It was a late autumn morning when I first saw the email from Make It In Design about a festive design challenge. Co-founder Beth Kempton was launching the competition to celebrate the publication of her book ‘Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year’.
The Brief
The idea of designing contemporary festive gift wrap, inspired by the words ‘Calm Christmas’, really appealed to me. So with all the naïve confidence and enthusiasm of a wannabe surface pattern designer I took myself for a windy, muddy November walk to ponder the brief.
Inspiration
For me Christmas is all about the people. Being together around the tree, a few presents and a special meal. The ‘calm’ part of Christmas is when I go outside into nature for some physical and emotional space. I love wintery wanders in (watertight) wellies, bundled up against the cold and weather in hats, scarves and gloves. Even better when friends or family join me.
Bingo! That was my inspiration so I grabbed my sketchbook and began doing a few drawings.
The Designs
This design brief was a perfect opportunity to practice my newly acquired Adobe Photoshop computer skills. The whole process was so much fun. The ideas, motifs and final designs evolved naturally into my three final designs.
Having double checked that I’d got the file size and formats correct, and after a few calming deep breaths, I submitted the three designs into my first ever surface pattern design competition.
Gulp! Had I really just entered an international competition having never completed a design brief before? Yes! But I had nothing to loose and so much to gain. I learnt a huge amount by following a design process from start to finish. Reflecting now, and again showing my inexperience, I realise that this is my first (mini) collection.
The Result
So imagine my delight when a few days later the Make It In Design team tagged me in an Instagram post. I was even more astounded to read that one of my entries was placed 8th out of 9 runners up in the competition.
This was such great validation that me and Surface Pattern Design might have a future together. It kept getting better because all the runners up won prizes too! A personalised, signed copy of Beth Kempton’s Calm Christmas PLUS a free place on the Make It In Design upcoming live class Winter School. It just goes to show that it’s worth having a go.
Christmas 2020
Although very different to other years, I am blessed that Christmas 2020 for me and my immediate family was a calm and happy time, which naturally included a beautiful walk.
It’s now January 2021, I have just finished reading Beth’s book ‘Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year’ (which I highly recommend). There were some great exercises and prompts that helped me to reflect on 2020 and start to plan and set intentions for 2021. Focusing on Surface Pattern Design is a significant part of my plans. I’m looking forward to the Make It In Design Winter School which starts on 18th to help me realise more of my dreams!