Stella Jean Fall 2016

It's no secret that I have a real love for folk-inspired design. I have always been a big fan of Stella Jean and her past collections of vibrant African wax fabrics and mixed prints. The new Fall/Winter season is just as inspired. I love that you can't tell exactly where the inspiration comes from. Is it Scandinavian? African? Slavic? Aztec? It's all in there—geometric shapes, wraps, bright yet earthy colors, tassels and emblems. It's global. Even the choice of models makes for an exciting united design nation.

Credit: Regis Colin Berthelier/Now Fashion

Credit: Regis Colin Berthelier/Now Fashion

Designer Spotlight: Agda Osterberg (1891-1987)

Sometimes you come across an artist's work that just makes you shout out loud! This is how I felt when I saw Swedish artist Agda Osterberg's amazing weaving. Behold her skillfull craft in incredible shapes and colors. I often paint florals and rounded shapes; this group of work has inspired me to stretch myself and try some more geometric designs. 

Too bad I don't have the budget for that $66,000.00 runner on the right!

 

Agda Osterberg
Agda Osterberg
Agda Osterberg

Minted and PBKids / PBTeen - Vote on February 19th!

Vote for my
design on minted.™
Botanical Garden
see more from Katja Ollendorff
vote for me!
Check out my competition in Christmas photo cards and Save the Date cards at Minted.

I've entered another contest through Minted.com—this time it's a collaboration with PBKids and PBTeen. My artwork is inspired by a trip to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. Hope you like it! If you do, you can vote on February 19th. Click on the button to the right  and rate my design a  "5" to ensure a high vote tally for me. Thanks for supporting!

Putting Inspiration To Work

I often visit libraries and used bookstores in search of new inspiration. I found a few great books recently and wanted to share how I get inspired by imagery and designs, and then capture various motifs to make my own. I found this book on Erté by Charles Spencer at the Russian Hill Bookstore and found that it contained a huge amount of inspiration.

Erte - Charles Spencer
Erte5.jpg
Erte - Charles Spencer

While flipping through it, I sat with my sketchbook and noted little details that spoke to me and my aesthetic. Once I have a selection of motifs I like to take a page from my sketchbook like the one here, into Photoshop and start playing with various items to see what I can come up with. I sometimes use individual motifs or combine a few—the possibilities are endless.

Can you tell which ones I used to make the patterns below? With color and scale changes, rotating, reflecting and putting my own spin on things, the designs now feel like mine but I know Erté was my inspiration and that's I nice thought. Because I did these designs in the same hand and used a complimentary color palette, they also feel like they could work as part of a collection. 

I hope you have fun finding your own inspiration and putting it to work.

© 2016 Katja Ollendorff

© 2016 Katja Ollendorff

© 2016 Katja Ollendorff

© 2016 Katja Ollendorff

© 2016 Katja Ollendorff

© 2016 Katja Ollendorff

© 2016 Katja Ollendorff

© 2016 Katja Ollendorff

 

 

 

 

Overwhelmed by Offers ?

Are you overwhelmed by all the offers, courses, classes, DIY, Must-Do's! out there? I sure am. I have a hard enough time trying to get one thing in front of me done, without getting distracted by ads that scream "Skills You Need to Have ", "You've Got to See This", "You Must Try This!", "Learn How To Make Your Life Exactly What You Want It To Be With Zero Effort And Make A Million Dollars Doing It." Although many of the courses teach valuable lessons, most of them come at a high price. 

As a creative person, I'm always up for learning more. I love tutorials, marketing classes, instructional videos. However, I don't like spending money on every single thing I come across. I've found some great free PS tutorials through this site PHLEARN like these here. There are many ways to do the same thing, but I love finding a way that's more efficient. Even if something doesn't pertain exactly to textile design, you can still learn tips and tricks that are transferable. 

Here are a few I found pretty interesting. Do you have any favorite free tutorial sites?

http://phlearn.com/how-to-use-step-and-repeat-in-photoshop

http://phlearn.com/how-to-color-an-illustration-in-photoshop

http://phlearn.com/apply-wallpaper-to-walls-in-photoshop

http://phlearn.com/use-refine-edge-tool-photoshop

 

 

 

 

 

An Icon Lost

Bowie
Bowie
Bowie

The death of David Bowie is still with me a week later. His passing has probably affected me more than any other celebrity in recent years because of his influence on me in my life. I grew up with his music through all the various stages of my youth—from my pre-teen years onward.

My older brothers introduced me to him in the early 80s by giving me a copied cassette tape of Scary Monsters with a handwritten DAVID BOWIE scrawled across it. As a twelve year old his music scared me a little. It was moving and different, and I was pressed to listen to it and almost had to learn to love it. And I did. 

His influence in music, fashion and his courage to be different, permeated the universe. The day he died, I imagined his music being played all around the world and rising up in to the air. I think we are drawn to talented people especially when they are as courageous and forward-thinking with their creativity as he was. 

Bowie
Bowie

Latest Guildery Collection - Beaufort

On the heels of yesterday's CountryLiving feature, I have more Guildery news.

It's blue and green forever!  Two of my all time favorite colors together in my latest collection Beaufort. I hope you enjoy all the new items that are now available on Guildery.com. You can always search KATJA and you'll find all of my collections in one spot! They recently added some new products such as wrapping paper and table linens. I ordered some paper for the holidays and it is GREAT quality. Go there and get thee some and enjoy! 

 

Country Living Jan 2016 Feature

Woo wee!  I just learned one of my designs (available on Guildery.com) was featured in the Jan/Feb 2016 Country Living Magazine. Pretty cool I say! I also used the same design (as a runner) up in Sonoma on my friend's table.

 My Static design, here in Reverse Skin, is available on Guildery.com. There is a wide variety of colors and fabrics to choose from.

 

My Static design, here in Reverse Skin, is available on Guildery.com. There is a wide variety of colors and fabrics to choose from.

 Static on the runner, and my Tepee design shown here on cloth napkins.

 

Static on the runner, and my Tepee design shown here on cloth napkins.




New Year, New Intentions

I hope the start to the New Year has been great for you. Sometimes I get into the whole resolution thing but this year I'm not cutting things out, I'm just looking at this time as the gift of a fresh start. I might make some changes to habits here and there, but overall I just want to think about ways I can improve myself, my intentions, actions and individual place in the world. And all the ways I can share meaningful things with others.

In terms of my designing, I aim to be more dedicated and diligent about what I put forth on the creative front, as well as the business and administrative side of things. I need to keep up with things like, ahem, blog posts, organization and making contacts. I want to be better about sharing tips, and letting people see into my world a bit more. I'd love more interaction with my readers and supporters. So please drop me a line with any questions or feedback, or just to say hi! I welcome all of it.

 Do you have any new intentions for the year ahead?

This design started as a sketch I did with colored markers in my sketchbook. I actually just took a picture of it with my cellphone instead of scanning it in, I emailed the image to myself, downloaded and then opened it up in PS, cleaned it up and laid it out. That's some designing on the fly for you! 

Happy New Year 2016!

This quote really moved me when I read it. I often get caught up in thoughts of my past, how wonderful things were—how I thought nothing could be better than the years I went to NYU, or lived in Paris or first arrived in San Francisco. I think about how young, pretty, talented, healthy and strong I was. But wait! Aren't I still all of those things just more grown up and with more amazing stories under my belt? Maybe I have a few extra creaks in my bones and extra pounds around the waist, but I'm still those things. 

I have decided to commit myself to living as healthy and vibrant a life I can—full of creativity, time with family and friends and things that matter. I will always cherish my past experiences—all the moments I can relive, and the stories I can tell—but I'm so ready to see what comes next. I have a feeling the more I open myself up to finding out what the future holds, the more I will experience. Bring it on!

I wish you all many new experiences and some new stories to tell in 2016. Happy New Year everyone! Much joy to you in the coming year. 

My Inspiration this Week

I'm always inspired by world cultures—from the Sami people of Lappland to the Omo tribe in Ethiopia. I also love how tribal and folk wear is so prevalent in today's world of design. Below are some images that really drew me in— can't get enough of the colors, the patterns, the fabric! Some are authentic folk wear and some are modern interpretations, but each of them feeds my creative soul. Click to see more on my Pinterest Folkology board.

Around the world folk cultures. My personal inspiration using images from Pinterest. See more on my Folkology board. 

Selfies on Paper

Lee Friedlander, Self Portrait NYC 1966

Lee Friedlander, Self Portrait NYC 1966

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam currently has an exhibit titled "Selfies on Paper". It shows artists from the past four centuries capturing their own images in various mediums. As noted on their website: "Virtually every artist in the past looked in a mirror and captured his or her image for posterity – just as we do now." But we all know that they just took a little more time to do it.

In this age of immediate and fleeting gratification, the exhibit intends to make people slow down and take a moment to appreciate the art and the time it took to create. Cameras are not allowed, and instead, attendees of the museum are encouraged to draw or sketch what they see instead of using their selfie stick. I love this!

You can read more on the exhibit on the museum website here, and also on thisiscolassal.com.

Rembrandt, Self Portrait 1639

Rembrandt, Self Portrait 1639

Oskar Kokoscka, Self Portrait 1923

Oskar Kokoscka, Self Portrait 1923

Happy Thanksgiving

I have a lot to be grateful for and I want to especially extend my thanks to you, my loyal readers, supporters and friends. I hope each of you enjoys a love-filled, belly-full day with loved ones as we enter this holiday season.

November Instagram Fave: Alea Toussaint

Alea Toussaint on Katja Blog

I stumbled upon this Instagram feed and was immediately taken with the incredible patterns that Alea Toussaint makes out of a variety of objects. Whether it be flowers or peppercorns, pens or sequins—she makes one stop to take a closer look. Just beautiful!

She is a graphic designer and pattern artist based in Minneapolis. If you would like to see more of her work, visit her website here www.aleatoussaint.com

And you can buy prints of her work on Society 6 here.

 

 

 

 

All images are used with permission of the artist ©2015 Alea Toussaint

 

West Coast Craft 2015

I had an amazing time this past weekend at the 2015 West Coast Craft Fair at Fort Mason. There were so many great vendors my eyes were just popping out of my head! I could have really done some damage but I was good, and restrained myself from breaking my bank.

Here are just a few of the 250+ artists, designers and craftspeople who exhibited. There were so many wonderful things but these stalls particularly caught my eye. I met a lot of really nice people and was very inspired by these talented artists. If you missed it this time around, I highly recommend staying on the lookout for the next show. It was by far the most enjoyable one I've been to at the Pavillion. 

p.s. please excuse the not great quality iPhone shots - I forgot my camera at home! Also, when you click the images below you will be taken to the sites. Just click the back button to return to the blog.

Sometimes You're Up, Sometimes You're Down.

The months of August and September were hard ones for me. August marked the one-year anniversary of my mother's passing, and that was extremely tough. It's something you never get over, but those firsts are really difficult. It put me into a funk and the whole month of September I really struggled to get inspired and to feel happy or excited about anything. I hadn't had any luck finding work and that was making me feel very dejected and frustrated too. 

In October the clouds in my mind started to clear. I got reenergized, practiced gratitude for the things I do have in my life and I began painting again. Just when I made that conscious effort to relax and think positively, things started to HAPPEN. 

I had a wonderful interview featured on the Make It In Design blog. You can read the article here. Next, I found out that I won a special Editor's Pick in Minted.com's First Ever Outdoor Art Challenge. Wow!  My artwork will be painted on the side of a building in San Francisco. How cool is that!? I started getting phone calls from people for freelance jobs and things just started moving again. The third thing was finding out that my next collection, Panache, just launched on Guildery.com's site and there is a great promo going on right now.

The trunk show sale is happening now through next Tuesday, and offers 30% off of all products from my latest collection. Guildery is now also offering new items like gift wrap and table linens which make fantastic gifts! I hope you take advantage of this great promo!

The old adage "it's always darkest before the dawn" has proven itself true for me. Sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down, but things work out just as they should when the time is right..

 

 

Printed Fabric Production

If you are curious to know how a fabric ended up at your local fabric store, this is a a fascinating 15 minute look at the creation of printed fabric from start to finish. From the point when the gray goods are delivered to the factory, until the rolls are sealed in plastic and ready to ship off, this video gives a very detailed and informative look behind the scenes at a printing production factory in China. You can see just how many steps are involved in the process for both flat bed, and rotary screen printing processes.

You can also see that it's quite an intense job involving lots of chemicals, solutions and dyes. It's hard to for me to imagine working in an environment like that day in day out and it makes me appreciate the more eco-friendly approach that many companies are taking nowadays.

YouTube video by Richard Gross