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Writer's pictureEmily

The Design Process - Home Textiles

If you're anything like me, you like to 'shop with sense'. I like to know where the products that I fill my home with come from, and I love to learn about the story behind them, whenever possible. So with that in mind, here's a little insight into the detail behind my home textiles range.


THE INTENTION


I had 'functional art' in mind when I began playing with designs for the range. I wanted the textiles to feel creative, but I also wanted them to work as 'pops of colour' within an otherwise minimal aesthetic.

A printed Victorian lampshade on a white pineapple shaped lamp base.
My idea of 'functional art' - I took this photo at Liberty London while travelling earlier in the year.

I also had a cozy, homely, cottage kind of vibe on my mind. This is definitely the kind of styling that I lean towards personally, while also being mindful to keep things feeling fresh.


A country style kitchen, with a large wooden island bench, copper pots and pans, and vintage gold framed artwork on the subway tiled wall.
A little bit of 'cottage core' inspiration :)

THE ART


Once I had settled on the 'feeling' I was going for, I began to pull together some different colour pallets as options to work with. It was at this point that I polled my Instagram audience to see which colour combinations they resonated with most.


One of my polls on my Instagram stories

From there, I narrowed the colour pallets down to three, and began to create the actual artwork. I used acrylics on canvas paper, and created three different designs across the three different colour pallets - nine designs total.

The beginning stages of an abstract painting.
Work in progress! This will eventually turn into the 'Passage' print in the pine colour way.

THE PRINT FILES


Using high quality scans of my original artworks, I created repeat patterns which would serve as the final artwork files to send to my textile printer.

An abstract painting in reds and pinks.
It's coming together! (Click to view the finished product!)

THE SAMPLING PROCESS


Once my fabric printer had received my artwork files, the next step was to order saturation samples. This type of sampling involves printing several fabric swatches across a range of saturation levels, increasing from dull to vibrant.

Just some of many (MANY!) saturation samples ;)

After the saturation level had been selected, the final sampling step was to order production samples. These are complete and sewn samples, and serve as the final quality check before placing a bulk production order.


QUALITY CHECKS & PACKAGING


As a hand-maker at heart, I like to stay involved in the production process as much as I can. For the home textiles range, this means conducting a quality check of each unit, while also wrapping and packaging the pieces in my Derby & Power ribbon. Each set is tied off with a little bow, and packed in a reusable calico pouch.

Art print linen napkins tied up in sets of four.
Finished!

 

And that's how it's done! Just a little story for you to share if you're giving any of these designs as gifts, or if you have people over for a meal.


You can browse the completed range here if you're interested to see how it all turned out!


Thanks for following along with my story! Em x




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