In the mood for a snood

The lovely ladies at Textile Freaks gave me a beautiful rose printed snood at the weekend and I just wanted to show it off and let you know about the great work the pair of them are doing. All this (extra) screen-printing is in aid of getting them down to New Designers in the summer, on top of this they will be finishing their Masters this year too...they definately like to keep themselves busy! Check out their Facebook page to keep upto date with all their extra curricular activities...

...GraceInk has also been a busy little bee, I finally bought myself a hairdryer to dry those screens quickly in between prints (check it out in use above) and managed to print up a bunch of bags and purses in preparation for a couple of orders heading out at the end of the month...all this and freebies in the shape of snoods, I've been a very blessed lady! Another busy week ahead...but then when is it not!

I have been forecasted...WGSN

For those amongst us with a membership to WGSN then the news is good as you can now view my work as part of the Interiors Trend Analysis for New Designers Part Two, for those of you without (including me) you'll have to take my word for it...I did get a sneak peek at the article and I get name-checked below!

'WGSN loves Grace Smith's tactile, hand-printed linens featuring birdcages and folk art references'

WGSN is a fantastic trend forecasting and analysis website providing the lowdown on anything and everything design from fashion to product, illustration to furniture as well as the coolest boutiques and exhibitions worldwide.

New Designers: One Year On Update

Thought you might all enjoy some pictures from inside the One Year On stand at New Designers Part Two this year. If you couldn't make it then you missed out but hopefully the pictures below will go someway to making up for it! If you want to check out the designer-makers that were there then head over to www.newdesignersonline.co.uk.

Lisa Connolly and GraceInk Design

Paul Cummins

Kate Usher

Sarah-Jayne Guest, Tamar Balakjian and Edward Robinson

Andy Murray

Home Addict by Caroline Gauci

Lauren Revell and Leah Wade

New Designers: One Year On 2010

New Designers has come and gone for another year and while I'm busy collating all the lovely work on show at One Year On to get online I thought I would direct you towards the Arts Thread Blog to check out some of the lovely people that took part.

Arts Thread is the World's Only Creative Graduate Website and allows those of us in the creative industry to get their portfolios out there to be seen by the right people at the right time.

Check back soon for more...

India Collection: New Designers 2010

Last week I was at a meeting about an exhibition I'm doing in July New Designers One Year On 2010. Well following the meeting I suddenly realised better get on with some work for it! I've had two new repeats all worked out for a couple of months now and finally I printed them during the week (I love printing and it was so much fun to spend time with great people). The picture is of the first piece in progress, my screens were pretty large but peeling back every layer made me really happy as it's been a while since I did my last one (probably about 3 years). The new designs are from my India Collection and will be appearing for the first time at ND Part Two from the 7th-11th July...would be great to see you there if you can make it.

While down in London last week I caught an amazing exhibition on Maps at the British Library, which has filled my head with lots of exciting new directions to follow...if only I could find the time now!

Contemporary Threads Update

The exhibition Contemporary Threads has opened in Kelso at the Wee Gallery and here's a sneaky peek inside of what's on show (to admire and to buy). The show includes work by myself including table runners, napkins, placemats and cushions, along with a larger piece of work 'Chinese Junks' which can be seen on the left hand side of the image above. Other artists on show include Valerie A Graves with her beautiful and tactile felted pods, wall-hangings and of course some cute felted hares thrown in for good measure. Lindsay Roberts hand spins her own yarns and then uses them within her collage works to create magnificent multi layered wall pieces.

I seem to have dropped off the blogging radar over the past few weeks, it's been a very busy time for me. I'm off to London next week for a meeting about New Designers so hopefully I'll be able to let on more about that on my return.

New Designers: One Year On 2010

Lots to report, but something that I've known for a month or so now is that I've been selected for New Designers: One Year On taking place down in London this July. I'm really excited about this opportunity and I'm currently busying myself with new work for the event and the launch of the India Collection I've been working on for about a year now. The plan if I can pull it off is to have three new repeated designs...my favourite way of working! There will also be all the soft furnishings and paper work I've been working away on over the last few months as well.

In other news (and the next post) I'm part of an exhibition in association with Craft Festival Scotland www.dundee.ac.uk/craftfest/ in Kelso throughout May...check back for more info!