Welcome, welcome, welcome!
Studio Tuesday is here again and today we are featuring the wonderful Genine Delahaye, designer of all things cute and colourful. A winner of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design scholarship, Genine shares her journey and some of her working practices with us today. I love Genine's work - it's original and oh so colourful and cheerful. Genine proves here that if you have a passion and are willing to work at it, you can indeed do what you love.
Enjoy reading about Genine below. And don't forget, whether you are a beginner, or a more established pattern designer, you too can be featured on my blog, so do get in touch!
Happy Tuesday,
Love Frankie x
Name/Company or Studio name: GENINE DELAHAYE DESIGN
Where and how did you start your surface pattern design journey?
It all came about when I made the conscious decision to leave my PA job for my local council. I had left school at sixteen and due to my circumstances at the time was forced to start work and earning money as soon as possible. As a result I started work as an admin assistant even though my wish was to go to college and study Art and Design. I became almost trapped in this career, with responsibilities piling up and only ever having qualifications in administration. I didn't have much choice but to stay on this path for the next few years. I became quite unhappy with my career choices and knew that this wasn't what I should or wanted to be doing.
After a holiday to Jamaica in 2008 I decided life was too short, and on my return I handed my month's notice in to my current job, without having anything else lined up or knowing quite what I was going to do! A big gamble but one that luckily for me paid off. I found a position with a design studio based in London called My Sugarcube Ltd. I was still working in admin but I openly spoke about my aspirations of becoming a designer at the interview. In a way it was almost like an apprenticeship! I soaked up the world around me like a sponge, I loved the design industry and knew I had made the right choice in pursuing my dream! After years of watching, learning, developing I started submitting my own designs to the company's collection and to my shock and surprise at the time, started to receive my first sales! This was a huge confidence boost to me and it fuelled me to keep going and keep trying. The company unfortunately ceased trading in 2012 which left me in a bit of a pickle.
I didn't feel I was quite ready to go it alone and become a freelancer, but again the circumstances forced me to make a choice. I decided to give myself six months as a freelance childrenswear and print designer and if I wasn't successful after this time I would go back to my day job. I am so so happy to report that things really took off for me. I won the print and pattern scholarship for a free place on The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design course and the rest is history. I started to win my first private commissions, sell more work with my agents, and make a living from doing what I love! I'm a very lucky and very happy girl to say the least.
How do you approach a project/piece of work or collection?
I usually have a rough idea in my head as soon as I hear the details of the project, if not I take some time out and research, research, research! Pinterest is a great source on inspiration for me. I also doodle and try not to take it so seriously or put pressure on myself to come up with something, I think its very important to keep the process as fun as possible! I find I can produce some of my best work this way but still keep things professional.
Favourite pencil/pen?
Love my ink pen! Failing that it's pencil all the way for me.
Music, radio, stories or silence?
If it's a big project I tend to start with silence so I can get a good handle on it and get off to a good start without any distractions. Then when I'm in a good place with the design, I put some upbeat tracks on and pump up the volume. :-)
Night owl or early bird?
I would say more of a Night owl.
Illustrator or Photoshop?
Definitely Illustrator, it was the first programme I learnt and as a result it will always be my favourite.
What size art board do you design repeats on?
I try to keep it standard A4 or A3.
Design heroes?
Ohhh so many its hard to choose! I would say the big ones that stand out for me are Orla Kiely, Helen Dardik and Jillian Phillips. All have a strong, individual style which I very much admire.
Dream clients or design goals?
Would love to work on some gorgeous stationery prints for Paperchase. I would also love to get more of my work into mainstream highstreet childrenswear brands such as H&M, Sainsburys, Zara I feel all have a great quirky range of childrenswear products.
Dream design destination for inspiration?
Jamaica! such a beautiful, inspiring place and the place where it all started for me :-)
And what are you working on at the moment?
Im just getting back into designing after having two months off, so starting slowly and easing myself in nicely, preparing some prints for my design agents and working on some small commission projects. Im extremely excited about the year ahead.
Any tips or advice you want to share with us?
Hmmm...any advice that I could share with designers just starting out would be to try not to doubt yourself and your work, stay true to your style and have fun with it. Your persistence will pay off.
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