The Mount Haven Hotel, Marazion, Cornwall

Those who have followed my blog for a while have seen my large wall panel screen-prints develop, starting with the Chrysanthemum panel grown from a little plug plant in May 2012 (here), and the pen and ink sketch that inspired the panel and colours noted in November 2013 (here).

Earlier this year I had a wonderful commission to screen-print three of these panels for the Mount Haven Hotel, Marazion in Cornwall. The hotel has been recently taken over by the St. Aubyn Estates who wanted to introduce a new evolutionary design and colour scheme that would fit with the hotels long established reputation for comfort and relaxation. I met Lord and Lady St. Levan when they saw my stand at Cornwall Design Fair last year and they later visited my North Devon studio to see more of my work and select the designs, colours and fabric. The hotel is due to re-open on June 1st with the three panels framed and sited in the bar area of the hotel in front of a vast window overlooking St. Michaels Mount and the Cornish coast. Here I am in front of the finished Fern, Chrysanthemum and Beech panels before they headed off earlier this month.

It's lovely to think that my work will be on show in such an amazing hotel and seen by so many people! Some of the panel print developments are documented on my Instagram photos (here) and of course if you would like one of your own, the panels are available to commission either via my new web-site (here) or by contacting me directly through the contact link.

Screen Printing in the studio Fern collection

Drawing isn't work for me, even though it is of course an important part of my work, it's also how I unwind and relax. Rather than pick up a book in the evening or watch TV, over the past ten years years often I've preferred to draw. It gives me a huge input of inspiration, as well as original imagery to use in my designs...

...or that's until this year, when my days have been so full on and labour intensive I haven't had any spare energy or even inclination, and drawing in the evening has been squeezed out! (I have at times wondered if I will ever draw again, but let's not head off down that train of thought!).

It's not all doom and gloom however as some of those sparks of an idea I've had whilst drawing have filtered into new textile designs. In particular a new Fern panel, as well as Fern cushions and napkins have hit the print table. They were a great success when I exhibited them last week at 'Handmade at Kew' and I thought I'd share some images here...(as I'm not drawing!)

Super size ferns drying on the print table..

With Luna! (she was not overly keen to pose, but she does give a sense of scale!).
Ivy fabric in the background...

With a fellow panel...

Two by two napkins drying on the rack...

Folded Fern napkins with Beech and a few Rabbits, not unlike the woods here in North Devon...

All now available from my website shop! 

I've just joined the 111 club set up by Patricia Van den Akker of the Design Trust. In 2017, I intend to take time, along with one hundred and ten other creatives (internationally), to properly reflect on and make informed choices about running my business in 2017! and thereby (hopefully) make more time for the things that matter most.

If it's of interest to you there may be a few places left  - find out more about it here ...

Colour from the season - Hard Fern green

As a self-employed designer/maker,  I'm pretty disciplined on the whole. I rise early, walk Luna and start work by 9am. I usually work until 6pm, but sometimes later. I also often work on Saturday and if I'm running a screen-printing or Photoshop workshop, I work all weekend. The plus side is of course that I love my work and as long as I don't beat myself up for not getting something done, in the main, no-one else does either.

These attractive little ferns, which grow everywhere here in North Devon are called Hard Ferns or Blechnum spicant (slightly strange name so called because of their leathery form (?)). I've made time to sketch a few of them, to feature in a new wall panel along with a couple of other ferns, which I hope to put on screen and print at a super-sized scale next week.

I generally design what I would love to live with myself. As Oscar Wilde so aptly said -

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken"...

In case you wonder what soft ferns look like? I'm attaching a photo of a Soft Shield Fern (Polystichum setiferum) below...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Old House New Home - amazing blind!

It's been a year full of new challenges..!

In February, I had a very interesting phone call from the television company, Amazing Productions. They were working on a fab new home makeover show called 'Old House, New Home' for Channel 4, currently showing in the UK (here), and asked if George Clarke, architect and presenter, could help me print something in my studio as a surprise present to the homeowner, Emily. 

Here's George in my studio!!! 

After working out what might be feasible in the time frame, we decided that I would design a blind that George and I would screen-print. The design was to be inspired by fragments of an old 1950's wallpaper that had been in Emily's bathroom. The wallpaper would have to go during the renovation and my new design would be an updated contemporary reference to it. 

I only had a very short time span for this, but enjoyed the whole project immensely -

Here's a few extra images; printing with George; from my sketchpad; and of the blind on the print table...

Always amazing...printing!

happy printers...

The two options on the colourway were fuschia pink and silver along with a green and grey which matched the floor tiles and walls in the bathroom.  Here's the pink in my sketchbook, but after sampling, the silver was selected...

Raw linen, chartreuse, charcoal grey and silver...

upside down on my print table...

and of course the final made-up blind in Emily's house..! 

Special thanks to the fantastic production team at Amazing Productions!

It was really lovely to meet George, also Emily, and the blind was beautifully sewn up by Julia at Finishing Touches' in South Molton.

Links...

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-old-house-new-home/on-demand/62968-001

(It's the first episode by the way!)

http://amazingproductions.co.uk/

http://www.juliafinishingtouches.co.uk/

We are running a new Photoshop to Screen-Printing short course in my studio in September, also a "Photoshop for Textiles" short course at West Dean College this Autumn. More Autumn Screen printing and Photoshop for Textiles workshop dates to be finalised soon...

https://sampickard.bigcartel.com

http://westdean.assets.d3r.com/pdfs/original/13622-short-courses-2016-17-low-res-pdf.pdf

Spring Cushions for the National Trust

As fresh as February's temperatures, slate grey and white screen-printed onto unbleached linen, my new Spring cushions have sprung into the National Trust shops and online, featuring some of my favourite flora from my seasonal notebooks.

Exclusive to the National Trust's Artisan and Craft collection, you can claim one (or two) of these limited edition lovelies in their online shop here...

Screen Printing - Bronze Fawn cushions and Villa San Michele, Capri.

I'm feeling revitalised after a short holiday in the Campania area of Italy visiting the ancient sites of Pompei and Ercolano. I also peered into the crater of Monte Vesuvio, and walked the narrow streets of old Napoli (all lived up to my expectations).

Straight back to printing rows of my favourite Bronze Fawn cushions. There's something very contemplative as well as addictive about repetition, maybe this is why I opted for a career as a textile designer. Repeat pattern and form even at it's most simple is of endless interest and inspiration.

Here's what's involved to make a Bronze Fawn cushion.

Plaid background - Natural linen is screen-printed with a Black Reactive (Procion) print paste.

The cushion pieces (above) are then steamed to fix the dye before first a cold, then a hot wash until the excess dye is removed. They are then re-pinned to the print table and the Fawn is printed with a textile adhesive (below). The shrinkage/movement of the fabric during washing is allowed for in the original plaid print, but exact registration is impossible, therefore each Fawn is an individual..!

The adhesive is allowed to air dry and a sheet of textile foil is cut to cover the adhesive print. This is then heat pressed for 30 seconds (I have an industrial sized press that I use for this), and the foil peeled off.

Two by two...

The above are soon to be made up, in the meantime, here's one that I prepared earlier. Every one is wonderfully unique and available in my shop priced £59.00 (here).


The Villa San Michele on the Isle of Capri was particularly inspiring. Former home of the Swedish Doctor, Philosopher and animal lover Axel Munthe. It's a house of pattern, order, beauty and extreme calm. Now preserved in its original state as a museum, it's a tranquil and unhurried oasis amidst the claustrophobic bustle of Capri.

Here's a few details from the Villa (from a textile designer's perspective)...

Dining room vista...

Indigo, Pewter, Alabaster and Umber colour...

Rabbits detail...

Nice jugs...

Kitchen vista...

Every one different! Copper and blue view...

Bedroom vista...

Lastly, (before I bore you with my holiday snaps!) - the Sphinx vista...

“What you keep to yourself you lose, what you give away, you keep forever.” 
― Axel Munthe

Inspiration - Pocket Squares

There's no doubt in my mind that digital printing is an amazing technical print innovation in the textile industry, however after solely designing and digitally printing furnishing fabrics and accessories for about five years, I realised that what actually motivates me to get out of bed in the morning is hands on making - and screen-printing in particular.

This week the studio's been brightened by a new screen-printed accessory in development - pocket squares.

The idea of printing these originated a few months ago when my son Josse bought his first bespoke suit from the tailors 'Gieves and Hawkes' of Savile Row fame, and asked if he could come down to Devon and print a silk pocket square to set it off.

He looked through my screens and decided the Bamboo design would be perfect. I then gave him a crash course in mixing dyes, found a length of silk that he could use and after sampling printing colours, we printed one for him and one for my nephew/his cousin Tom (who's 30th it was the following day).

I've stayed with the Bamboo imagery, although I've re-jigged the design a little; after all it was much admired and intensively market tested on Josse (graphic designer) and later Tom (product designer)!

Here are a few of the new colourways...

These satin squares are heading off to be beautifully hand rolled and with a fair wind, will be packaged in presentation boxes and on sale in my shop in a few weeks (priced £38 plus postage). If you would like to order one, please email me directly for postage costs worldwide at sam@sampickard.co.uk

Thanks to Josse for the inspiration! X

National Trust Artisan collection

Surely it's inevitable that your work reflects where you live? I moved from London to a small market town in North Devon sixteen years ago. When Elle Decoration Magazine called my work 'Modern Rustic' in 2007, that was the first time I'd recognised the rural influence on my work and I suppose it's continued along its rustic route from there on. There's no question now that my heart's properly in the country - along with my head and other body parts (most of the time anyway!).

Here are a few of the cushions that gambolled off to The National Trust's Artisan and Craft collection a few weeks ago. Look out for them on the National Trust website (exclusively) this Autumn/Winter and in selected National Trust shops..!






































...and thank you so much Country Living magazine for featuring the Copper Beech/Fawn cushion for National Trust in this month's (October) issue!

Cornwall Design Fair - 14th - 16th August, 2015!

I find it easy to berate myself for not doing absolutely everything! In this instance it's drawing (and my colour notebook) that's slipped. I remind myself that Professor John Miles, (a brilliant print tutor on my M.A.), told me that you cannot draw all the time, but that you have to stop, in order to allow the inspiration that comes through drawing, become the design, or product or painting etc. In my experience this is certainly the case.

In the meantime then, here's a preview of the work in the making that I've been screen-printing for Cornwall Design Fair next weekend, do come along if you are anywhere near Penzance next weekend - it's going to be great!!

On the print table today, a Great Spotted Woodpecker scarf, remember him?

Not yet for sale in my online shop because happily, each has sold as soon as I've printed it. Every scarf is unique, made from 100% woven Cashmere they are as light and soft as a feather!


http://www.cornwalldesignfair.co.uk/

Summer Beech panel, here I'm about to print the second black outline screen...

Very rare Heath Fritillary...

and a spectacular, prize winning, (white) Spider Chrysanth..!

Screen - Printing - National Trust Cushions

Feels great to back in the studio after a fairly relentless few months of events, and I'm very happy because not only is the sun shining in heatwave proportions, but my Fawn and Rabbit cushions are to be part of the National Trust's Artisan and Craft collection, launching in their larger shops and on-line from September!!

So, today I started printing the first Fawn cushions onto natural linen, they will also have a Copper Beech foil printed as a background pattern to the Fawn, but the Fawn is printed first as it must be fixed at a higher temperature than the foil...

A concentrated start...

It's Rabbit's turn later...

Another hard day in the studio for Luna..!

Missing all the amazing colours that are blooming around everywhere at the moment, but I have ordered new paints, which is at least a step in the right direction.!

Forty Seasons Scarves - Jay blue

Ten years have passed since I returned to art college to start an MA and stopped making the embossed velvet scarves that I'd become known for.

That's forty seasons!! 

To mark this momentous (to me) decade, I'm developing a new scarf collection! Very different from the last London inspired scarves, these will tell a story of some of the detail in the Exmoor landscape and its colours because that's what inspires and motivates me now. 

Over the past few weeks I've been exposing images onto screens, washing and ironing down clean backing cloths on my print table, mixing and sampling dyes, and this week, after several months of thinking about them, finally printing the first scarves. 

The colours of the first (three) scarves are inspired by the amazing colours of the Jay. Remember him? Soft pink browns, deep red brown, black, warm grey with a flash of electric blue. 

Mixing dye pastes is not dissimilar to baking a cake, in that once you've worked out the exact balance and quantities of the ingredients, you should in theory get perfect results every time, providing of course you use the same oven, or in the case of these Acid dyes, the steamer. My steamer is a very Heath Robinson affair, made from a Baby Burco and a welded tube of stainless steel, nevertheless after 45 minutes, it fixes the dyes perfectly...

Every scarf will be unique and have a different pattern/colour balance to the next, these first three are in the colours of the Jay, the next, well - I've a whole landscape of colours to choose from.

The first two scarves ready to wear..!

Last panel printed on the third scarf earlier in the studio today (with the unbelievably pesky rabbit hunting rascal of a dog Luna! (x)...

Special scarves, require beautiful fabric, so these are printed onto cashmere. I've been road testing the first sample I printed a few months ago and (until this recent amazing sunny spell) worn it every day, not exactly a hardship as it's the softest scarf I've ever owned...

(p.s. lovely article about my work and our workshops on the Devon Life Magazine website here )...