Welcome!

Poetic designer Tracy  Porter took over our Instagram account last week, sharing glimpses into her inspiration and process. We chatted with Tracy behind the scenes as well – read on for a deeper look at her studio, story and artistic practice.

Hi everyone!

With the launch of our Fall 2013 fabric collections, we also proudly introduced our newest designer, Jane Farnham. Jane is such a wonderful talent, and we are so incredibly thrilled to have Jane on board with us! She designed two collections for us for Fall 2013, Beyond the Backyard and Fruit Stand, that we are sure you will just adore.

We thought a Q&A with Jane Farnham would be a great way to better introduce her to you all. We hope you find our little questionnaire interesting, fun, and inspirational. On to the questions!

1. How did you get into/start designing? When did you know you wanted to design?

I’ve always wanted to design even before I knew it was a possible job!  But I took a long and hard route into the designing world that I wouldn’t recommend.  I’ve done so many other jobs after art college including a wedding dress maker, visual merchandiser, interior designer and mock up artist. Then one day I thought, I need to seriously give this a go, trust my own instincts and see where it takes me and I’m so lucky and grateful to find myself here today.  Happy days :-)

2. What was the first thing you remember designing?

I think the first thing I ever remember designing was a birthday card for my Mum when I was about 6 or 7, I used a piece of graph paper and coloured in all the squares in a different colour, very carefully, making sure not going over the lines!

3. What were your inspirations when designing Fruit Stand and Beyond the Backyard?

I take so much of my inspiration from mid century design, and that was certainly the case when I started designing my Fruit Stand collection. I nearly always start by developing drawings and doodles that I’ve done along side computer illustration and the colour palette normally comes later.  However the exception may have been my Beyond the Backyard collection where I had a clear vision of the palette I was going to use, I knew I wanted a very bright and bold colour scheme coming through and then combined it with some of my flower illustrations and the odd insect.

4. Who is/are your biggest inspiration(s)?

My inspiration is always changing but at the moment I’m loving the work of Helen Dardik. I love the fact that you know instantly the artist behind the piece of work, just from her style.  Also the mid century work of designers like Lucienne Day are a big influence for me as well as Scandinavian art right now.

5. Favourite place in the world?

My favourite place in the world is Cornwall in the UK.  I love being by the sea and the rugged landscape is spectacular at any time of year, beautiful on a summers day and so dramatic watching the big waves in a storm in the winter.  I also love watching the stars there at night as there’s so little light pollution, in fact I saw the milky way there for the first time recently, amazing!  I’ve visited Cornwall so many times and its always magical.

6. What are some things you enjoy doing in your free time?

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of swimming to keep fit and I love walking in the countryside and if there’s a dog, even better!  I also sew things when I have any spare time and have been known to make a quilt or 2 and like sewing gifts for friends and family.  Also I love watching a good drama series on telly, especially if I can watch a couple of episodes in one sitting as I’m too impatient to wait for the next instalment!

7. Describe your perfect Autumn day.

A long dog walk preferable with a sea view, a nice pub, roaring fire, good food and good company :-)

8. Current favourite song to listen to?

London Grammar – Strong, it’s a beautiful song that just washes over you.

9. What is your favourite quote to live by? 

Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of somebody else – Judy Garland.

10. What words of advice would you give to someone who wants to start out in design?

Find your own individual style and keep at it!

11. One word (or two!) to describe how you feel about having a fabric license

Fantastic!!!

12. What would your dream license be?

Having a fabric license is a dream come true!  But if I were feeling greedy, I’d say ceramics and stationery, so fingers crossed!

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Thank you so much, Jane, for taking the time to answer some questions for us! We are so glad to have you.

We hope you have gotten to know Jane a bit better through this post. Be sure to keep a lookout for her collections and for all the future excitements to come!

Be sure to follow Jane on her blog, Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, and instagram pages.

Happy Sewing!