The illustrator and designer behind the South African label Skinny laMinx (named after her Siamese cat), Moore’s recipe is simple: mix together a love of pattern, a cute shop, a top-notch team, and top it all off with equal parts playful and chic: “Pattern makes us happy, color makes us feel good!”, reads her Instagram bio, and boy do we agree.

Moore’s blooming business began relatively small. After 10 years of freelancing, she opened a blog and an Etsy shop in 2007, where she sold her simple, clear screen printed tea towels and hand-cut fridge magnets. By 2009 the business was so busy with retail and wholesale orders that she quit her comics-writing job.

These days, her brand includes a store and studio in Cape Town, where Moore employs a team of 15 women. Her product range has also grown over the years and now includes anything from pillows to furniture, becoming a beloved lifestyle brand both home and abroad.

Ever the creative, when it comes to inspiration, Moore admits she finds plenty of it: “It’s kind of silly to say this, but I really am inspired by just about anything and everything!”, she admitted once in an interview with Sweet Paul Magazine.

She noted that she’s inspired by things such as the holes in a piece of cheese, her dreams and desires while flipping through an IKEA catalog, ancient rock art on cave walls, and the dishes on her shelves at home.

All of Skinny laMinx’s designs are screen printed in Cape Town (with an added dose of African chic), and everything is cut and stitched by a small sewing team in the studio above our shop, making her products both ethical and local. “In general, I like design that is concise and fits its purpose,” says Moore. “If it manages to do these things while being elegantly exuberant too, that makes me happy.”

Add a dose of happiness to your home!

The post From Cape Town With Love: This Home Goods Brand Will Delight You appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Of course, growing up in a family of artists also helped. “As I grew older, I felt the need to have my own identity and being an artist seemed too expected,” she admits. “I finally gave in to the fact that I wouldn’t want to do anything else and went to art school but I majored in Fibers which seemed different enough.”

Endlessly inspired by her search for charm in the everyday, Isabella’s pattern-driven work reflects her background in textile design. Based in the Hudson Valley, just north of NYC., she’s always on the hunt for beauty in the unexpected. “This makes my life more interesting because even mundane day-to-day tasks provide inspiration,” she notes. “I love drawing people and watching them too. It would be nice to have a spy camera.”

Her drawings and gouache paintings have been applied to products like books, bedding, clothing, furniture, fabric, dishes, rugs, toys, and wallpaper, with clients as big as Kate Spade and Anthropologie. She’s also created quite a buzz online, with 40k fans on Instagram alone. “I remember my mom advising me and saying, ‘“Even when you don’t have work, work,'” she says. “The only way to improve is to practice.”

The post The Endearing Illustrations of Emily Isabella appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“Thinking back about it, I remember just wading into carving and printmaking without too much struggle,” she admitted in an interview with the Fishink blog, “it just sort of happened in a natural creative evolution of my work.” Each of her original designs is drawn by hand and then transferred to a rubber or linoleum block. The design is carved into the block and the block is inked and printed by hand. It is then scanned and edited on a computer in her home studio. 

“There is an intoxicating smell of ink, the care and attention of inking the plate, placing the paper down in just the right placement, and the excitement of pulling the first good print off the block that keeps me coming back again and again,” relayed Lauren.  “During some of my studies at Columbia University, I could always be found in the basement printmaking studio pulling prints from their Charles Brand presses.”

According to her website, her work is inspired by her love of nature and walks in the woods, as well as storybooks, folk tales, and childhood memories. When she isn’t printmaking in her studio, Lauren spends time with her husband and son, as well as their two cats. Below you’ll find a collection of her prints:

The post The Original Linocut Prints of Andrea Lauren appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“I think what mostly inspires me is nature,” she reflected in an interview with the Hidden Hipsters. “All the colors, patterns and shapes that you can find in nature are so amazing and beautiful!” she gushed. According to Buurlage, she often feels the need to sketch when she’s outside. These little doodles of animals and botanicals will often reappear in her illustrations as decorative elements. “My work often contains ornaments that are inspired by nature,” she stressed, “I don’t think I could create anything that is really ‘me’ without these botanical decorations.”

Based in the Netherlands, Buurlage grew up in a small village where nature was prevalent. Having graduated from Minerva Academy Groningen in 2013, she has been working as a freelance illustrator ever since, working on editorial illustrations for magazines, children’s books, book covers, posters, apps, and e-books.

“Children’s books from the fifties, sixties, and seventies really inspire me,” she notes. “I often go to second-hand stores to look through all the beautifully illustrated covers of these books for inspiration. I love the use of color and shapes in these picture books and the characters are always so adorable. My vintage children’s book collection is growing every week!”

Aside from her editorial work, Buurlage also runs an Etsy shop, where you can find illustrated goodies, such as posters, pins, and postcards. But you can also enjoy her work from afar, via Instagram.

The post This Illustrator Is Clearly Inspired by Nature appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“I enjoy having a handmade element into my work,” she told Jung Katz, “for example incorporating stitch into digital prints and binding my notebooks using my sewing machine, it makes it a little bit more me. My illustrations of women on the beach got a lot of interest from women themselves, and a lot of them enjoyed them simply because they show ‘real women’, I like to think I create work that people can relate to.”

Her style is best described as loose line work, and loose watercolor illustrations. According to Hall, she nearly always uses the first illustration she creates for her final patterns, rather than over developing it, which she thinks relates nicely to the unprocessed natural world. 

As Hall’s love for nature bloomed, so has her interest in its preservation. The majority of her products are packaged in 100% biodegradable and compostable clear corn starch “plastic” bags, and all of her paper goods have been made either using recycled materials, or are FSC approved.

But though her work is centered around the natural world, her inspiration comes from its inhabitants. “I am a keen observer so people watching is how I get most of my inspiration,” she says. “People surprise me everyday so a lot of the time peoples’ actions, conversations and their dress sense also inspire me. I also take inspiration from nature, the seaside and fashion.”

The post This Illustrator Is All About Flower Power appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Born in Canada and based in Portugal, her patterns can be found around the globe, on products from decor to paper to fabric to bedding for clients like Cloud9 Fabrics, Crate + Kids, Tokyu Hands Japan, Mixbook and many more.

Her highly considered patterns and illustrations are lovingly assembled, piece by piece, creating an altogether unique compilation of colors and shapes. According to Olwen, a strong collection of patterns is one that has the perfect balance of cohesion and contrast, “a bunch of motifs, shapes or qualities that come together perfectly, and then something quite different to break it up,” she notes. “And a really beautiful color palette.”

Her uplifting designs are greatly inspired by the world around her—from the beautiful forests of Ontario, to the pastel colors and tiles of Lisbon, to her cherished and plentiful travels abroad, and her own journey of self-exploration toward wholeheartedness. “Nature is at the top of the list,” she stresses. “I love flowers and leaves and trees and it never ceases to amaze me how each one is so unique. I find that idea so inspiring.”

Take a look at some of her patterns in the gallery below:

The post This Pattern Designer Makes the World a Prettier Place appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Whether it’s her acting or her designing, Zaremba aims to make people happy. A worthy goal if any. “I want my art to have an overall essence of joy, of whimsy, or even humor,” she told in an interview with The House That Lars Built. “I started making wallpaper because I loved the idea that my work could be a backdrop to someone’s life.”

Her wallpapers have a nostalgic quality to them, with an added contemporary twist that makes them pop. “I actually approach an idea or project by thinking about the right process to bring it to life,” says Zaremba. “So if I want to create a pattern that looks like paper cut shapes then I will cut them out of paper. If I want to make a wallpaper design that is hand-painted then I will get out a paintbrush and paint it. I look to the idea as the jumping-off point to creating versus sticking with one particular ‘style.’”

The result is the kind of backdrop that will get your creative juices flowing. Either that, or just make your room feel brighter.

The post Kate Zaremba’s Wallpapers Hold the Essence of Joy appeared first on MyTrendTales.

The illustrator and designer behind the South African label Skinny laMinx (named after her Siamese cat), Moore’s recipe is simple: mix together a love of pattern, a cute shop, a top-notch team, and top it all off with equal parts playful and chic: “Pattern makes us happy, color makes us feel good!”, reads her Instagram bio, and boy do we agree.

Moore’s blooming business began relatively small. After 10 years of freelancing, she opened a blog and an Etsy shop in 2007, where she sold her simple, clear screen printed tea towels and hand-cut fridge magnets. By 2009 the business was so busy with retail and wholesale orders that she quit her comics-writing job.

These days, her brand includes a store and studio in Cape Town, where Moore employs a team of 15 women. Her product range has also grown over the years and now includes anything from pillows to furniture, becoming a beloved lifestyle brand both home and abroad.

Ever the creative, when it comes to inspiration, Moore admits she finds plenty of it: “It’s kind of silly to say this, but I really am inspired by just about anything and everything!”, she admitted once in an interview with Sweet Paul Magazine.

She noted that she’s inspired by things such as the holes in a piece of cheese, her dreams and desires while flipping through an IKEA catalog, ancient rock art on cave walls, and the dishes on her shelves at home.

All of Skinny laMinx’s designs are screen printed in Cape Town (with an added dose of African chic), and everything is cut and stitched by a small sewing team in the studio above our shop, making her products both ethical and local. “In general, I like design that is concise and fits its purpose,” says Moore. “If it manages to do these things while being elegantly exuberant too, that makes me happy.”

Add a dose of happiness to your home!

The post From Cape Town With Love: This Home Goods Brand Will Delight You appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Of course, growing up in a family of artists also helped. “As I grew older, I felt the need to have my own identity and being an artist seemed too expected,” she admits. “I finally gave in to the fact that I wouldn’t want to do anything else and went to art school but I majored in Fibers which seemed different enough.”

Endlessly inspired by her search for charm in the everyday, Isabella’s pattern-driven work reflects her background in textile design. Based in the Hudson Valley, just north of NYC., she’s always on the hunt for beauty in the unexpected. “This makes my life more interesting because even mundane day-to-day tasks provide inspiration,” she notes. “I love drawing people and watching them too. It would be nice to have a spy camera.”

Her drawings and gouache paintings have been applied to products like books, bedding, clothing, furniture, fabric, dishes, rugs, toys, and wallpaper, with clients as big as Kate Spade and Anthropologie. She’s also created quite a buzz online, with 40k fans on Instagram alone. “I remember my mom advising me and saying, ‘“Even when you don’t have work, work,'” she says. “The only way to improve is to practice.”

The post The Endearing Illustrations of Emily Isabella appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“Thinking back about it, I remember just wading into carving and printmaking without too much struggle,” she admitted in an interview with the Fishink blog, “it just sort of happened in a natural creative evolution of my work.” Each of her original designs is drawn by hand and then transferred to a rubber or linoleum block. The design is carved into the block and the block is inked and printed by hand. It is then scanned and edited on a computer in her home studio. 

“There is an intoxicating smell of ink, the care and attention of inking the plate, placing the paper down in just the right placement, and the excitement of pulling the first good print off the block that keeps me coming back again and again,” relayed Lauren.  “During some of my studies at Columbia University, I could always be found in the basement printmaking studio pulling prints from their Charles Brand presses.”

According to her website, her work is inspired by her love of nature and walks in the woods, as well as storybooks, folk tales, and childhood memories. When she isn’t printmaking in her studio, Lauren spends time with her husband and son, as well as their two cats. Below you’ll find a collection of her prints:

The post The Original Linocut Prints of Andrea Lauren appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“I think what mostly inspires me is nature,” she reflected in an interview with the Hidden Hipsters. “All the colors, patterns and shapes that you can find in nature are so amazing and beautiful!” she gushed. According to Buurlage, she often feels the need to sketch when she’s outside. These little doodles of animals and botanicals will often reappear in her illustrations as decorative elements. “My work often contains ornaments that are inspired by nature,” she stressed, “I don’t think I could create anything that is really ‘me’ without these botanical decorations.”

Based in the Netherlands, Buurlage grew up in a small village where nature was prevalent. Having graduated from Minerva Academy Groningen in 2013, she has been working as a freelance illustrator ever since, working on editorial illustrations for magazines, children’s books, book covers, posters, apps, and e-books.

“Children’s books from the fifties, sixties, and seventies really inspire me,” she notes. “I often go to second-hand stores to look through all the beautifully illustrated covers of these books for inspiration. I love the use of color and shapes in these picture books and the characters are always so adorable. My vintage children’s book collection is growing every week!”

Aside from her editorial work, Buurlage also runs an Etsy shop, where you can find illustrated goodies, such as posters, pins, and postcards. But you can also enjoy her work from afar, via Instagram.

The post This Illustrator Is Clearly Inspired by Nature appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“I enjoy having a handmade element into my work,” she told Jung Katz, “for example incorporating stitch into digital prints and binding my notebooks using my sewing machine, it makes it a little bit more me. My illustrations of women on the beach got a lot of interest from women themselves, and a lot of them enjoyed them simply because they show ‘real women’, I like to think I create work that people can relate to.”

Her style is best described as loose line work, and loose watercolor illustrations. According to Hall, she nearly always uses the first illustration she creates for her final patterns, rather than over developing it, which she thinks relates nicely to the unprocessed natural world. 

As Hall’s love for nature bloomed, so has her interest in its preservation. The majority of her products are packaged in 100% biodegradable and compostable clear corn starch “plastic” bags, and all of her paper goods have been made either using recycled materials, or are FSC approved.

But though her work is centered around the natural world, her inspiration comes from its inhabitants. “I am a keen observer so people watching is how I get most of my inspiration,” she says. “People surprise me everyday so a lot of the time peoples’ actions, conversations and their dress sense also inspire me. I also take inspiration from nature, the seaside and fashion.”

The post This Illustrator Is All About Flower Power appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Born in Canada and based in Portugal, her patterns can be found around the globe, on products from decor to paper to fabric to bedding for clients like Cloud9 Fabrics, Crate + Kids, Tokyu Hands Japan, Mixbook and many more.

Her highly considered patterns and illustrations are lovingly assembled, piece by piece, creating an altogether unique compilation of colors and shapes. According to Olwen, a strong collection of patterns is one that has the perfect balance of cohesion and contrast, “a bunch of motifs, shapes or qualities that come together perfectly, and then something quite different to break it up,” she notes. “And a really beautiful color palette.”

Her uplifting designs are greatly inspired by the world around her—from the beautiful forests of Ontario, to the pastel colors and tiles of Lisbon, to her cherished and plentiful travels abroad, and her own journey of self-exploration toward wholeheartedness. “Nature is at the top of the list,” she stresses. “I love flowers and leaves and trees and it never ceases to amaze me how each one is so unique. I find that idea so inspiring.”

Take a look at some of her patterns in the gallery below:

The post This Pattern Designer Makes the World a Prettier Place appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Whether it’s her acting or her designing, Zaremba aims to make people happy. A worthy goal if any. “I want my art to have an overall essence of joy, of whimsy, or even humor,” she told in an interview with The House That Lars Built. “I started making wallpaper because I loved the idea that my work could be a backdrop to someone’s life.”

Her wallpapers have a nostalgic quality to them, with an added contemporary twist that makes them pop. “I actually approach an idea or project by thinking about the right process to bring it to life,” says Zaremba. “So if I want to create a pattern that looks like paper cut shapes then I will cut them out of paper. If I want to make a wallpaper design that is hand-painted then I will get out a paintbrush and paint it. I look to the idea as the jumping-off point to creating versus sticking with one particular ‘style.’”

The result is the kind of backdrop that will get your creative juices flowing. Either that, or just make your room feel brighter.

The post Kate Zaremba’s Wallpapers Hold the Essence of Joy appeared first on MyTrendTales.