...meet carmen...

...we're so excited to introduce you to carmen schaefer, designer, lecturer at red & yellow school and blogger over at hey audrey...

1. What's your creative thing? 
I’m a graphic designer. At the moment I’m designing a book cover.

2. Describe your dream studio? 
Lots of books, a sofa, and a cat. And uncluttered. Kitted out with the kind of furniture one buys at LIM.

3. What fuels your creative energy? 
Deadlines.

4. The first creative thing you can remember making?
When I was small I used to draw a well-dressed family every day. The pictures always consisted of a mom, dad, and their two children: a boy and a girl. Every day I would draw them dressed for a different occasion: a journey on a ship, in Japan, or at a smart ball. I loved dreaming up their outfits.


5. The first creative thing you were paid to create?  
Whilst studying I painted murals all over my flat. A friend of a friend came to visit, liked what he saw, and then paid me to paint a Rousseau-like mural in his toilet.  He was a lawyer. And it was hard work!


6. That one thing you're so glad you made? 
Every wedding invitation I’ve ever designed.

7. If you could live inside any artwork in the world, which would it be?
“At the mirror” by Georg Friedrich Kersting. I love the German Romantic painters.

8. If you could collaborate with one famous creative, dead or alive, who would it be?
Paula Scher. She is a wonderfully intelligent designer, and she seems like such a lovely warm person too.

9. The local design magazine you always read? 
I used to love the Design Indaba magazine… but now with internet, I read blogs like ‘Between 10 and 5’ And ‘Sweet and Soutie’ of course!

10. The salutation at the end of your email?
 ‘Warm regards’ if it’s a friendly e-mail, and just ‘regards’ if it’s not.

...our 12th get together...

...our lovely get together felt so short. the saying is just to true, how time flies when you are having fun. the stunning heart-button-badges was done by dipped 'n dusted. our gift was donated by dipped 'n dusted and tjou-tjou. our lucky winner of the lucky draw was jesse from jezze prints...

…just a little tease…

…and the 12th badge begins, just a lil' looksie at what our next one may look like...

...meet leila...

...starting our 2014 member interviews with a bang, we're so excited to introduce you to the owner of bow peep...

1. What's your creative thing?

I make accessories, mostly out of fabric, but I have recently started making jewelry out of silver and brass. My new project is running and curating pop-up shops.

2. Describe your dream studio?

Not the one I’m in at the moment…

My dream studio would be in a cool building surrounded by other creative, a space where I can work but also hang out with friends. I get bored in my loft studio so ideally it would be a space with other people. It also needs to be near a good coffee shop. It would be amazing to have an outdoor aria.

3. What fuels your creative energy? 

Everyday objects, fabric, colour and patterns.

4. The first creative thing you can remember making

Iv have been making things since I was a little kid. I was always painting and drawing, but when I was in primary school I made necklaces and stationery and sold it at my school markets.

5. The first creative thing you were paid to create?

Humm…I guess stuff I used to make when I was little. I probably made no profit but my items where pretty popular. But Alice-bands where my first Bow Peep product.

6. That one thing you're so glad you made?

Button earrings, they have been so successful and it’s helped me start my business.

7. If you could live inside any artwork in the world, which would it be?

Probably Vincent van Gough’s Starry Night. A lot of my favorite artworks wouldn’t be very nice to live inside.

8. If you could collaborate with one famous creative, dead or alive, who would it be?

I love pop art so I think Andy Warhol. I have loved his work since I was in high school. Whenever I travel and visit art galleries I always look out for his work. But imagine a Matisse Bow Peep collaboration, that would be rad.

9. The local design magazine you always read?

I don’t really buy magazines, they cost too much. The only magazine I read is Time magazine but that’s not a design mag. I usually read House and Leisure, Elle décor and Visi if I see copies at coffee shops.

10. The salutation at the end of your email?

‘Kind regards’ or ‘Cheers’

...hi there, nice to meet you...

...here is our second installment of member interviews, introducing tessa...

1. What's your creative thing? 

Hand pierced copper and brass jewellery combined with glass, cord and now chain. The metal motifs are taken from the natural world – indigenous plants and  birds, feathers, herbs and so on.  

2. Describe your dream studio? 

Oh yum. A double height space with a massive mezzanine level, lit by a huuuge sky light. The bottom level is chock a block full of every kind of tool and piece of equipment I could ever need to return to making large functional metal ware. I see racks of steel stakes, furnaces, lathes of all sizes, sanders and saws, chest of drawers bursting with files and things I’ll never use, but just really love having, for in case! Upstairs is a lot prettier, with white concrete floors,  a little lounge /design area with bookcases filled with magazines from everywhere on one side and on the other, the walls are lined with trestle tables for laying out, assembling and  packaging  jewellery and bowls. Lots of big windows, so with the skylight, the whole place is constantly bathed in light. Oh, and enormous amazing plants. And a sheep skin rug or two. And a cleaner to come once a week

(I know my limitations and sweeping and dusting are two of them!).

3. What fuels your creative energy? 

People -  A chance meeting with an old friend, a stranger with something special about them and proper chats with my best people.

4. The first creative thing you can remember making?

A little pottery jug, I think I was 9. I made it on a potter’s wheel, and was very proud. My mom still has it, as well as the jug my older, jealous brother made in competition!

5. The first creative thing you were paid to create?

Two tiny silver bowls on long wire legs for a little old lady in Edinburgh who loved silverware, but never displayed it. She would commission pieces, and then store them in boxes in her home. I guess they are still there in some dusty pile.

6. That one thing you're so glad you made?

The decision to come home to Cape Town.

7. If you could live inside any artwork in the world, which would it be?

“Spring” by Cy Twombly – first of all I simply love the artist’s name and would probably just wander around muttering it; second, it’s so light and messy in his work, like living in a scatty fairy land.

8. If you could collaborate with one famous creative, dead or alive, who would it be?

Li Edelkoort – she seems so scary, I’d have to bring my A game; our collaboration would be years ahead of the pack and therefore the schizznizz; and she DOES things with her status – she started an art school in Poland I’d kill to go to –the course a combination between an design and humanities degree – swoon.

9. The local design magazine you always read?

I’m a bit bad about buying magazines, but I do love Elle Deco and House and Leisure and the occasional Marie Claire. I really wish I could warrant buying Wallpaper and Vogue, but somehow I feel too guilty forking out all that cash. (is it OK that I sometimes buy Heat too??)

10. The salutation at the end of your email? 

It depends – for day job situations where I want to be just a little intimidating, -  nothing. 

The message and bam. Send.

For friendly happy emails (and yes, I should know better) it’s a Gossip Girl influenced ex oh ex oh,

Other wise, a good old stock standard “regards”/”kind regards” although a wanky “Best” has been known to have slipped out on occasion…

...hi there, nice to meet you...

...we're so excited to begin the first of our 'get to know us' 

member interviews, this little gang of creatives do so much 

great work for the world, often sacrificing time that we most

probably should have been spending on our own businesses. 

so here is the first interview where we get to know kristen 

from design kist, enjoy...

1. What's your creative thing? 
I am a textile designer - we design the patterns that go on fabric, wallpaper, clothing, furnishing, crockery, stationery, and a range of other surfaces.

2. Describe your dream studio? 
Mmm. It would be in a Cape Dutch Building, with high, pressed ceilings, wooden floors and sash windows all around, with breathtaking views. Lots of white, wood and natural finishes. A corner with an easel for painting and sketching; another corner with all my state of the art digital equipment. There will be ample shelves to display and store all my work. It will have a kitchenette, with a sink, and a small Smeg fridge and an amazing coffee maker. There will be a floor to ceiling bookshelf, filled with books on art and design, and all things inspiring - with a sliding ladder. And there would be a studio dog. A girl can dream!

3. What fuels your creative energy? 
Many things, but definitely black fineliners, coffee, and music.

4. The first creative thing you can remember making? 
I remember a drawing I did of a lion in junior school. It went into the school magazine, and it won me my first art prize. Because I was in a junior class, we didn't go to the school's prize giving, so I was called up in the next assembly to collect my trophy. I remember feeling horribly embarrassed and shy!

5. The first creative thing you were paid to create? 
The earliest I can remember was being paid to create a poster for a friend's homework. Naughty!

6. That one thing you're so glad you made? 
I created a printed fabric while studying using a piece of tumbleweed my boyfriend had given me. I loved that design, and later used it in my wedding dress when I married him. It's very sentimental to me, and I am glad I made it.

7. If you could live inside any artwork in the world, which would it be? 
Possibly Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party." Just chilling in the sunshine, with food, wine and friends.

8. If you could collaborate with one famous creative, dead or alive, who would it be? 
I would have loved to have collaborated with any of my favourite childhood authors, creating illustrations for their stories.

9. The local design magazine you always read? 
There are a bunch I always buy - House & Leisure, Garden & Home, Home/Tuis magazine, Elle Deco, Visi and Plascon Spaces.

10. The salutation at the end of your email? 
It's "Thanks", but I also use "Chat soon", "Kind regards", or K x, depending on the context. 

...elenth get-together...

...our eleventh little creative meeting at woodlands eatery, congrats to leila 
for winning some loveliness, and thanks again to kristen for making our
adorable liquorice allsorts badges, now to just stop the kids from trying
to eat them, lol...