As each new season draws near, I eagerly await the catalogue of my current favourite design house, Citta Design. This savvy, New Zealand based company always manage to get it right. This week, I enjoyed flipping through the pages of their Spring/Summer range for 11/12.  Their Cuban inspired collection ties together the warm neutral tones of last season with the freshness of warmer days to come. Let’s just say, I have a few items circled and added to my wishlist….
Their Cuban range is coming soon to the Citta Design website and new blog!

In recent months there has been a real surge for raw, imaginative and free illustrations, and in my eyes, one of the leading designers in this category is James Ward of Jimbob Art. Ward honed his skills in illustration whilst studying at Westminster University, London, where he developed a love for working in pen and ink. After a recent vacation to Sweden, Ward came back to England truly inspired; inspired by their use of natural history design and the range of products or surfaces that features them. It’s from this point that Ward began using ceramics as a medium to display his range of animal characters.

‘I feel drawing anthropomorphic characters can describe so much about human emotions and personalities with the juxtaposition of the animal’s expression against his clothing, an item or text.’ – James Ward

I am enchanted with Jimbob Art’s selection of ceramics and the beautiful illustrations that cover them; they’re so playful and humorous. The bright pops of colour on the monochromatic designs bring the illustrations to life and add to their charming nature. Each individual illustration is hand-drawn with on-glaze ink on to dishwasher proof white porcelain. All of the ceramics will look not only brilliant as a table setting, but great on display; perhaps on a welsh dresser or kitchen shelving. My personal favourites have to be the El Guapo plate, The Dominator plate, the Owl in Pants teapot, and the Tea Defender Mug. It’s probably too early to be writing a ‘Christmas Wish List’, but these will definitely be going on it!

This competition is now closed.  Congratualtions to our winner, Lou Taylor-Murison!

We have two fantastic books to give away from RotoVision just in time for Christmas,  they would make a lovely present for someone or you can simply keep them for yourself!

The first is called Reinventing Letterpress and I have totally fallen in love with it.  The book gives an overview of the fascinating techniques of this traditional process and also celebrates it’s mass revival by showing the portfolios of stunning work from the best letterpress studios that are running today.

The book is filled with so many beautiful pieces of letterpress artwork of all colours, shapes and designs.  Not only is it great to see all of the stunning work but it’s a fantastic resource for images and inspiration and very worthy of a prime place on any coffee table.  Below are just a few images from the book:

The next book is called 52 Photographic Projects, and would suit anyone with an interest in photography.   It was created by a self taught photographer called Kevin Meredith aka lomokev, who’s long term hobby turned into a career.  This is his second book (his first book sold out of it’s print run in under a year!)   Here is what the publishers say about it:

“This book will kick-start your creativity, enhance your photographic skills, and build your confidence behind the lens.  It’s cliche’ busting ideas are backed with jargon-free, practical advice to offer a weekly dose of inspiration for photographers and image-makers of all levels”.