Introducing... Darling Clementine

Tonje and Ingrid (the dynamic duo behind Norwegian design agency, Darling Clementine), are two of the loveliest ladies we've ever had the pleasure of drinking midday pints with. They are smart, beautiful, funny and fiesty. We've been admiring their designs for some time, so it's great to finally be working with them! Check out our interview with Darling Clementine below...


Tell us a bit about Darling Clementine... Who are you both and how/when did you start working together?
We both have the same background having taken our degrees in England (Manchester for Ingrid and London/Birmingham for Tonje), but didn't meet until we both moved back to Norway. We still remember the thrill of seeing each other’s university sketch books for the first time; it was like looking at a copy of your own work - so many of the references were the same it was almost a little scary! Ingrid had secretly dreamed about working with Tonje, who had started to sell Darling Clementine cards in some shops in Oslo. It also turned out that Tonje had a framed illustration on her kitchen wall in London made by Ingrid, and had tried to track her down but without any luck. When we finally met we were so happy to have found each other!

We love the name Darling Clementine! Where did it come from?
The name came from Tonje's MA project which was a project on nostalgia and how the influences of childhood aesthetics shaped her current work as a designer. Darling Clementine references the song which my Dad used to sing to me when I was little (and it was really sweet as he really can't sing!!) Also, it suggests a narrative, a person, which makes it a great name.


Your greetings cards are incredibly popular in the UK and abroad. How did you decide to work with this medium (as there isn’t really the same card-giving culture in Norway)?
It started out being the easiest and most affordable product to produce in order to get our designs out there. We also really like the idea that we're encouraging people to tell each other more often how much they appreciate one another without there really being an occasion.

Where do you get your inspiration from for your different designs (how do you come up with a badger wearing a beret)?
We get inspiration from anything and everything, from classic illustrators like Paul Rand and Pascal Blanchet, to things we find in flea markets, blogs and contemporary fashion and design. We also tend to 'fall in love' with things for a while, we've had our moustache and beret phase (we still have flash backs from that love affair actually!!), Paris and everything French, harlequin diamonds and our favourite colour orange-red!


We were really excited to hear about your project to rebrand Norway’s most popular ice cream brand (Diplom-Is). You’ve given their famous character, Eskimonika, a new cheeky smile. Can you tell us more about it (and does this mean you will get free ice-cream for life)?
We've heard nothing about free ice cream for life unfortunately!! It was great working on Eskimonika, but it also felt like a big responsibility because she's such a well known character that everyone has a relationship to as she has looked the same for 70 years. We wanted to keep her familiar but fresh, and feel happy with the result!


What’s a typical working day like for Darling Clementine?
Our day starts, without exception, with turning on the coffee machine so we can start the day with a nice cortado. We try to plan our days, but it's sometimes hard to keep it strict as we are good friends and know each other so well now. But we always start the week with Monday meetings, and then we divide our time with freelance work and self initiated projects.

A lot of your illustrations have a nostalgic feel to them. Do you have a favourite period in history with regard to design/fashion/music?
We love the 30's for the elegance and clean design, we love Bauhaus for creating design that is so clever and still looks contemporary to this day, but we also adore the rough cut-out style of Paul Rand and Saul Bass, so I guess it's hard to pick one!


And finally... You’ve worked with cards, wrapping paper, stationery, cushions, t-shirts and now tea towels! Who does the washing up in your studio and will you be drying up the dishes with your designs?
We've been lucky enough to have a dishwasher, so that is a luxury! The towels however will be on display in our office... We are moving office on the 1st of May to a cute place with a shop front and chess pattern floor tiles, so they will surely find their home there!

Why not find out a bit more about Darling Clementine by visiting their fabulous website: www.darlingclementine.no

ToDryFor says allo-allo to Darling Clementine!

Ooh-la la! We are incredibly excited to be able to announce our collaboration with Norwegian design agency, Darling Clementine! We have been working hard over the last couple of months, producing a brand new, très-chic range of tea towels featuring Darling Clementine's exquisite Parisian-inspired designs.

The Paris tea towel range is made of 100% unbleached, natural cotton - the perfect way to add a touch of je ne sais quoi to your kitchen!

Lincoln, Santa, Bill Oddie and now Dave!

Since before Christmas, the big topic of conversation in our household (apart from tea towels) has been the recent acquisition of Dave's beard. It first started after a long, lazy weekend, with Dave not shaving on the Monday morning. It then developed into a rather fetching, designer affair, short enough to still be smart. It's now big enough to make me think of bears and hiking - I do love it though!

When we saw that Donna Wilson had managed to combine both beards and drying dishes, in her superb Use My Beard tea towel, we knew we had to stock it!!

However, if I ever find Dave actually using his beard to dry our dishes I will not be amused...

Introducing... Lisa Jones Studio

We were in London recently and, quite by chance, met up with the wonderful couple behind Lisa Jones Studio. We are excited to bring you this interview with Lisa and Edward; they are a super-talented duo who never fail to put a smile on our faces with their gorgeous prints, cards and tea towels!


Tell us a bit about Lisa Jones Studio – who are you and how did you get started?
The name’s a bit misleading as I work with my partner, Edward. We met studying Fine Art, but after a time I fancied trying my hand at something more upbeat. Surprisingly he showed an aptitude too! The new wave of illustration hadn't exactly broken and design-conscious stationery was especially thin-on-the-ground. Now, admittedly, the competition is fairly healthy.

You obviously have a love of animals; if you could be any animal, what would it be and why?
Tough question! While it’s hard not to invest creatures with human attributes or simply use them as metaphor for mood, I guess I feel mostly like a bear. Though there's always the hope it'll be something more kinetic and mischievous tomorrow.


What were the last books that you read and would you recommend them?
I just finished Graham Greene's 'The Ministry of Fear', which was like watching the best Hitchcock film. Before that I read Michael Cunningham's 'A Home at the End of the World', which I'd recommend unequivocally.

Edward's just finished 'The Woodshed' by Rayner Heppenstall, now he's reading a biography of pioneering clown, Joseph Grimaldi. He doesn't want to do either down, but says there are plenty of others he'd recommend first.

Do you prefer cards and stationery as a medium for your designs? How did that side of your work evolve?
Without an agent, a product or the nerve to go touting yourself, greetings are an excellent medium; essentially, you're illustrating an occasion. Cards did help us define our style and gain confidence to move into other areas, but I won't be forsaking them anytime soon. I still thrill to see their pristinely packaged, multicoloured spines displayed and, besides, it’s a thrifty way of procuring hand-printed artworks!


Has it been fun to produce tea towels?
When you produce most things in-house, it's pretty daunting outsourcing; you have to re-calibrate a little. Fair Trade organisations still seem to function more like pro-active charities than regular businesses, so initially it was tough finding a balance between maintaining standards and acting the prima donna. On the flip side, the workload's a joy and I love the way the expanding range is sitting together.


We’re excited about the prospect of Lisa Jones Studio ceramics – are you able to give us any sneak previews/tell us a bit more about what you have in the pipeline?
I'm excited too! It’s taken an age to develop designs that are vaguely reproducible; there are so many variables! On the studio-pottery side, I have two wall-tiles ready to go and a figurine maquette crying-out to be cast. With a far more factory feel, we're also adapting designs for a range of graphic mugs. I only wish I’d done them years ago.

What’s a normal day like at Lisa Jones Studio?
With creativity taking up such a slim percentage of our working day, the remainder's too mundane to describe without itemising packed-lunches or resorting to lies. Usually it's a rotation of mouse-clicking, printing and box packing set to audiobooks, iTunes or DAB. Luckily, for much of the year we get to bookend the day by cycling along the canal, sometimes stopping way too long at the old filter beds on route.


Can you take us through your creative process – where do you find your inspiration?
Hopefully we approach each project with the same sense of fun, though most times the medium is silk-screen, which also requires an element of frugality. Because every colour represents additional reproductive labour, we keep our fingers crossed that the less-is-more mantra still holds sway.

In terms of influence, I'm still enjoying the pattern and texture of mid-20th century ceramics and busy rediscovering a world of wonderfully decorative art I was dumb enough to dismiss as a student.

For inspiration we also have a large selection of tattered old picture books. One of our favourite illustrators was recently in touch over a blog entry we'd made. I was mortified to learn she'd read what we'd written, but equally excited to hear her on the answer-phone.

Your illustrated book ‘I Choose You!’ is amazing – do you have any favourite children’s books from your own childhoods?
Oh, thank you, pleased you like it. It's such a competitive arena, with a host of great talent right now. It's peculiar though, much as I love the classic picture-books and the mania for reissues, those that stick in my mind probably don't score big on the cool-o-meter.

The Worst Witch's outfit and hairdo figure strongly for me, as does ‘Mrs. Pepperpot'. While Edward affectionately recalls hyper-busy Richard Scarry books or Michael Foreman's 1974 eco-fable, 'Dinosaurs'.

For shear impact though, it has to be 'Where Do Babies Come From?' Edward’s forthright mum would leave a copy hanging around to better educate the neighbourhood kids passing through. A contentious ploy that ended pretty well all-told; I think a number of parents were genuinely relieved!


And finally, who does the washing up in your household (and do the dishes get dried up with your own tea towels)?
On no, rumbled! Edward usually does the washing (in the style of Animal, the Muppet drummer), but neither of us actually dry; we just leave it to air, like bone-idle teens. As unrepentant hoarders, we do have a drawer-full of tea towels, ranging from the vintage to the recent and—purely for the sake of appearance—one each of our own.

For more information why not visit Lisa Jones Studio's website:
www.lisajonesstudio.com

Oooo what a fox!

Check out this super cute new Fox and Cubs tea towel...

Designed by Lush Designs and priced at £10, this tea towel will surely bring out the vixen in you (sometimes we can't actually believe it's possible to be this cheesy)!!

These tea towels are making us hungry!

We've added a few new tea towels to ToDryFor recently, and we suddenly realised that a lot of the designs we stock feature food and drink. Obviously this shouldn't be too surprising, as tea towels are normally found in kitchens, but at least now we've worked out why we're always hungry! Here are just a few of the new foodie designs:

Tunnock's (designed by Gillian Kyle) - £7.50

Strawberry (designed by Thornback & Peel) - £11.50

Coffee and Cake (designed by Mr.PS) - £8.50

Tasty tasty tasty!!!

Introducing... Stuart Gardiner

Stuart Gardiner is a graphic design genius. His previous work includes everything from 18th century inspired skateboards(!), numerous album covers, witty Northern tote bags and even an Iron Maiden 757 tour jet!

Here he is (pictured below) with the largest, most amazing dog we've ever seen (more on this later)...

Not content with his awesome Metal graphic designer status, Stuart has gone on to design and produce his own range of fantastic seasonal guide tea towels (as below)!

We wanted to know a bit more about Mr Gardiner and what fuels his magnificent designs. Below is a quick interview with the man himself...

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you approach design; do concrete ideas come in a flash or do you spend hours musing over things?
My work is quite varied so I don’t really have a definitive approach, it all depends on the project really. They usually start with a good think, then scribbles in a sketchbook until an idea is formed. Good ideas are a fickle beast, and can be instantaneous, or have to be sweated out painfully. Sometimes it’s an enjoyable process, other times I tear my hair out, but a deadline usually helps things along.

What’s been your favourite design project to date, and why?
It’d have to be my seasonal fruit & veg tea towel, because it was my first product as an independent designer and not something for a client. I’d only just gone freelance, so for my first consumer product to be so well received and sell well has been really encouraging.

What other projects are you currently involved with?
I’m designing a new look flyer range for Big Chill bars in London and Bristol, and also doing a logo for Ben Fogle who approached me after seeing my website. I’ve got some new products in the pipeline to get finished off too when I get chance.

Do you have any pets? (that makes it sound like a French practical exam, but we really honestly are interested)
At the moment, yes! I’m looking after a friend’s dog for 3 weeks. Ridley Bo Diddley (below) is a one year old golden doodle (a retriever crossed with a poodle) and is a very cute fellow indeed. Quite distracting while I work though (in a good way).

Tea or coffee to get you through the day?
Coffee, then tea, followed by coffee then tea. Lunch in the middle.

If you weren’t a graphic designer, what would you be?
I’d like to have been a musician, or working in music somehow. I play the piano and used to play the drums, but they’re too noisy for a terraced London house unfortunately.

Who’s your favourite superhero, and why?
Superman. I was about 5 and my mum said she was going to take me to the pictures to see Superman. I couldn’t wait even though I was expecting just to see still pictures of Superman. I was properly blown away when I sat through moving images with sound and everything. After that I learned how to draw his logo, which may have been the catalyst that got me into graphic design. Thanks Superman...

What was the last song/piece of music you listened to?
Fuse by Hudson Mohawke.

Your seasonal fruit and vegetables tea towel is a massive hit; how did you come up with the idea (and do you have an allotment yourself)?
I’ve got a degree in information design, so every now then and I have vaguely functional ideas for graphic projects. The whole seasonal eating ethos was getting a lot of press, so I thought it would make sense to do some kind of info-graphic about it, as people these days don’t really know what’s in season and when. At first I thought I’d just do it as a print to hang in kitchens, but then had the idea of printing it on a tea towel, so it would also have a practical purpose too. I don’t have an allotment, but I do grow tomatoes, herbs and various chillis in my back garden.

And finally, who does the washing up in your household (and do they dry the dishes with your tea towels)?
Our dishwasher does most of it, but non-dishwasherable stuff gets dried by me and my wife equally. Yes I do use my tea towels. It’s a good way of testing their durability, which of course is excellent!

For more information why not visit Stuart's website: http://www.stuartgardiner.co.uk/