We stock products by independent designers from across the UK, find out more
about them and what inspires their work!
Abi graduated with a degree in Textiles from Arts University Bournemouth in 2019 and has since worked in the design industry as a freelance surface pattern designer and illustrator, creating prints for homewares, fashion and lifestyle brands.
Under the careful supervision of her English Cocker Spaniel, Bessie, she lovingly designs and creates all of her pieces from her rural Suffolk studio.
She is passionate about combining traditional hand painting and drawing skills with modern digital design techniques to create beautiful and contemporary designs. An avid animal lover, Abi finds inspiration for her collections in the animal kingdom and the natural world.
A warm hello from me, I’m Bo and I am the maker behind the brand Bo Abstract. I normally find it a little tricky to talk about myself but here goes…
I’m a big believer in making your home your sanctuary, so the biggest thing for me is to create a product that will make your space a touch more magical. My ornaments and coasters can be the talking point in any conversation and each piece is designed and made with care and love. No creation is the same and you’ll always find little quirks in each and every product I make. I started my business in resin homewares in the first lockdown where I was put on furlough from my job as a print designer. In order to keep my creative juices flowing, I experimented with a number of artistic disciplines that I would never have had the time to do prior to Covid. Within this process, I found resin and I simply fell in love.
Charlotte Gaisford started her artistic journey being taught art by an 90 year old nun called Sister Loretto. She was strict but encouraging and left a lasting impression on Charlotte which she still has today.
Sister Loretto used to say “Always try your best and realise that there are always others who will succeed you in your ability but remember you are the one who creates original style and feeling in your art, this is priceless and can never be taken away from you.”
After university Charlotte was given a job to go to Paris and paint some real airplanes and turn them into ‘Japanese Zeros’ from WW2. This was for a film called ‘Empire of the Sun’ by Steven Spielberg. Armed with a tiny photo of a Japanese Zero as reference they set out and worked at various airfields around Paris. ‘One day everybody was tear gassed by accident because they were testing in the area and forgot everybody was in the hangers’. All the finished planes flew down to Seville for filming by real veteran WW2 pilots. Charlotte never saw the film for years and when she did she was surprised at how prominent the planes featured in the film.
Just before Charlotte got married she had her own paint effects business in Kendal in the Lake District. She sold paint effect paints and carried out commissions which took her all over the UK and even across to Europe. She was lucky enough to have quite a few of her houses featured in interior magazines, she even had a front cover featuring her red drawing room in ‘Antiques and Home’ magazine. She also presented and appeared in various TV shows for Sky and BBC 2.
After the birth of her two sons, Harry and Richard, she set about starting an on-line business called Crafty Computer Paper Ltd. This company sold all kinds of strange, artistic papers you could put through a domestic home printer. Charlotte had found a gap in the market and this was the only company of its kind in the UK. She built it up over a period of 8 years and then sold it in 2010 to Specialist Crafts who are a large stationary company based Leicester.
From 2013 onwards Charlotte participated in a three year degree course in textiles and fashion at Newcastle College. Although many of the jobs she did during her previous life were art related she had never been to art school before. The flood gates of creativity were opened and Charlotte enjoyed every minute of the course. Although she was a mature student this did not seem to matter and there was always a great atmosphere in the Studios. She has just received her result and was so very pleased to have obtained a first class honours degree.
Hi, my name is Chloe. I’m a 21 year old textile and surface pattern designer, specialising in illustrative print design in both digital and hand-print processes. I graduated from Arts University Bournemouth in 2020 with First Class Honours in Textiles.
My initial inspiration often comes from natural imagery, in particular botanicals, animals and landscapes, I find it allows fluidity and calmness to my paintings. Living on the south coast I am surrounded by countryside with the beach nearby. Drawing is an important feature of my work and a passion I have developed over the years. Combining my love for painting with textiles allows the design to steer the direction into different areas within both fashion and interiors. My illustrations are crucial for capturing the concept of the collection and are fundamental in the design process to be translated into prints. I love colour and intricate detail, creating clashing busy prints.
I’m Helen and I am the designer behind Variorum. I am originally from the Shetland Islands which is a group of islands in the middle of the North Sea. I lived there for the first nineteen years of my life before taking the plunge and moving to the mainland to study. I completed three years of college and four years of university before finally graduating in 2020 with a First Class Honours in Design for Textiles in the Scottish Borders. I still live here now but home will always be Shetland. The majority of my inspiration comes from the wild and unique place that is Shetland. Particularly the wildlife and their habitats, which I incorporate into a lot of my designs.
Everyone that visits the islands falls in love with the place, and I want to make people fall in love with Shetland without even having to travel the 250+ miles to get there. Scotland in general is a beautiful place so you will see me create designs that are inspired by the country as a whole too. I aim to bring the outside in with my homewares, make my customers feel almost transported to a place of calm, yet wild, and with a hint of curiosity.
I tend to choose neutral colours when designing, in order to appeal to a large number of people and allow my designs to match nearly any home. But I am always thinking up new ideas for Variorum and introducing new colours or drawing styles to keep things exciting. I also pride myself on using high detail and high quality to add a touch of luxury to the products. Variorum is also an ever increasing eco-conscious brand with all of our packaging being reused, recyclable or biodegradable.
It has been a dream of mine to create a brand for as long as I can remember. This is me finally trying to make that dream a reality so I am extremely grateful to anyone that admires or even buys my work. Be sure to keep up to date with what I am up to on the Variorum social media accounts!
Textile designer Josephine Munsey launched her first designs after a series of lockdowns in the UK meant plenty of time in her studio, in Stroud. She has worked for various Design Houses where she learnt about different methods of fabric and wallpaper printing. Jo felt it was time to begin designing for herself. Her husband Greg has joined her to assist the running of the business allowing Josephine to keep designing.
Josephine Munsey’s aim is to help you create a home that is full of colour and pattern. A place that makes you happy and inspires you. Humour and love are put into her products.
Ideas for her designs come from years of personal sketchbooks – a huge stack of images and sketches. Reference and inspiration have come from exhibitions, travelling, her mother’s collection of ferns, and the woods surrounding her studio. All the designs begin with a simple sketch of the repeat, in pencil or fine line pen. Then a small section of the design is painted in colour, as a trial. Once a trial is successful the whole design is drawn or painted. Josephine always likes to paint in repeat, to keep this practice alive. It is only at the end of the creative process that the artwork is scanned and checked on a computer. The computer-aided design allows her to create different colourways for each design.
Sian Zeng designs storytelling wallpapers
Born in China, Sian Zeng spent her formative years in Hungary, eventually moving to the UK. She trained in art while living in all three countries, which has shaped her uniquely international style and technique. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Sian turned to wallpaper designing because it united her love for painting, drawing and the printed medium.
Forever fascinated by storytelling, our wallpaper collections are beautifully handpainted and interactive to encourage people to act out their own stories at home. Creating and designing from her London studio, Sian explores the possibilities of cutting-edge technologies alongside traditional techniques to create an exciting, storybook collection of wallpapers and wall decorations.
Hi I’m Stacie owner of stacierichardsprints!
I’m a Kent based print designer and a recent 2020 graduate from Loughborough University.
The collection I have brought to Tiger Bleu was my final major project from university. The title of the collection is The Forgotten Circus, this is based around rediscovering the 19th century circus and carnival scene but in a bright, vibrant and illustrative way.
Hi i’m Tam, the designer behind Tamsin Olivia.
In 2019 I graduated with an honours degree in Interior Design Decoration from Southampton Solent; it was here that I really fell in love with surface design.
My collections are massively inspired by nature, and aim to celebrate this amazing world we live in, often by finding beauty in unexpected places. All of my wallpapers, fabrics and other products are created using hand painted designs, usually in beautiful bright colours; my favourite medium is watercolour as it allows me to capture intricate details.
Each design is unique, perfect for brightening up any home, and bringing part of the outside world in.
Louise studied Printed Textiles at Dundee University over 20 years ago, and has travelled the world seeking inspiration for her original designs.
Sharing her passion for pattern and textiles she is always discovering new techniques, and her most recent new collection explores the ancient Japanese art of Shibori. She creates beautiful, one-off patterns using naturally vibrant indigo dye and traditional binding and folding methods as well as other Shibori techniques.
The results are totally unique, every time. Each design is then digitally transferred and manipulated onto luxurious velvet, printed in England. Using sustainable printing methods and dyes. Proud to launch her new velvet collection of luxury home wares and accessories. A beautiful range of cushions, fabric, wallpaper, lampshades, blankets and wash bags… bringing Shibori into the 21st Century.
