During any visit to our Brighton shop, a peruse on our social media or a browse online, you will most likely have noticed the bold and vibrant designs of Fenella Smith. Based in London, Fenella's product range is both glamorous and practical, with vegan leather wash bags, pencil cases, porcelain trinket dishes and stylish jewellery wraps, featuring tropical prints, retro styles and nostalgic imagery, all designed to add a little bit of colour to your world. We ask her how she started, what inspires her and what advice she would give other designers just starting out.
The brand has always made slip cast ceramic and over the years we have added new products, currently our vegan leather lines are our best selling pieces from clear travel bags to box wash bags we make them and we make them colourful! My nana Adelaide left me all her ceramics as I had always been intrigued by the vibrant colours and shapes; square teacups with bright green and gold and deep mustard plates. I decided I wanted to create products that were both useful but with colour and that added delight. I’m a terrible day dreamer so I will often waft off into an idea and then I’ll chat to my brother Greg who draws our illustrations. I will then spend time looking at colour palettes, I think colour is such a powerful ally if used well. I love our oyster cosmetic cases, super useful for handbag essentials. And of course the mug, I’m often told they are a household favourite. I love pottering about with my daughter Finty and my husband Simon; he travels a lot so the weekends are precious and fairly low key. I generally go for a run, we all have breakfast and currently we’re tending to our veg patch.. which is also being attacked by the bunnies! We’ll often see friends for supper, I love to cook so it’s my chance to experiment on them! I love Nigel Peake, his observation of life is truly unique and refreshing. We have a lot of his art in our house. It will take you longer and cost you more than you think to get going. Keep your ideas fresh and keep focussed on your dreams and goals; if you’re true to them everything will unfold as it should! |
Thanks Fenella, that is great advice!
Next month we will chat to one of our newest makers, Michelle Kreussel of Fox in the Attic.