!!! :)

Back to work

Hello everyone.

Having a few days off isn't really good for business but I can assure you it is really good for the soul. I have been a very busy bee sorting, organising and planning. I feel much better now that I have got a few things into perspective. My main achievement is turning my endless lists in to some sort of business plan with a timetable and deadlines... now all I have to do is stick to it!

Over the next ten days I will be extra busy 'creating patterns' as I have four important deadlines to meet. I will be sure to post snippets of my new designs here on my blog and I will share any news I have regarding any new projects.

From tomorrow my blog will be up and running again so please take time to come and visit. I will be starting the week with a lovely Dream Designs post and I have another lined up for later on in the week. If you are curious... come take a look!

Until tomorrow x