carmel killin textile design: miniview

i enjoy the work of sydney artist carmel killin, aka etsy seller feedthedog. there is something hopeful and inviting in the appealing limited edition and one-off screenprinted cushion covers and wall hangings she creates. i like her textures and earthy colors and simple art styles, and i like the natural fabric she uses. ever curious to know a little bit more about the brains behind the operation, i asked two quick questions…

q: how did you get into designing?
a: the truth of it is, i’ve been “seeing” and visually “re-imagining” the world around me since the dawn of time, or at least since the age of 12 when my parents (who have no taste whatsoever, god bless ‘em) moved the family to a hideous new brick house in a freshly created suburb with no trees. the unbelievable ugliness of my interior and exterior surroundings at such an impressionable age had me begging my parents for years to follow my fabulously detailed design suggestions. to no avail. at the same time i was writing short stories and had a spurt of published fiction in my 20s. at university i dabbled in photography and film making, which led to many years working in the film industry. i’ve had no formal training as a designer, i have just always been attracted to the visual world and the desire to interpret what i see, give a common object a new visual story. as a devotee of DIY philosophy, i love doing short courses. knitting, sewing, screen prining, felting, welding, dyeing… done it. with a few non-design-related degrees under my belt i fell into tertiary teaching, but after learning the basics of computer design applications started teaching graphic design to university students. i still teach design, though these days it’s all studio-based and hand-crafted projects. which of course i adore.

q: what inspires you?
a: i think my love of story telling informs a lot of my visual work, though not in any obvious way. i’m also really captivated by the wonderful skewed shapes and lines of children’s drawings and their rough, scribbly colouring-in technique. i love odd creatures, plain creatures and silhouetted shapes. old national geographic magazines from the 60s and 70s have fabulous animals with wonderful personalities. a blank piece of highly textured fabric excites me with all the possibilities and challenges it presents. i love shapes and lines in the landscape, shapes and lines in common, plain objects. details, like stitching, shading, trims, buttons, are delicious to me. so too, unexpected combinations of pattern and texture, objects and things. oddness, whimsy, humour are very attractive to me.

well, after reading her answers doesn’t it all makes sense now!? two thumbs up!

if you’re a local, you can frequently find carmel at the paddington market in sydney. if not, see and purchase the available collection at carmel’s etsy shop, and be sure to check out her humorous, well-written blog too!

thank you carmel!

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fun advent calendars (round up)

when i was a kid (do i sound like an old lady?) i enjoyed the anticipation of christmas as much as the holiday itself. having all those little doors to open on a festively colored advent calendar tacked to the window or wall was a wonderful tradition in my house, and is something i associate with the spirit of the season, good will, and the warmth of moments spent with friends and family; in other words, the essence of the holiday. please enjoy this selection of traditional, contemporary and just plain creative interpretations of this annual holiday item.

traditional german paper with glitter from strictly christmas

embroidered cotton from german artist morningflower’s dawanda shop

vintage sewn fabric from the uk artist rowsewcreative’s etsy shop

wood and mirrored tabletop from target

felt with applique and embroidery from the land of nod

painted wood from stonewall kitchen

embroidered felt from chicago artist bedside banner’s etsy shop

vintage pants and denim from german artist ebiko’s etsy shop

contemporary paper by sarah curedale at boston’s mfa shop

handmade chocolate truffles from portland’s moonstruck chocolates

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blue thimble designs

what a treat it was to discover the talented local artist allison rose this past weekend. she creates wonderful hand silkscreened pieces, pillows and mixed media textile art for her company, blue thimble. allison is a graduate of the rhode island school of design. she has a self-described obsession with silkscreens and even teaches a beginner’s course over at the lill street gallery.

did you examine her fabrics in these photos? she uses a monoprint technique, which is very labor intensive. the fact that some of her designs have 50 prints on them is a real testament to her commitment and love of her craft.

what an inviting, vivid, thorough collection.

run to her etsy shop and see for yourself!

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