A side project of a side project...
My Teemill store has line illustrations on organic cotton garments and tote bags. It sprang from Dispatches from a Small World, my three-year project reporting from my urban garden in sketches. I’ve learned a lot from this foray into retail, at the design end and from customers.
Putting together my Gardener collection, I realised just how many steps there are in managing production. There’s finding a production company whose work I love and whose values I respect. There’s homework to do on how they work and what they need. There’s making sure I do my bit to prepare artwork in the best format. There’s actually seeing the product, and the design on the product, not just for quality and photography but for the whole experience of delivery. And if anything goes wrong (things do, from time to time) it’s good to follow through and know what happens next.
Every personal project is a lab of sorts – and translation of my print production skills into a retail project has expanded the knowledge that goes into my work with clients.
