We Have Moved / / New Website & Blog Launch

Here at the studio we would like to THANK YOU for your ongoing support, we have loved sharing our inspiration & daily blog posts with you. Thank you for following our blog & always leaving fab comments we really appreciate it.

Our blogger posts are no more... but don't worry! We have a shiny brand new blog over on the new Rachael Taylor website. You can still keep up to date with our fun posts & studio news there.

We hope you enjoy the new website & look forward to sharing lots more inspiration with you.

Here are a few screen shots taken from our new site.

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Interiors Roundup / / Mrs Logs

I am so excited to be sharing gorgeous interiors with you. As Rachael Taylor’s Interiors roundup editor, I will be posting every Thursday afternoon with my weekly update of all things Interiors. This week, I am making the most of my last Christmas post! We have some stunning creations from Mrs Logs.

I only came across this amazing work by Mrs Logs yesterday, and just had to share it with you, I think every home needs one of these, just which one is the question?! I simply love all of the different textures, and the engravings are so sweet! Please pop along to their Facebook page here to show them some support, I'm sure you would agree that they deserve it!

Have a very merry Christmas! Emily x

ABSPD Module 4 / / Card Crazy Live Brief!

We are bursting with excitement about some of the incredible ***LIVE BRIEF'S*** that we have in store for you! Set by a hand-picked selection of ***TRULY AMAZING COMPANIES*** in Module 4 of 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design (the e-course)'! Module 4 is an advanced seven week course in which you will learn everything you need to know about building your professional portfolio. The course is crammed with masterclass video tutorials, regular live briefs from real companies, templates, tons of brilliant inspiration, invaluable content, a weekly Q&A with Rachael, & individual work reviews from either Rachael or another flourishing designer! PLUS you will get six months’ FREE access to the MOYO Directory, where you can create a bespoke profile, upload unlimited portfolios and attract potential clients. This is a rare opportunity to build your commercial portfolio in a structured way, with the support & guidance to boost your confidence & make you raring to go!

Card Crazy are a UK based, greetings card publisher with the focus of making designers stand out from the crowd! They invest a lot of time in designing beautiful greetings cards & providing a no-nonsense service that delivers at all times. They love to celebrate & showcase their designers ensuring that they share in the success of their designs! We love our own collection with Card Crazy & we are very excited for them to share their Live Brief! You can register here for March 2014, when Module 4 begins! This is an amazing opportunity to gain REAL design experience from a brilliant brief along with the chance to present your work to an innovative company. Rachael has worked with Card Crazy on her own illustration & pattern card ranges & loved designing for them!

Many of our graduates are now big players within the design industry & we're proud to say we have really nurtured some amazing talent! You can see more success stories from current students & Alumni in this Facebook album or read some of our lovely testimonials. We are so pleased that the course & our Alumni have received outstanding industry recognition, as we have been going from strength to strength since our intial launch at the end of 2011.

WE WILL BE REVEALING EACH WEEK THE COMPANIES THAT WE HAVE CONFIRMED SO FAR. STAY TUNED!

So far we have lined up wonderful textile company Dashwood Studio (see the announcement post here) & fantastic modern homewares company DENY Designs (see the reveal post here).

Gift Guide / / Storage Boxes

What do you buy for the person who already has everything? Well, I can think of a thing or two...

Welcome to the weekly gift-guide: I am delighted to be sharing with you unique, inspiring & significant gift ideas on Rachael's blog. This week I bring you ideas for storage boxes. I hope these gift ideas inspire you. Enjoy, Hannah.

Natured inspired patterned tin by Dotcomgiftshop.

Geometric patterned box with lid by Ikea.

Monochrome patterned boxes by Oliver Bonas.

Button trinket box by The Contemporary Home via Notonthehighstreet.

Vintage floral patterned storage cases by The Little Picture Company via Notonthehighstreet.

Leaf inspired patterned storage boxes by Matalan.

Artist Review / / Vanessa Bowman

I am thrilled to be able to share some inspirational art and design with you every Tuesday morning as Rachael's 'Art and Creative Writer'. This week, I'm featuring the lovely paintings of Vanessa Bowman. 

Vanessa is a contemporary artist working in oils and often taking still lives as her subject matter. She graduated from Winchester School of Art with a first class honours degree in Printed Textiles in 1993 and has won many awards for her work, including the Daler Rowney Young Artist of the Year.

She has a wonderful gift for capturing pattern, texture and colour in her paintings which celebrate the 'simple beauty of everyday objects'.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and see you for more inspiration in 2014! Justine x

MICA / / Eric Leland

Today we are sharing the beautiful work of Eric Leland who I met on a recent work trip to the US! I was lucky enough to get to visit Boston & Baltimore, hang out with the team at the Lilla Rogers Studio & teach some workshops & deliver a public lecture at MICA (Maryland Institute College Of Art). It was such an honour to be invited & to teach at such a wonderful college with talented tutors such as Eric.

Eric's design career began in architecture - he spent five years working in that field in Baltimore, Maryland, & passed his registration exams in 2007. However, at the same time, he was overtaken both by wanderlust & by a growing realisation that he was happiest with the part of his work that involved pencil & paintbrush. Eric & his wife took a leap across the Atlantic, and then enrolled in the postgraduate illustration course at University College Falmouth, in Cornwall, England. Since 2009, Eric has been back in Baltimore, where he has now nearly filled his basement with obsolete letterpress printing equipment. Eric produces & markets his own illustrated greeting cards, calendars, books, prints & paper goods, much of which is printed & bound by hand, by me. For the 2013 - 14 academic year, he is also teaching part time on the Illustration Practice MFA course at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

You can visit Eric's lovely website & his Etsy shop to buy his gorgeous illustrations.

ABSPD Module 4 / / DENY Designs Live Brief!

We are bursting with excitement about some of the incredible ***LIVE BRIEF'S*** that we have in store for you! Set by a hand-picked selection of ***TRULY AMAZING COMPANIES*** in Module 4 of 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design (the e-course)'! Module 4 is an advanced seven week course in which you will learn everything you need to know about building your professional portfolio. The course is crammed with masterclass video tutorials, regular live briefs from real companies, templates, tons of brilliant inspiration, invaluable content, a weekly Q&A with Rachael, & individual work reviews from either Rachael or another flourishing designer! PLUS you will get six months’ FREE access to the MOYO Directory, where you can create a bespoke profile, upload unlimited portfolios and attract potential clients. This is a rare opportunity to build your commercial portfolio in a structured way, with the support & guidance to boost your confidence & make you raring to go!

WE WILL BE REVEALING EACH WEEK THE COMPANIES THAT WE CONFIRMED. STAY TUNED!

We are so delighted to announce that modern, think-outside-the-box home furnishings company DENY Designs will be writing a Live Brief for Module 4! This global, prestigious company offers products to transform the home while supporting art communities all over the world. They believe in each product being custom-made for each & every customer using state of the art printing methods to create fresh, vibrant colours & high-end quality products. DENY Designs are a passionate group of people who want to inspire & be inspired, create & be visionaries & they want to share this with designers & customers from across the globe!

This is an amazing opportunity to gain REAL design experience from a brilliant brief along with the chance to present your work to an innovative company. DENY Designs is a company that really shows the impact & power of surface pattern design & the range it can have. Currently DENY Design produces over 30 home-wares products with plans to expand even more in 2014! It is wonderful to see the versatility you can get from one design! Their team of artists even includes some of our ABSPD Alumni such as Loni Harris, Wendy Kendall, Tammie Bennett & Vy La! Rachael has collaborated with DENY Designs herself & cannot sing their praises enough!

Many of our graduates are now big players within the design industry & we're proud to say we have really nurtured some amazing talent! You can see more success stories from current students & Alumni in this Facebook album or read some of our lovely testimonials. We are so pleased that the course & our Alumni have received outstanding industry recognition, as we have been going from strength to strength since our intial launch at the end of 2011.