SANCTUM RANGE

Sanctum Range - including the exclusive Artenax shade and cushion.

From top left to top right, 'Indigo Cicada shade and cushion,' 'Golden stag cushion,' 'Shard cushion and shade.'

From bottom left to right, 'Prism shade and cushion,' 'Artenax cushion and shade.'

These products will be on my website soon, in the mean time contact info@asladetextiles.co.uk for any enquiries.

TENT LONDON 2013

This was just as much of a surprise to me as I'm sure it is to anyone else! Found out on Monday I was going to be showing at Tent London this year, an exhibitor pulled out and so I was offered the stand! What luck! Hopefully this impromptu show will bring good things... Watch this space!

ONE YEAR ON @ New Designers 2013

The time has come! It's the buildup day before the opening evening of New Designers 2013! I've been lucky enough to get a stand for One Year On this year, a show dedicated to graduates a year out of university or in their first year of business.

I've been too busy up until now to blog about my design processes for the new products I'm exhibiting at the show, so here is a quick update on how I've been getting on!

So I was a bit stuck as to what to show this year at OYO... 'Do I design something new?' 'Do I design only a few new products?' were a few of the questions I asked myself before I even began designing for the show...

The solution to my predicament came in the form of a proposition by a client I met at TENT 2012. Nikki Greenleaf approached me with the offer of being part of her new brand 'artenax,' a company focused on showcasing contemporary design in bold and daring colours, with a specific colour pallet of strong and vivid magnets, turquoises, lime green and acid yellows. Now with my current work being mainly monochromic, with my newer designs for TENT including some bold colour in small areas, Nikki's proposition inspired me to work with colour in a much bigger way. I began with colour washes and inky splatters using vivid chemical  fabric dyes and inks on paper, which I then scanned into the computer to brighten up further and enhance. Using my colours of choice from Nikki's pallet, I designed a cushion and lampshade in hues of magenta and turquoise, thus my collection for artenax came into being. 

I was so excited to be working with colour in a way I had never done before, I decided to use this initial starting point of using vivid inky colour as the basis of my entire collection for One Year On. More magenta and turquoise, acid yellow, cobalt blue, indigo and teal are all colours which have found their way into my collection, combined with my signature pen line pen drawing of my favourite imagery.  

For the show I have narrowed my products down to just lampshades and cushions, as the colours are intense and bold  and so are more suited to act as accent or statement pieces in the home or corporate space.

CUSHIONS - THE MAKING OF

Since graduating and beginning my journey as an Interior Textiles designer, it recently dawned on my that all of my ramblings about my endeavours so far have been purely 'what,' with no mention of 'how' and 'why.'

Recently somebody shared with me their thoughts on blogging, and how it is a great way to document not only what you are doing, but also why you do it and how it happens... and I couldn't have agreed more. I'm guilty anyway of not blogging enough about what I do, so I'm making a pact with myself, to not only blog more often but to also talk more about the processes I use, what inspires me and my thoughts and feelings about it. 

So... Since I haven't designed anything new since my collection for Tent I thought it best to begin  my new regime with some old  products... My first range of cushions, designed for my graduate show in 2011.

It all starts with a drawing. And a drawing always starts as an observation, observations I make from the things I love and surround myself with. Here is a small selection of such things...

Seems an odd collection for the top of a bookcase, but this slightly macabre group of objects is a great example of exactly where I turn to for inspiration. Why exactly I choose to collect and observe such objects is because of a connection they all share with the ornate. Not always in the typical and most obvious meaning of the word, which brings to mind gilt metal and baroque sculpture (other things which also inspire me) but ornate in nature as well. No where else in the word will you find a pattern as naturally and intricately ornate as on the wing of a tropical cicada, or in the patterns of the wing on a butterfly. Even the skulls of animals are historically ornamental, as trophies for example.  

It is this combination of entomology, taxidermy, lots of patience and a handful of black fine liner pens which gives rise to my intricate drawings. 

This is one of my first and one of my most favourite drawings, 'lockbug,' a drawing that features in a few designs from my first collection. Images are done by hand and then scanned in to digital format to be tweaked, tinkered with and tidied up. The result is a crisp and clean black and grey image, a stage which each one of my drawings must reach before any actual designing commences. This process shouldn't be rushed either, I am a firm believer that digital processes can and are sometimes supposed to take just as long as any hand processes. 

After rigorous image cleaning has taken place, my next step is a rough 'mapping out' of what I have in mind for each design. Designing a printed cushion involves literally sketching out a square and scribbling out pencil representatives of my drawings, just to get an idea of placement and scale (examples of which are in my roughest of sketchbooks and will remain there for my eyes only due to them being far too shabby to be published online!) 

Once the sketch is satisfactory - the digital designing begins. The black and grey colour pallet for my first collection really has a very simply justification... My university tutor pointed out to me during a conversation about my lack of confidence in using colour, that my drawings are black and grey. So why not design with that? A black and grey collection... I owe that tutor a lot... my display was striking and bold, completely devoid of colour and all the more impacting for it. 

Hours infront of the computer and eventually I have designs I am happy with. Luxurious silk satin is my fabric of choice for these cushions, a fabric which is lustrous yet durable and fully compliments the grey in the prints, turning them almost silver. Making up is the last step. A feather insert, some piping cord, a zip... you get the idea.

Above - the result. 

Tent London 2013

So I haven't blogged in a while... but for the last few months I have been busy preparing for 'Wingéd' - an exciting collaborative stand showing at TENT LONDON next week!

Wingéd is a fabulous combination of three designers each with different backgrounds, specialisms and work processes - but who all share a love and a flair for designing fantastically unique interior products featuring the 'creatures of the air.'

Adam Slade Interior Textiles - bespoke digitally printed interior products for the home and and commercial spaces such as hotels, bars and nightclubs.

ArtHouseOrignals, Louise Rushford - interior design, hand finished artwork, wallpapers and textiles for interiors

Emma Wells Glassware - stunning bespoke hand-made glassware, for interior spaces.

Visits stand D07/G15 in HALL 1 at TENT next week to see these three designers bring their ideas together to create a truly unique and impacting stand.

Here's a sneak preview of some of my products showing at Wingéd @tent_london

FRANCIS HOTEL

I've completed installing my shades at the Bath Francis hotel on Queens square. Really enjoyed working on the project and the hotel is looking amazing with its fresh new interior! Now onto my collection for Tent London 2012

also.....

Have some surplus stock from the hotel for sale - limited amount. The shades are very versatile and the illuminated grey of the shade picks up the colour of the room its in giving it a very subtle colour tint

45cm diameter £160
50cm diameter £170

email me if interested adam.slade@me.com

Recent pop-up shop

Haven't blogged in a while so I thought I'd update with recent events.
First was Living Room, a pop-up shop by Louise Rushford's, ArtHouse Originals.

The shop was on for two weeks and went fairly well, I sold 2 lamps and a cushion and the remaining two lamps and two cushions were taken by the owner of Prey Uk in Bath, and are now on the shelves for sale! Hopefully I will be producing a bit more stock for Prey if these ones sell well.

Louise also recently informed me that I've received another commission for a lamp through the pop-up shop which is great news. There's a picture of me avec un lamp in this latest issue of Bath Life Magazine, so  check that out also!

Finally, recently I had produced a set of sample lampshades for the Francis Hotel in Bath who are currently in the early stages of a renovation. They have recently confirmed the sample shades and are going to go for them in all 98 bedrooms! Fantastic news!

Right now I'm busy with all of the above but I'm also lining up things for next year, a few of which so far include the Liberty London open call day next Autumn and also a possible stand at Tent London with Louise (ArtHouse Originals) and another exhibitor from the pop-up shop who's work is absolutely gorgeous.

Watch this space!

My lamps in the window of the pop-up shop!

Lamps and cushions in situ (and very at home) in Prey UK, George St, Bath

follow me on twitter!

www.twitter.com/adamtslade

Commissioned lamps

Just finished two lampshades on commission! Had them back from the printer/makers and then applied the bug silhouette laser cuts to the inside. The tall one was for someone who spotted my work at the degree show in Bath and the smaller sepia coloured one was a commission by someone who saw the work at New Designer, but wanted it in a rust/sepia colour pallet, which I was very happy to do of course! Hope you like.

New Designers

Here are some photos of my stand at New Designers. It went really well. I received loads of interest in the lamps and cushions, and a showroom manager for a showroom in the BDC has taken my work to display in the showroom! Also an interior designer wants me my designs to refurbish a well established hotel in Bath! Lovely :) Currently working with manufacturers to produce my shades and cushions, with very promising results. I can get on with my few commissions now.

Here are some photos sent to me by Nadja, the manager of 'Just So Art' which is the showroom in the Business Design Centre where my work is currently being displayed. According to Nadja, who is doing all of my marketing and advertising and has invited scores of designers, architects and contractors to see the showroom, my work is receiving lots of positive attention and quite a few people are really keen on the designs. She wants a stock of cushions so they can be sold on the 'Just So Art' website, in the meantime check on the website so you can see all the other amazing stuff my work will be sold amongst! http://www.justsoart.co.uk/   Details to follow, watch this space!

It's all come to an end..... for now anyway.

So my degree is over, the show is up, the private view and business evenings went well and it's almost time to take down the show. I've had such a brilliant response to the work, including some interest for commissions and presence in a pop up shop! Exciting. I've also been selected to go to New Designers, so theres still more to do, no rest for the wicked!

Here are some images from my show, for those of you that didn't get the chance to come and see it, so observe and enjoy. Any questions please feel free to get in touch!

Meet Lockbug

This is Lockbug and he's one of the several strange creatures that will be inhabiting my wallpaper for the degree show. I thought I'd post a little taste of what is to come. Come and see our degree show and see lockbug and all his friends.

Experimenting with 3D laser cuts for my wallpaper. I think they work nicely.

Two test registration prints I did for my upholstery fabrics. The print uses 4 screens for the image and heat transfer dyes for the colour background. The one on the left was my first attempt, a few errors. The registration missed on the key and all of the colours, were too dark. The right hand print was my second attempt, all the registration hit on this one and I diluted the dye for the background colour. Bit more successful, but the background was a bit too light.

This is the large repeat print I did, using the same imagery as before but with the addition of the compass/butterfly wings image and also this time the golden key was foiled. The background colour worked much better, I think I found the right dye mix. This was a tricky print to do and register, but it was worth it in the end.

This is the same print only with the colours changed around a bit, and the black outline was foiled. I think it completely changes the print but still links as a collection.

Just some vintage style prints I did for indigo in the second year using line drawings and a 'luxurious' colour pallet. I came across them while sorting out my folders and I found they really inspired me again and gave me some ideas for my current project. They were originally fashion fabrics, but I think they'd be better suited to wallpaper. I might try something in in this style but using my current drawings. *watch this space*

These are two wallpaper designs I produced for a wallpaper project in the second year. For the imagery, (birds and butterflies) are fine detail pen drawings from nature and wild life books books, whereas the trees are loose ink drawings.

This was the piece I exhibited for a group exhibition at Walcot chapel in Bath. The skeleton is completely free machine embroidered, the back ground digitally printed and the frame laser cut. I called him Tony :)

Only black and white threads were used, the grey areas were achieved by stitching faster so more of the black bobbin thread was pulled through the fabric mixing with the white top thread. My initial idea was to then add decorative embroidered swirls to the skeleton, but he took long enough as it is and I think he still looks charming without. :)