The Red Door Gallery would simply not be the same if it wasn't for the wonderful support of independent and emerging designers and artists dedicated to presenting original, inspirational and affordable artwork.

In amongst all of these talented folk is the very lovely and talented Katy Brown. Founder of olive & brown, Katy will be launching brand new work, including bespoke embroidered wallpaper, at the much anticipated Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2009. Held at Spinningfields in Manchester from the 22nd to the 25th of this month, the fair provides a unique shopping experience, showcasing creations from some of the most talented designer-makers in the UK today. A week ahead of the big event we were able to grab an interview with a busy Katy for our next regular designer/artist feature. Thanks for giving us a great read Katy!


Q - Please describe what you do. What materials/techniques do you use?

A - I would say I am a modern embroiderer. Recently my work had involved pencil drawings too. I have also been embroidering on to paper and have created bespoke wallpaper for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2009.

Q - Where do you live? How does it feed your art?

A - I live on the borders of Greater Manchester and Cheshire. I love Manchester, it inspires me whenever I go in to the city.


Q - Describe your studio. Where is it? How often do you use it? Do you work alone?

A - I currently create work in my bedroom (pictured above).....I sound like a teenager! I have recently moved back in with my mum and my bedroom is the only room I have to work in. It's not great and doesn't inspire me to get on and work. Since moving out of the home I owned with my ex boyfriend it has been difficult to be creative. Since getting the place at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair it has forced me to get on and work and I'm now back on track. It feels fantastic to be doing what I love again.

Q - What name do you work under?

A - My grandma's name was Olive. I loved her to bits. She died three years ago. She was a wicked person with a wicked sense of humour and her own personal style. I liked the idea of her being part of something that she would be proud of me for and would fully support me on. Sometimes I get sad knowing that she will never get to see how well I'm doing.

I also like the name Olive, although she hated it. Her full name was Olive Edna and she couldn't stand it...ha ha. I am obviously the 'Brown' bit.


Q - Have you always been a designer? How did you end up doing what you do now?

A - No. I did a Fine Art degree and was working with much more conceptual ideas. Prior to my degree though I did an Art Foundation course and focused on textiles. I wanted to do an embroidery degree at Manchester, however due to failing my A Levels (I was too interested in singing) I didn't get a place, so ended up doing Fine Art in Sheffield. I'm glad I did though as I met some of my closest friends there and two people I couldn't live without. I believe that there is a reason for most things.


Q - Where did you train?

A - I pretty much taught myself.

Q - What inspires you?

A - There are many artists on etsy that inspire me. My best friend and her lovely man often inspire me. They are two very creative souls and I often find them very inspiring. My mum, although she doesn't inspire me in the creative way, she inspires me with her hard work. She runs her own business too and I often get home from a night out to find her beavering away at her computer!




Q - Is there anyone or any style that you're influenced by?

A - I am mainly influenced my Fashion. Clothes are a big thing in my life, how I dress is very important to me (god, that sounds so shallow). My favourite fashion designers are Stella McCartney, DAY Birger et Mikkelsen (pictured above, top), Lyell (pictured above, bottom) and Beaumont Organic. I tend to read fashion blogs like stylebubble and The Sartorialist. I also love etsy and bloesem for craft inspiration. I read Antler mag, Elle Deco and Vogue on a monthly basis. I often draw the models from Vogue and use them in my work.

Q - What piece of machinery or tool could you not live without?

A - My sewing machine!

Q - Besides the products you sell at The Red Door is there anything else that you make?

A - Yes. Check out my website www.oliveandbrown.com.

Q - What are you working on at the moment?

A - I have recently been working on pieces for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. This includes framed embroidered art work, pencil drawings and collage, wallpaper, cushions and brooches (pictured above) that I sell in the Red Door.


Q - What do you do when you are not working? Can you switch off? How do you unwind?

A - I do lots of different things. I like watching films (especially French ones), going to gigs, walking, going to the gym, spending time with the lovely man in my life, shopping, having a glass of wine or two, cycling......and many more things. I am not very good at sitting and doing nothing.

Q - What's your favourite pastime?

A -Watching people whilst drinking coffee, with a magazine or book in hand that I'll probably never read but at least I won't look weird!

Q - What do you like least about being a designer? Any occupational hazards?

A - Nothing!

Q - What do you like most about being a designer?

A - The feeling of achieving what I want in my life by being creative. So far I will never look back and think I didn't try to do what I've always wanted to do.

Q - What's your favourite possession? This can be absolutely anything!

A - I have a few but I am not very good with material possessions. I'm better at treasuring people. But if I had to answer then basically anything this lady (sunlight on closed lids) has given me and a beautiful old charm bracelet given to me one Christmas by Olive Edna.

Q - What advice would you offer to other creatives?

A - Stick at it. If it makes you happy then it is worth the hard work.

LINK LIST. Who's work do you love? Any artists/makers/friends/galleries/websites you'd like to share.

www.iefkederoos.blogspot.com
www.siagrafica.visualblogging.com
www.emmas.blogg.se
www.stylebubble.co.uk
www.antlermag.com/blog
www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Thank you Katy! Wishing you every success at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair next week.

For more information on visiting the fair go to the Great Northern Events website.

New delicious textile treats just in from Gillian Kyle celebrating some true 'icons' of Scottish life! We'll be catching up soon with the wonderful Glasgow-based designer in our regular designer/artist interview, so keep those eyes peeled......

We are very excited to announce that the new delivery from Biscuit Boutique, including some new midget gem pieces, has attracted our favourite Scottish comedian Billy Connolly to The Red Door Gallery for the second time. Who can resist the fun that comes with these delicious looking jewels!

On a recent visit to Berlin, I was treated to some of the best cupcakes on this earth. Now, these treats from the aptly named shop, cupcake, were no muffin impersonator - fluffy and light cake mixture with generous buttercream icing in the best flavours around, these sweet little bundles of goodness were very much the real deal. I left their wondering why on earth we don't have one of these bakeries in Edinburgh - oh well, more excuse to head back to Berlin and more specifically cupcake!

Roll up roll up! The second annual Art Walk on West Port and the Grassmarket is underway. Beginning at the newly opened Art Rock Hostel, its your chance to peer that little bit longer in some of the area's finest shop and business windows. Lorna, a final year student, has teamed up Edinburgh College of Art Graduates and students with local business encouraging artistic peeping tommary, and opening up our friendly and welcoming community to a new gaggle of art lovers and students.

The Red Door Gallery's hottest ECA graduates are gracing out windows at the moment, with the extended run of Alice's Avery Exhibition in one window and rising star, and children's home ware designer Elsie Dodds (pictured) vibrantly residing in our other window. If you fancy a walk this weekend and want to avoid the rain, the Art Walk is the perfect urban compromise.... come take a peep!

We were very happy to find ourselves mentioned on the wonderful website daily candy, who recently featured Edinburgh (and The Red Door) as a travel destination. And a lovely shot of Edinburgh they used too!

We always love hearing about new collaborations. One of those is b+y design, who have just returned from showcasing their work at 100% Futures at 100% Design in London.

b+y design is a collaboration between Hamish Bigg and Eleanor Young, aka Fun Makes Good, who's wonderful textile goodies adorn The Red Door Gallery shelves! Hamish and Eleanor met at The Glasgow School of Art while studying product design and textile design respectively. Although diverse in their approaches, both share core philosophies of sustainability and playfulness. Their work aspires to engage its audience in a creative way, with thoughtful and enduring designs. Having developed strong indentities for themselves, Hamish and Eleanor joined under the name b+y design.

We hope you had a great show Hamish and Eleanor!

Pictured above: Hamish Bigg's Ico Lamp and Eleanor Young's digitally printed cushions, based on drawings from vintage buttons.

It may be a little short notice, but for those of you in Glasgow today head over to The Lighthouse, Mitchell Lane, for some design, vintage and crafty goodness. Made In The Shade is a boutique shopping event that will wow the socks off all who visit. A must for one off wonders so hurry, stalls close up at 5pm today!

After being super patient, we have finally got our latest Seymour installment instore. Three amazing sculptures have made their way from Berlin to Edinburgh which means you lucky people now have the chance to purchase these one off pieces. Each one is hand sculpted with polymer clay, then painted, gloss lacquered and mounted in antique domes and as we mentioned before, are just amazing! Thanks Seymour.

In the winter of 2005 illustrator Laurie Hastings and writer David Troupes spent seven weeks working in the Gyle, an industrial estate just west of Edinburgh. Like many recent graduates and would-be artists they had signed on with an employment agency, and, after two days of rushed and totally inadequate training, were thrown onto the phones in a Telewest call centre. In between processing card payments and enduring verbal abuse, they struck up a friendship, swapping bits of creative work. One of these was a poem David had written about leaving the Gyle on a packed but quiet bus, called As We Make Our Way Home.

Four years later, this poem became the kernel for a collaboration between the two: six poems paired with six illustrations, half instigated by Laurie and half by David. At the centre of this work are the moods and scenes and rhythms of a city - people, and the textures that people form.

The inspiring six piece postcard set is now available at The Red Door Gallery.

The talented twosome at Pringle & Murray have caught our attention recently, with their debut range of scarves inspired by architecture and the city. Their bold colours and luscious fabrics are combined with a mixture of linear and loose patterns to produce a striking collection. Pringle & Murray will go one step further to broaden your grin, and will adapt their range to order, adjusting their colour parameters to your specifications.... so chaps and ladies alike can cut a dash in the Autumn breeze.

......we do indeed! This morning the postman delivered more great goodies for The Red Door Gallery. It felt like Christmas when we opened one of the boxes to reveal beautifully wrapped brown paper packages (pictured above!) from the inspiring and very talented folk at Little Otsu. Of course we didn't wait long to dig in.......................

Goodies revealed, left to right, available in store: Nine Ways to Disappear by Lilli Carre, Film Diary, Weekly Planner, Mini Weekly Planner, Set of Ten Illustrated Postcards.......

Just in the door from the team at nineteenseventythree are these super fun Jon Burgerman 'Colour Me Silly' colouring in books. Made from 100% recycled paper, these 96 page doodle books will give you hours of fun.

It definitely feels like Autumn today as the grey skies above continue to rain down. But there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful at The Red Door, including great products from newly sourced designers. One of those (...and we'll be shouting about a few this month) is jewellery designer Natalie Motlis aka Lilly My. Her wonderful chunky creations are pictured above and are available in store. Natalie describes her creativity as going "back to childhood" designing necklaces, earrings, bracelets, pins and rings made with pieces of puzzles, miniature dolls, guitar picks, erasers, buttons and stamps.

Quick! Grab them while you can! The eagerly awaited Cut-out and Make Menagerie of Animals are now back in store....

Illustrated and designed by Alice Melvin. This pack contains twelve illustrated cards for you to cut out and make your own animal menagerie. Step-by-step assembly instructions are included.

The animals included are a chicken, elephant, sheep, owl, tiger, crocodile, frog, robin tortoise and mini-beasts.

Also back in store as part of Alice's current show here at The Red Door Gallery, Alice's Aviary, the beautiful book Counting Birds and her fantastic A to Z Alphabet Stamps (spy below...)

On Tuesday we featured the much talked about blog What Katie Wore...............the wonderful illustrator Gemma Correll has given us a big smile today with her version on her blog for "camera-shy illustrators". Thanks Gemma! You've lifted our smiles on this wet and windy day.........

Since we now have a little one as part of The Red Door team, it seems that little peoples things keep catching our eyes. I couldnt resist posting about these gorgeous slippers from Pretty Little - if only they made them in adult sizes - that would be bliss!

The Edinburgh Fringe festival finishes today - sob sob. The crowds are packing up which means we are listening to a constant stream of suitcase wheels navigating the cobbles outside our shop. High Point - we will be able to move around the city a lot easier shortly. Low Point - it will be a whole year till all the performers and fun return!

If you haven't yet discovered the gem of a blog which is What Katie Wore......take a peek! The wonderful site is updated daily by couple Joe and Katie (pictured above by another fetching red door!). Joe writes the words (very smile-and-giggle-worthy) and Katie wears the clothes, a different outfit for every day of the year, and looks fabulous.

What started as a challenge to see how many outfits Katie could put together has now generated a cult following. Joe, who takes the images of Katie everyday, sees the blog as "something akin to a year-long love letter" to his girlfriend.

...Well we love it! Thanks Joe and Katie!

Get yourself down to the The Red Door Gallery tonight 6-8pm to spy the wonderful Alice's Aviary exhibition.

Alice's Aviary presents for the first time a new collection of ornithologically themed screen prints from Illustrator and designer Alice Melvin. Continuing our new designer/artist feature we were able to grab an interview with the very talented Alice....

Q - We would love to know what typical day in the life of Alice Melvin is all about, any chance of a brief snippet? 


A - I always try to start a workday with a swim, which I find is the best way to wake up my body and head. So, thoroughly refreshed – if somewhat rosy cheeked – I then make my way to either my studio or if I’m in the middle of a print project to the print workshop. If it’s a studio day then I always start by wading through the morning admin which always takes up a depressingly large amount of time, before getting down to whatever illustration project I have in hand.

Q - Describe your studio. Where is it? How often do you use it and do you work alone?

A - After working from home for a number of years I now share a studio with another illustrator at St Margaret’s House on London Road in Edinburgh. Whilst the studio building is never going to win any beauty contests it’s great to have a working space that is outside of home. I work there Monday to Friday and often at the weekend too though I try to maintain something like a regular working week – a big challenge when self-employed!

Q - Do you always have a clear idea about how a finished piece will look or do you find ' developing ideas as you go? 


A - Both. I generally start off with a fairly strong idea of what I am working towards but as time goes on and the project develops I find myself constantly amending my images and ideas. On projects with a much longer time span - such as a children's book - this can be quite hard as you often find yourself having to work with drawings you created two years ago, by which time your style has evolved and developed.

Q - What piece of machinery or tool could you not live without?

A - It would have to be my iMac and the internet, I am lost without them! I would also struggle without access to a Pilot G-Tec-C4 pen which is what I do all my drawing with – I generally have about 6 on the go at any one time, and of course a screen printing facilities.

Q - You must have a huge list of inspirations as an artist, want to share any with us?

A - Like many artists I am an inveterate hoarder and a whole project can evolve from the smallest of starting points: a magazine cutting, an old postcard, an overheard conversation. At the moment I am obsessed with old bird books, vintage crockery and repeat patterns.

Q - You studied Illustration here in Edinburgh and have continued to live in Edinburgh since, how do you feel that Edinburgh as a city feeds you art?

A - I love Edinburgh - it’s such a great city. It has so many resources such as the wonderful Edinburgh Printmakers and of course galleries such as Red Door, which have been a great support. I’ve also got lots of friends in the creative industries who are based here and their advice and feedback really helps inform my work. The city is also endowed with some great public swimming baths – and I find nothing helps ease any creative block like a few hard lengths of the pool!

Q - In your eyes, has you work changed much over the last few years? 


A - Yes I think it is constantly evolving. I’m gradually becoming more comfortable and confident with my work and I consciously try to keep developing my style. Though I find one of the challenges of being self-employed is allowing yourself time to experiment with your work.


Q - You have impressively had 2 books published by the Tate as well as a number of accompanying products. Is this something you would like to continue alongside your print work? 


A - Yes, working with Tate has been a fantastic experience. My first book An A to Z Treasure Hunt was published by them when I was still relatively fresh form college and I really appreciated the time and support they gave me when I had so much to learn. I think the creative freedom I get with Tate Publishing is also pretty unique and it makes them a joy to work with. We have begun discussions about book three so watch this space!

Q - What is your favourite a) pastime b) possession and c) holiday destination?

A - Very hard – there are so many things I love doing it’s impossible to choose just one. It’s hard to beat a lazy Sunday morning with the papers and a good pot of tea though! I find it hard to choose a favourite possession too! I’m a terrible hoarder and enjoy have nice things in the flat, some of which have a lot of sentimental value, I couldn’t pick out just one as a favourite though! And holiday destination… a week in Paris please!

Q - For the last few years you have successfully worked solely as an illustrator. Do you have any advice for other creatives out there considering taking the plunge as a full time freelance artist/illustrator?

A - Just to realise that there will inevitably be lots of troughs as well as peaks but to keep persevering, it really is worth it. Also, brush up on business and admin skills – they may be boring but alas are essential to running a successful business.

Q - What does the future hold for Alice Melvin? Any exciting projects you are working on?

I’m getting taken out to Japan in October to promote my work at a British Fair in Osaka which is very exciting – I’ve not left the UK in about 3 years and have never travelled so far. I’ve also just launched my first greetings card range and I have a head full of ideas for new ranges and exciting projects – as ever it’s just finding those extra hours to get it all done in!