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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Designer feature: Mary Jane Mitchell

Hello! Today we are very happy to have a feature and with a mini-interview Mary Jane Mitchell and he beautiful work. 
We were lucky to had Mary Jane as part of the guest designers that collaborated with Believe Creative Studio for the collection presented at Indigo-Paris back in February. We loved working with her and the customers loved her textured hand-drawn beautiful and clasical style.

MaryJane Mitchell has been designing textiles and products for the home and fashion industry in the United States and Europe for over 20 years.  She enjoys designing for the children’s industry because she loves coming up with designs that make people smile and that bring a bit of happiness to the world. Her style is both whimsical and colorful and besides the children’s market, her style lends itself to the adult market, as well.  She licensed her designs in the Tabletop industry for over 12 years and her
dinnerware has been featured in most major retail stores.

MaryJane Mitchell


MaryJane graduated from FIDM in Los Angeles with a degree in fashion and then, when she found she could not find the right textiles while working in the children’s bedding industry, she went back to school at night for a Textile Program at Otis Parsons.

She has been an avid runner for over 25 years and finds her greatest inspiration and brain storming come from running the trails behind her house by herself or with her dog, Maizie.  She is known for her abundance of energy, which she is proud to say she inherited from her mother.


 
©MaryJane Mitchell

©MaryJane Mitchell


A small conversation with MaryJane:

Which city or place inspires you the most to create?
MJ: I love Paris and the English Countryside. My favorite city in California is Ojai.

What type of music do you listen to while you are creating?  
MJ: I love Classical, Blues and Rock and Roll.

Which is your favorite blog to get design inspiration from?
 MJ: Print and Pattern by Bowie Style

Which is your favorite quote? 
MJ: “Listen. Make a way for yourself inside yourself. Stop looking in the other way of looking.” Rumi

What does the word, “believe” mean to you?
MJ: It means to feel strongly about something in a positive way.


©MaryJane Mitchell

©MaryJane Mitchell

©MaryJane Mitchell
If you want to be in touch with MaryJane, follow her and see more of the lovely work,contact her at:

Monday, July 7, 2014

Floral patterns showcase

Hola!
Today I wanted to  showcase the beautiful floral designs created by different artist, this designs were submitted to the Tigerprint "Floral Wrap Pattern" competition.

Tiger print put together a creative brief, and invited designers and artist to create a pattern directed to the female recipient, for products like gift bags, wrapping paper and tags. Over 1000 designs submitted pieces, exploring all type of flower motifs, color palettes and handwriting.

Design competitions are "in" now, and is the way companies are sourcing artwork for their projects and contest are becoming more and more popular among designers. From my point of view contest are a way to keep creating for fun projects, and they are the way to keep your brand out there, but there should be a balance between creating for entering contest and actually promoting your own brand with personal work and creative research.

I put together some tips when creating for a contest:
1. First and most important of all, choose wisely, be selective to whom you are giving your work.

2. Read the fine print and document your self before submitting your artwork to a company.

3. Study the brief and stick to it, you may be disqualified otherwise.

4. Participate in contest for products that are out of your comfort zone, you never know which surprise you may find, you may discover a new technique, new skills, or a new market for your style.

4. Have fun when creating and take your time; do not only create only to have "something there" , Do your very best; you never know who is looking. You want your name and your brand  being associated to quality work.

5. Do not forget that normally is only ONE happy winner, do not let not being selected to disencourage you, pick your self up and be happy you entered, be proud, after all you did your best!

6. Analyze the work from the winner, what does that piece have different from yours? find the positive side, we can all learn something.

7. Plan ahead, and submit before the deadline, contest websites may be facing issues at the deadline time.

8. Use your work for your portfolio, to submit it to blogs for features, for your social media  etc.
Reuse your motifs in a different piece, give them a second life, after all you put time and effort for it therefore your work is valuable.

To support a bit my last point, I wanted to show the lovely work from other fellow designers that submitted work for this contest and I ask them "Which other products types do they see this pieces?

Angel Gerardo said: "I think my design will look pretty on a sundress or a journal"
More from Angel? get in touch!
©2014 Angel Gerardo
Tasha Goddard said "I would love to see this pattern in a dress"
More from Tasha? get in touch!
@2014 Tasha Goddard
 Nancy Mckenzi said "I could see this pattern working well on a scarf or blouse, or maybe on the packaging for  a specialist soap or tea"
More from Nancy? get in touch !
©2014 Nancy Mckenzi
 Annette Plummer said "I would also love to see this print on a summer dress, or enlarged for cushions or bedding"
More from Anette? get in touch!
©2014 Annette Kristine Designs
 Irene Tan said: "I'd rather wear flowers in my hair than diamonds around my neck"
More from Irene? get in touch!
©2014 Irene Tan
 Jo Chambers said " Fabric print, or greetings wrap"
More from Jo? get in touch!
©2014 Jo Chambers
 Jennifer said " I think my print would work well on paper, journal covers , and accessories.
More from Jennifer? get in touch!
©2014 Jennifer Wambach

Rebecca Stoner said: "I think this print would look great on fabric or pretty little note-cards!"
More from Rebecca? get in touch!
©2014 Rebecca Stoner
From me" I see this design in fabric, then made up in all sort of products"
More from me? get in touch!
@2014 Believe Creative Studio
Follow the link to see the gorgeous work from Claire Parker, the lucky winner and runners up and to see all submissions visit the Tigerprint gallery.

Big thank you to all the designers that kindly agreed to be part of this post!

Love
Rosie

Friday, July 4, 2014

Jan Shepherd a true pattern muse

Hello & Happy Friday!
Today I want to share with you the fabulous work of the lovely and a great professional:
Jan Shepherd from Pattern muse.

Jan Shepherd from Patternmuse

We had the fortune to have Jan as a guest designer for the collection we presented in Indigo-Paris Feb 14, and was a wonderful collaboration.
Jan has a unique and beautiful way to create wonderful florals, her work is rich, luscious and full of wonderful and intricate shapes. You can look at each of her pieces for a long time and discover new motifs.
©Patternmuse

Jan is based in the UK now, she was living in Australia for 3 years.
She met a surface pattern designer on the plane on her way over to Australia and decided that this was a job for her! Since then she has built on skills learned at Camberwell College of Art & Kingston University to become a successful and very happy artist/designer. Other things Jan has done are a career in retail, specialising in art projects, freelance illustration in publishing and setting up her own greeting card business when it was difficult to find work to fit in with her young family. 

Jane has a special love for  bold and simple design mixed with intricate florals, She describe her self as a "tidy designer with occasional outbursts of messiness…"
Jan Shepherd  studio ©Patternmuse

A little conversation between me &  Jan:

Which city or place inspire you the most to create?
Wherever I am, I can create, feel or imagine wonderful things so at the moment it's tropical Cairns which is so inspiring with it's Great Barrier Reef and Rain forests.

What type of music do you listen while you are creating?
I love music and it influences me greatly so I listen if it's relevant to the type of design I am doing, otherwise I like the natural sounds that surround me.

Which is your favorite blog to get design inspiration?
There are so many inspiring design blogs- I am choosing a lesser know one www.anchobee.com because there is a design challenge every week and it also gives motivational ideas - it's great and in fact the fish design on my computer in the studio photo started as one of those challenges!
©Patternmuse


Favourite quote?
 "Always look on the bright side of life"
Monty Python

What does the word Believe means to you?
It's knowing that everything happens for a reason, we can choose to learn from it and be confident that we are travelling through life in a good direction with good friends.
©Patternmuse

©Patternmuse

©Patternmuse

©Patternmuse


If you want to find more about Jan visit her Patternmuse website or follow her trought Facebook and Twitter @patternmuse

Have a happy weekend!
Love
Rosie

If you want to be featured in our blog, just drop us a note, by clicking the feature invite button!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

A mermaid in a bottle :painting process

Hello! I want to share the final result of the new piece I have worked in the past days.
In my previous post I described to you my creative process, sketches and inspiration, now I want to share the painting process and the final result.
I decided to actually paint this piece in a common canvas, because painting in canvas make me feel very artistic!
This piece was painted  with acrylic, which is a medium I enjoy working with, although a bit messy is quite fun and friendly to achieve lost of colors and cool effects; the down side of painting with acrylic is the difficulty to paint very small and detailed lines, which I normally incorporate in my work.
I added a beautiful quote from Rumi, that I found perfect for the mood of this piece.
Personally I loved the result, please let me know what do you think of it? Do you like it?
Very soon I will be making a downloadable version so you can use to decorate your computer of phone screen.
Stay tuned!

Love
Rosie

My colors            

Background

Work in progress

The final result                                                                                                          ©2014 Believe Creative Studio

If you are interested in seeing other artists from different parts of the world work and their  approach to the nautical theme for wall art in all sort of media and handwriting, visit the online gallery of the Lilla's Roger Make art that sells Bootcamp. 
Eye candy!

Monday, June 16, 2014

Getting inspired for a new assignment!

Hello!
Aside of my busy days creating  baby and children's patterns collections for the Japanese and for the European market which we will be presenting to the customers in few more days,
I am  also currently working on a new assignment for the Make Art that sells Bootcamp which I take more as a treat to my self to enjoy and to discover new possibilities for my work.
The theme of this assignment is nautical and we were asked to create a piece for wall art featuring the theme and subjects as boats in a glass bottle, sea creatures, textures and typography.

Although I immediately had an idea in mind, I did my usual research in pinterest and find out amazing images, colors, techniques, ohhh a great visual treat.

Here is a glance of my pin board:

Images from different authors and published in pinterest.com

My sketch below was my initial option  before research, I have a particular obsession with hair, so I was pretty married with this idea, but I am a firm believer of  lateral thinking , therefore I always push myself for exploring new ideas and concepts.

Sketch by Believe Creative Studio                                                                                Option 1

During my research in pinterest I found this beautiful image (which I could not track the original author) I was amazed me by its beauty and  uniqueness, and inspired me to create a second option.
Author: Unknown                                                                          Source: pinterest.com

I wanted to make sure I was being inspired and I was not ripping of an original creation. I think I achieved to create  my own take from the beautiful original piece of art.
What do you think?

Sketch by Believe Creative Studio                                                                               Option 2 
Getting inspired by another piece of another artist is always a controversial topic; I do my best to respect other people work and to honor an original idea by taking it to my personal style.
I have asked Believe Creative Studio facebook followers which option they liked the most for me to use in my assignment, although initially was almost equal the votes, we majority selected Option Number 2, so I will be working on this piece next and I will share the painting process and the final result here in the blog.

Since I loved also the option 1 too I will work on that option too next!

Wishing you a great week!









The images published from pinterest.com belong to different authors,we are not claiming ownership on those. No copyright infringement is intended.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The biggest design of all!

Hello! Hope you are enjoying of a lovely summer.
Just recently I have designed for the biggest space I have ever done.
I have created a design for a  200 square meter factory wall in Roermond, The Netherlands.

This design was created as a submission for the contest organized by Archello and Euramax, featuring a new product called Alludesign, which basically is a multilayer digital desing coating to print any image over flat panel and aluminium sheets, specifically directed to facades of big scale.

I am very particular about entering contest, one because I want to be very cautious on what I invest my time and second, because since design contests are a growing trend is very important point to consider all the fine prints.

When I first learned about this opportunity, I found that this will be a completely different challenge of what I normally face when designing: the surface was huge, and the market is completely different for what I usually work, therefore I decide to enter and did my best.

Althought the contest is global I was lucky enough that was here in The Netherlands, so in order to understand the surface and the project I decided to drove 2 hours to the Euramax location because I not only wanted to decorate a wall, but rather to decorate the whole surrounding for what I was designing.
Can you find me??


After the visit I sketched some options but decided to go for a tree, which is one of my favorite subjects to create but also because around the street where the factory is located there were just few, so I wanted to create something full of color and life that if selected will attract the attenton of every person around it and will feature all the color possibilities of the product.


Original Sketch @2014 Believe Creative Studio

The final outcome made me really happy, I definetly won already with this challenge, in things like streching my self to create for a project completely different of what I normally create , to think on the brief and technical specifications of a huge wall and to open the posibilities to create for the biggest surface I ever imagined.

My design is called "The tree of possibilities"  and you can read more in Archello website"

Euramax factory wall in Roermond, The Netherlands                     Design by Believe Creative Studio. All rights reserved


The results will be annouced very soon, so stay tunned and please wish me luck!
Love








Update: The winner, runner up and special mentions were announced, unfortunately  my design was not the winner, this design will be converted into a collection for fabrics and home decor… available soon!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Believe Creative Studio 3dr Anniversary celebration!

Hello everyone!
Few weeks ago we celebrated Believe Creative Studio 3rd anniversary! YAY!
©2014 Believe Creative Studio                                        Believe-cs.com

Is so exciting what has happened with in 3 years… we open more horizons for the studio, in Europe and Asia, we have new costumers, friends, followers, guest designers and we are thrilled of getting new projects to create for.

I started one day working in my kitchen table and hand painting every single design and now we have a fully equipped studio, even with a meeting table, I can not be happier and proud!

We have successfully exhibit our designs  in Paris and London and we have expanded our product range not only to develop textiles for children products but also we are designing all for all sort of products, such as stationery, editorial, party wear and even creating original painted pieces. Our house style is now is welcome by different age groups that enjoy of a children like, colorful and whimsical style.

All this have been possible by working hard, believing in my work and in my dreams and having a husband, friends and family that believes in me and keeps encouraging me even in the difficult times.

I also want to mention that my mind has open to a complete new world thanks to have the eternal student spirit. By joining courses such as Make Art that sells from Lilla Rogers, The Art and Business of Surface Pattern design from Rachel Taylor and Bloom True from Flora Bowley, all organized by the inspiring team of Do What you Love for Life managed by Beth & Paul Kempton;  I have develop my style, techniques, color management and I have gotten different perspective on the design business and most of important of all I have surrounded myself with positive and inspiring artist.

Thanks to everyone that inspire me and help me to keep believing in my dreams!!

To share with all of you we will have a giveaway of 2 original posters from the Marimekko Exhibit at the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (59X42cms approx)
What you need to do? Leave us a comment and let us know what the world believe means to you  this before June 3 and winners will be announced on June 9.

 Marimekko flowers -Unikko- designed by Maija Isola 1964


We will choose randomly the 2 happy winners and we will send them the original poster to anywhere in the world. Also the 2 happy winners and their work  will be invited to be featured in the Believe Creative Studio blog in an interview.

But wait!!!  everyone that leave us a comment will be invited to promote their blog for FREE, we will publish your blog button on our side bars linked to your blog  for 3 month this to get some promotion for your wonderful work and to give you some love back.

Million of thanks
Love
Rosie Martinez-Dekker

The Rules 
1. We ask that you first READ the giveaway details before you take part in the contest/giveaway.
2. Leaving a positive comment about the meaning of believe world to you. Products promotion or spam will be counted as valid.
3. Please leave a valid email address within the comment section.
4. The 2 Winners are selected randomly and notified by email. 
5. This Giveaway is open worldwide.
8. Contest/Giveaway gifts will be shipped by post.nl contained in a protected way.
9.  We are not responsible for damage ,item lost in the mail or the time to arrive to its destination.
10. We DO NOT ask winners to pay for postage.
11. No purchase necessary.
12. No exchange for cash or otherwise.
Thank you for taking part in the giveaway.

Monday, May 5, 2014

We are back!

Hello!
After a glorious month of holidays in the warm, sunny and beautiful Mexico, I am back in the Believe Creative Studio studio in The Netherlands. I came back to find the dutch spring in its own splendor, beautiful sunshine, green everywhere,singing birds, flowers and all the beauty that this season brings.

During the month of holiday I had the opportunity to completely rest my mind and to the amazing experience to have my soul filled with love, good energy and happiness by being surrounded by my  family and friends; and what better way  to feel inspired and  recharged?
I am fully ready to continue the mission of making beauty and filling this world with color and joy.

During the month of April  we also celebrated  Believe Creative Studio 3 years since we found it and of course we celebrated with some cocktails in the beach, but of course we will be sharing this joy as well with a little give away… so stay tuned!

Happy Monday!
Rosie




Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Monday, March 24, 2014

Thinking & doing things differently

One of my most admired designers is Sir Paul Smith, I love the happiness and the beauty of his products, his brand , life phylosophy, his style, but most of all I admire him as a person.


Sir Paul Smith 

Sir. Paul Smith  is keen in the importance of lateral thinking for designers and creatives.
He openly speaks about the importance of observation, not only looking but actually observing what surround us and obtaining inspiration from it. Sir Paul Smith also encourages creatives to balance between electronical devices, computers and mobile telephones, with visiting  museums, traveling and looking at books and common surroundings as a source of inspiration.


The term lateral thinking by Edward de Bono commonly known as "thinking out of the box" is the way to approach a solution by looking in different and unexpected persectives. Lateral thinking is going beyond the obvious leaving behind traditional thoughs and preconceptions.

Being a designer focused in children designs sometimes I often find my self in a mental debate on what else to design, once I have created artwork with all the animals, flower types and hearts I possible can. But then I find a different approach to what I have already done, but normally as answer after the question… and now what?

Currently I am following the Lilla Rogers Assignment Bootcamp, on where monthly assignments are given to us in order to keep developing pieces under specific briefs and this month I found my self drawing gelatine molds and jelly; which is  subject that I personally would never think on creating in first place.
I originally started creating artwork in super bright colors with ink and watercolors to give the traditional transparency look a jelly has.

©2014 Believe Creative Studio

Later on as a part of the challenge a new color palette was suggested to us by Lilla Rogers : neutrals!
Although at the beginning of the rbief I  went directly to superbright ,almost primary colors, after Lilla's suggestion I decided to give it a try to exlore a completely different approach and to think "out of my box" and although I still used quite bright range of colors I balanced out with neutral tones.

Definetly thinking laterally is a great benefit to every designer and a practice we should master. After all the world still need designs every season and after a while the animals, heart and flowers will start looking the same if we do not find a way to strecht ourselves in different directions.


"No copyright infrigement  intended"


Monday, March 17, 2014

Indigo SS15-Feb14 Review

Hello:
After almost a month of our participation at Indigo-Paris SS15  is time to share a brief review of the show.

As every time we exhibit is an intense, exhausting yet rewarding experience. The previous months before  exhibiting are days of planning and working really hard; this for only 3 days in where you have to give all you got.

Source: Indigo-salon


Source: Indigo-salon

This year a new member joined Believe Creative Studio!! We were really thrilled to introduce our  new studio development manager to our customers, and we were extremelly happy to have during the show the support of one of our dear friends, the 3 of us were with the best energy to rock the show.


We had a great collection that we createvely directed trough eleven briefs and  one to one design mentorship  program and  together with our talented and enthusiastic guest designers, we broght to live artworks full of color and joy.



As every season the show is super well organized with tons of visitors walking the isles and tons of amazing studios presenting their work. Enviroment is always great!


We absolutely loved our booth and our background (which is the main image of Believe Creative Studio) was the center of attention and we received tons of compliments.


Also we had a lots of fans for our printed cocktail umbrellas, which we offer along with dutch egg shaped  chocolates typical of eastern season


With the time we have learned to manage realistic expectations, there is too many factors influencing the decision of a buyer to get or not a design.

Definetly there is nothing written in stone about what a customer wants, everyone has completely different requests and everything that we have been told, changes when customers request things completely different of what we have heard as a rule.

Years ago when I used to visit Indigo as an art director and a buyer, I remember the rush to get early to the show, the importance to have a good relationship with the studios to get the best designs, and the importance to bring tons of chash for onsite payments; with the time this has changed, there are so many others shows, so many other studios selling online and lots of companies sourcing artwork even for free with the such called "contest".

"Designs do not sell as a warm cupcakes in the shows anymore" but from my point of view shows still  are a good source of business & marketing.

Definetly exhibiting is a decision that must be weighted and planned, there is too many aspects and a big investment to consider, a big deal of self believe and persistence is needed, external support, tons of enthusiasm, resistance to frustration & stress, time management and lots of patience, but  every solid business requiere the same.

I can not express my gratitude to our studio team, guest designers team, friends, fellow designers, family and customers who support us, cheer for us and believe in us!

Love

Rosie