You saw her here first ...

(one of Kayleigh's card designs for Sainsbury)

A huge and hearty very well done to the talented and rather blingalicious Kayleigh Moore who, in just her very first year as a professional maker, has been doing freelance designs for both the fashion designer Henry Holland AND Sainsbury's.

I first saw Kayleigh's work at the graduate show New Designers where degree students show off their work to the public for the first time. Her work caught my eye immediately. We got in touch and started working together towards the end of last year. Here at the gallery we have one-off originals from Kayleigh's degree show. The designs are printed onto fabric and then embellished with crysals and other lovely shiny things. It's not in the least bit surprising that they're been going down a treat. Look ...

They're cool, colourful and oooo that bling is just perfect! More work is at the framers and will be back in the gallery next week. Each piece is a completely unique and one-off piece.

In the mean time Kayleigh has told us that she has been a very busy bee since graduating. Apart from working with Atelier she's also been snapped up by the fashion designer Henry Holland for his Designers At Debenhams collection. So expect some gramaphones, lots of pink and some serious bling next season!! AND she's designed some greetings cards for the supermarket giant Sainsbury (see the image at the top of the page and the one below)

All this in just her first year since graduating. Amazing and very well deserved. Kayleigh is definitely one to watch and remember folks you saw her here first!

*Scratches chin for a moment * I'm thinking it might even be prudent to snap up some of her work before she gets hugely famous and out of reach of my wee pocket ... maybe there'll be one less piece in the gallery next week and I'll have a gorgeous piece on my wall at home ...

'Happy prints' new in stock

We had glimpses of it over the weekend - sunshine. Let's hope more is on its way as I for one am 100% bored and fed up of cold, wet, rainy days.

But hey never mind that - some fab new screen prints from Mr & Mrs Yoke have just arrived at Atelier - and they're bright enough and bold enough to cheer up even the gloomiest of days.

They're giant A2 sized so make a lovely bold statement in any room. And at only £40 a pop the price will make you smile too. A selection is available unframed from our online shop and we also have some framed pieces which will be making their way to the gallery window at the end of the week. Pop by if you need a bit of cheering up!

Dobbing in the big boys ...

One of the great things about buying work made by small independent artists is that you know you're getting something very special and unique. Designers spend a great amount of time getting their work just right and will have done many sketches and made up many samples before you get to see the end product in galleries like Atelier. So it pains me to tell you that the giant retailer Claire's Accessories has been stealing designs from the London based jewellery design duo Tatty Devine. Do they not have any designers of their own to come up with ideas - surely with the profits they make they can afford a whole team of them. What's particularly annoying, other than the whole plagiarism malarkey (which quite frankly is bad enough), Tatty Devine, who are pretty big on the indie scene - design and make their jewellery themselves here in the UK. Claire's Accessories, however, will no doubt send their designs off to some far flung corner of the world where people are paid pence an hour. This means that NOT only do they steal the original design they also go the whole horrible hog and and undercut the original artist. They should be ashamed of themselves. The find out more read Tatty Devine's blog.

This isn't the first time I've heard of this happening, back when I first opened the gallery a small indie designer had just had an original design stolen by Paperchase. After embarrassing coverage in the national press, Paperchase claimed it was an outsourced design agency responsible for the error and retracted it.

Only a month or so ago I was approached by a maker who sent me images of her work asking if Atelier would represent her. The work had come straight out of the book The Artful Bird by Abby Glassenberg (which happens to be a favourite craft reference book of mine). It made me hopping mad as the maker had done a big mailer to lots of UK galleries claiming the work as her own. I contacted the maker and Abby and the first reply back from the maker was that she hadn't copied the design because she'd used different fabric. WHAT? Anyway in fairness, once she'd had an email from Abby pointing out that being inspired by a piece of work is one thing downright copying it is actually very very wrong and against copyright, so the maker withdrew the work.

On the British high street money talks so it's up to canny shoppers to make a statement with their hard earned cash. Support small independent designers, buy from independent retailers and shop local where you can. That's how you change things. Quoting Gandhi - BE the change you want to see in the world.

Oh and in case you're wondering the photo at the top of the blog isn't mine. I checked that I could use it before I did and I have added a link to the original owner - just click on the pic.

New creative workshops

It might have been cold (very cold) and miserable outside but inside Atelier it's been a veritable hive of creative activity. We've repainted and re-jigged the space and now have a wonderful giant chalk board so that you can see what's going on. We've also brought back our wonderfully huge table for making and a doing. And talking of making and a doing - we've been busy making up gorgeous samples ready to launch our new creative workshop programme. Now you can see what lovely things you'll be able to make here at the gallery. We have a workshop programme for grown ups as well as programmes for older children.

It's very exciting as this was the original vision for Atelier way back in July 2010 - can it be that long now? The plan was to have a beautiful space offering gorgeous hand made goodies from talented local and British makers AND to have a space where people could come along and learn new skills, have fun in a relaxed environment and make really cool stuff. Hopefully our new workshop programme fits the bill - you'll have to let us know! The next phase in Atelier fulfilling the original vision is for me to get back to ceramics and have a fully functioning working gallery ... I'll keep you posted on that one ...

I'm a bit of a groupie ...

It's not often that you get to meet your heroes. But just last week I met one of mine: Craig Underhill. I have, for an enormously long time, been a huge admirer of his work. When I tentatively asked if he'd be happy to take part in an exhibition in my new gallery I practically fell of my chair when he said yes. When he said he'd deliver it in person, I came over all wobbly. Honestly, if you are any bit of a ceramics geek like me, then you HAVE to see Craig's slab built vessels. Lucky for you - they're here in the gallery until June 4 (unfortunately one vessel didn't make it into the exhibition as it accidentally ended up at my house, no idea how that happened obviously...).

Craig's work is being exhibited alongside some stunning textile pieces from artist Rachel Gornall who I discovered at last year's Contemporary Craft fair at Bovey Tracey. Rachel's hand-dyed hand stitched 3D pieces sit beautifully alongside Craig's work.

It's easy to see why both artists are highly respected in their fields. If you are in need of creative inspiration pop in and see their work.

FREE Beach Bag tutorial from CLOTH magazine

BUT FIRST ...

Craftacular Craftacular was a rip roaring sucess. Yay! We had 9 make-stations manned by 9 very clever and talented makers, each offering a different bite-sized project to make and take-away. Pop into the gallery when you're next in Barnstaple as we have samples of all the projects out on display. Next Craftacular Craftacular is planned for July 13th. Make sure you sign up to the Atelier newsletter as tickets will be limited and they will go fast (there's a link to to right on the blog).

The wonderful Cloth magazine also lent their support on the evening by offering a free tutorial for this gorgeous beach bag. I have copies of the tutorial in the gallery so please grab one when you're passing as, you never know, we might be making it down to the beach this year!

We'll be stocking Cloth magazine from now on too. It's an indie publication that offers lots of brilliant projects to make. What's particularly great is that they focus on upcycling and recycling but in a very cool way. In the current issue they show you how to make a Liberty inspired watch, with a lovely silk strap. I have coverted one for some time and now I can make my own.

New Tutorial: Lavender Scented Mice

This lavender scented mouse is a really simple project to use up old T-Shirts or Babygros. It's handsewn so no special equipment is needed and it doesn't matter how good you are at sewing ... I think wonky stitches rock!

The wonderful thing about using cotton jersey is that it doesn't fray so no need for hemming. I also kept all the stitching and knots visible on the outside - something I learnt from the fantastic Alabama Stitch Book, one of my all time favourite crafting books.

He can be tucked into your drawer to keep your clothes smelling fresh or, with a cute little ribbon tail you can hang it in your wardrobe too. Make loads and give them as gifts for friends!

I can't post documents on this blog (doh!) so, instead, you can download and print the FREE tutorial and pattern template using the following link on mediafire (just click to download):

http://www.mediafire.com/?38byy4qh9d5ex59