Vision & Inspiration
Photography : R Alexander Trejo
He's been snapping images since he was a teen, but decided to train as an architect. It was only after substantial encouragement from his photographer-wife that Philadelphia-based R Alexander Trejo started taking his photography more seriously. His compositions...
Surface Design : Andrea Enthal {Edsel2084}
andrea enthal - victorian excess Andrea 'Enthal is big on symmetry; her designs are reminiscent of 60s paisley and psychedelia, with big measures of Art Nouveau, William Morris, Rococo, and Medieval styles all adding to the mix. The colours are cool, rich and...
The crafted object : Woolspace {Vaiva & Liudmila – knit}
The handknitted wool socks of Woolspace are steeped in the centuries-old tradition of the folk crafts of the Baltic, twisted through with new ideas and fresh approaches including the use of upcycled yarns, bright, non-traditional colours and modern motifs. Mother and...
Photography : KaleidoscopePhoto
KaleidoscopePhoto - california retro hotel Kaleidoscope is such a fabulous word, isn't it!? And it perfectly describes the neon-bright, carnival-inspired images of Leah from KaleidoscopePhoto. Saturated hot pinks and yellows predominate, and combined...
Surface design : Kociara
Reminiscent of the sumptuous gradient florals and geometrics from the heyday of European Art Deco design, these designs from Marta Rusin {aka Kociara} have found their inspiration in the work of Tamara Lempicka and mid-century modern. kociara - bugs ...
Surface Design : Sabine Reinhart
Sabine Reinhart Sabine Reinhart is a busy person. In between running three websites and freelancing for companies such as Adobe, Te Neues, and Crate & Barrel, she also designs patterns. Sumptuous, elaborate, beautiful patterns. Originally graduating...
The crafted object : pipapiep {jewellery}
Pipapiep Esty Gertzman {aka Pipapiep} manages to straddle that line between bright and fun, and seriously, elegantly good. Bulbous beads of painted wood in bright colours combine with fluffy pompoms in pieces that are both amusing and beautiful. They are eclectic and...
Surface Design: Groovity {Mary Tanana}
Groovity {Mary Tanana} As a small child, Mary Tanana was so obsessed with pattern that every time they went out shopping, she would beg her mother to take her to the ladies room, just so she could check out the tiles and wallpaper. Now as a...
The crafted object : Susan Hanft ~ ceramics
The simple shapes and hand drawn patterns of Susan Hanft's ceramics tread an elegant line between amusing and serious. Like cartoon versions of themselves, their chunky contours are outlined and patterned with simple things - checks, dots, stripes and crosses, in a...
Surface design : Allie Roberts
Surface design : Allie Roberts There's something seductive about these gorgeously feminine prints from recent Cardiff Metropolitan University graduate, Allie Roberts. They are both delicate and tactile, in a soft, clear palette, centred around magenta and...
The crafted object : ArtKvarta {jewellery}
Yulia grew up in a small town in the Ukraine, with few opportunities and conservative attitudes towards art, but she always loved making things with her hands. She never wanted to work in an office for someone else, and just wanted to make a living doing something...
Photography : John Shepherd
John Shepherd grew up with Life magazine in the house. "Sometime in high school, I saw depression era (1930s) Farm Securities Adm. photos in a museum. I somehow recognized that the compositions were beautiful but the people and their belongings were fascinating but...
this. magazine ~ celebrating two years of tractorgirl
this. magazine YES! Next month marks the two year anniversary for this blog. It has been SUCH wonderful fun to scour the interwebs for the visually stunning AND be rewarded with such great stories from the artists as well. That's why I've decided to...
The crafted object : Jibby and Juna {polymer clay jewellery}
When she was tiny, Genevieve Williamson used to play with her imaginary friends, Jibby and Juna. It is the perfect name for her polymer clay jewellery. "In my mind they still epitomize childhood, freedom, imagination and most importantly, play." ...
Surface Design : Ekaterina Panova
Ekaterina Panova's surface designs are dense with detail and a sense of wit. Friendly robots, monsters, birds and flowers compete for space in her repeats, along with aliens, bad bunnies and cyclops kitties. Too fun! Her colours are bright yet relaxed,...
The crafted object : iheartfink {clothing}
Kristen is the one-woman show behind iheartfink. Starting with sourcing the remnant and recycled fabrics she uses, she designs and makes her own silkscreens, mixes her own water-based inks, handprints the fabrics, and then sews them into her original designs, which...
Surface design : Jookiku {Julianne Hall}
SO excited to be introducing you to one of the swathe of local talent in my area, Julianne Hall! Currently based in Wagga, Julianne has travelled the globe and worked in London and New York, and has just VERY recently quit her day job to become a full-time...
Photography : Margaux Kent – TheBlackSpotBooks
Margaux Kent is a free soul, open to many things : journeys by boat, adventures in foreign lands, investigating the abandoned buildings of others, and the sea. It seems she travels through life with one eye roving the past for lost treasures, the other seeking out...
The crafted object : Pamela Tang ~ clothing
Pamela Tang confesses, "My addiction for hoarding too many materials began when my mum ran a fabric business many years ago." But I reckon that's OK now - what she makes that fabric into is wonderful. Focusing on linen, wool and silk, she constructs...
The crafted object : Karen Richards ~ textiles
I must admit I am mesmerised by the textile works of Karen Richards. I first came across her through another artist friend of mine (Vicki Mason - you can find my interview with her here!), and was just a tiny bit amazed by the breadth of her practice, and the...
Surface design : Kezia
Kezia works full time as a colour separation artist for a large textiles printing company, and fits in designing for herself between times. Working out of a small and chaotic spare room at home, she says that the best designing moment for her came when she won...
Photography : Kathryn Hooper {Dallape Chant}
Bleached by sun, stripped to core elements, Kathryn Hooper's photography is a testament to her understanding of the beauty inherent in the harshness of rural landscape. Standing solo or clustered in groups with a skin like patchwork, these sheds face the...
Surface design : Felicity Booth
Felicity Booth is an artist and surface designer who has worked in a wildly varied collection of jobs, including in her "hippy chick"days when she worked as a caterer at music festivals, and then wrote a guide book while on archaeological digs in Albania. Now...
Surface Design : Katrina Zerilli
A love of vintage wallpaper and Mark Rothko paintings are the inspirations behind many of Katrina Zerilli's surface designs. Those, and the fact that she sees patterns everywhere she looks. "I once had a great assignment in a textile class to spend the...
The crafted object : Andy Singleton – papercuts
You KNOW I love a great papercut. Andy Singleton produces remarkable things out of his studio in Wakefield, England. His large-scale paper sculptures are breathtaking and awe-inspiring, not only for their beauty, but also for their scale, their technical skill, and...
Light and butterflies : the photography of Audrey Simper
Audrey Simper's images inhabit another world of wings and sea, of light and butterflies. Dropping her studies of Architecture in favour of starting a photography business was an enormous step, but absolutely worth it. "My cousin, Madeline Irene, got me into...
The crafted object : Margaux Lange ~ jeweller
I heart Margaux Lange's work. I love how it uses repetition of forms to create new textures and shapes. I love how it extracts elements and puts them into new contexts. I love how it uses juxtaposition to create conversations, to question ideas and to inject a sense...
Surface design : Ravenous
Raven Jumpo teaches graphic design and advertising at a private college in Kuala Lumpur. But just about every available free slot she has at work is filled with designing patterns. Her desk is crowded with Spoonflower colour charts, sketchbooks, cutting mats,...
The crafted object : blingiebot – 3D printed jewellery
If you ever have the opportunity to go see a 3D printer in action, DO IT. I was lucky enough to catch one in action when the Questacon Science Circus came through town, and it is the most gobsmacking bit of tech I have seen in quite a while. The tech itself has...
Surface design : Anastasiia-Ku
Anastasiia-Ku is the mother and daughter design team of Anastasiia and Nataliia Kucherenko, based in the Ukraine. They are both long-time lovers of drawing, and that shines though in many of their designs, which are a mix of individual and...