July Round Up

Month in the life of Sooz Gordon Designs:

• The month of July saw me working alongside the V&A Dundee, Skill Share (Jen Robison and Peter Ananin) and fellow Interior & Environmental Designer/Facilitator Linsey McIntosh.  We were brought on board to help devise and deliver design workshops as part of their first community engagement project. As a designer and creative facilitator, this was a great opportunity to share my skills and encourage participants to reveal their potential as designers. Looking forward to seeing all the illuminated creations at the up coming Exhibition at the Hannah MacClure Centre in Dundee 16th-29th August.
• Worlds Smallest Street Market – Johnston’s Lane home of Spex Pistols Optical Boutique was a great success.  All those involved were overwhelmed with the number of people who attended and the positive response.  There was a good representation of Dundee’s creative scene from alfresco haircuts by the stylish Benjamin Barker Barbers, local produce by Fraser’s Fruit and Veg, Dundee institutions like Groucho’s music and local designer Jane Gowans and myself. It was an opportunity to showcase individuals work and shops that are invested in Dundee’s creative and cultural scene and who ultimately love to live and work here in Dundee.
• Continuing the theme of Dundee’s creative scene there was local music at the Street Market in the form of Nic Madil, Sean McGouldrick, Pete McGlone. We had the pleasure of going to see another 4 bands that hail from Dundee – Fat Goth, Scary People, Valdimir and Model Aeroplanes who put on a warm up gig as all were playing at T in the Park this year.  It was a fantastic night and humbling to see the passion and dedication of talent that are truly representing Dundee’s ever strong music scene.
• These beauts of lamps are from the venue where the Dundee bands were playing their warm up gig the Reading Rooms. I have wanted these lamps for years, the sickening thing is I believe they were picked up cheap from a charity shop, sob.
• Featuring the new tweed fabric that I have recently sourced and is now featuring on the back of my cushion designs. I also have a lovely tomato red tweed.  Love getting a new fabric to work with.
• Some exciting news to be announced soon regarding Spex Pistols, big changes and some exciting new launches. Watch this space.
• My summer holiday this year has been a trip to St.Andrews for a morning! But what a nice morning having some brunch at Mitchell’s Deli. Really like the vibe and the design of this place.  Got some inspiration for another design project working on.
• WEll I did quit my day job, and after the initial fear I am very much enjoying new opportunities and looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring.

 

 

 

Face Lift

No matter what time of year, we are always looking for interior solutions and design ideas for our homes. I thought you would like a list of some easy and quick suggestions. None of them will cost much money or any at all, but guaranteed they will all give any room in your home an instant face lift.

FLOWERS: Flowers are a great way to introduce colour and scent into a room and even better if you dot them about your room in different vases or containers to vary the height. I have a mixture of real and faux flowers, good ones not the hideous plastic looking things that you see displayed in funeral parlours, that is enough to send you to your grave! I am not overly keen on the flowers below, but what I do like is they are a nice contrast to the strong colour palette of the room below. Plants are also good, if you would rather something that didn’t need as much maintenance and last longer. I like the second image below the oversized plant at the fireplace, play around with scale it really does make a difference. The idea is to go for something different that is not the bog standard arrangement.  If you prefer smaller plants then group a few together to give you that impact.

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ADD PATTERN: Again this is another instant lift to a room, whether it is a rug, cushions or wallpaper it will add some interest.  This room below would certainly be lacking if it didn’t have the striped rug. I like the mixture of textures in the owners furniture but you don’t get the boldness unless you add a pattern. Try mixing patterns, my only tip would be to keep in mind the same colour palette. The monochrome look below, you could add polka dots or chevrons again in black and white or even incorporate one of the accent colours of green and red that feature in  the image below.

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CHANGE POSITION OF FURNITURE: The beauty of this is it won’t cost you anything, it might be you move a piece of furniture that is already in the room, or take something from another room to add or do a swap. I do this quite a lot and it gives your room a new perspective and possibly a new focal point. If don’t like then you just move it back, but at least give it a go you might be surprised.  This is probably why I don’t by all my furniture from the same shop, I am not a fan of matching furniture. I feel people get bogged down with everything being co-ordinated as it is very restrictive. If mix styles you will create a less formal look as well as allowing more flexibility. We generally all wish for more room, but the problem lies not with the lack of space but where the furniture is positioned. Don’t have everything pushed back to the walls, could you walk behind your sofa instead? Put a console table behind it and make that another focal? If you are lucky enough and have large rooms, create little zones within. The image below on the right has lounge area in the middle and a dinning/work area next to the window. The dining area has its own designated light and art work which help to give it as much purpose in the room as the seating area.

  

ADD ANOTHER LIGHT SOURCE: As I have said before, you can never have too many lights (click on link to previous post) position lights at different heights and angles to suit your mood or requirement, it helps to highlight, illuminate and create an atmosphere.  The image below is a good example of how a the distribution of light is better even when don’t use a ceiling pendant. I am not a fan in terms of the light they give off, I do like using them as a focal but never put a lamp in them, if have to then I put in a low-wattage lamp.

INTRODUCE A BOLD COLOUR: If you don’t have the confidence start with a room that is smaller or a room you are not in all the time.  It could be you only paint one wall in a stronger colour, like below.  But how much better do the flowers and the turquoise vases look with the strong grey colour as a back drop, much more dramatic and demands attention. Painting a wall will take an afternoon and I am sure you will not regret it and might find you paint the other walls.

June Round up

Month in the life of Sooz Gordon Designs:

• Brooke Bond Tea 1930’s enamel sign, what a find in a local skip.  Thankfully I didn’t need to fish it out or spend hours fixing it to my kitchen wall.  This image doesn’t give a true size it is nearly as big as me. I love old signage, and we have had some good finds of late from skips. So long may it continue.
• Loading up the plants at Turriff’s, we had a good stint of sunshine in June so off to the garden centre we went one Sunday morning and had a lovely black pudding and egg roll at Jessie’s Kitchen before we got planting.
• Spex Pistols, I am going to be helping Richard out in his shop a bit more. Just in time as we are in process of planning something special in the month of July. See further down.
• As part of my job at Angus Council as an Arts Facilitator, I devise and delivery various arts based projects in schools. This image is the results of a healthy eating themed workshop. I was keen to incorporate my background in Interior design, so I asked the pupils to design their own wallpaper with simple fruit and vegetable relief prints.  I can honestly say some of them could have been commissioned as a wallpaper design.
• Cushion commission, really enjoyed making this one-off design.  I used a lovely bright pink wool and the owner is very happy. June was the month that my cushions ranges were stocked by Lovely Things in Dundee and Jessie’s Kitchen in Broughty Ferry.
• First time using a laser cutting machine and loved what it can do.  These are some of the materials being used in the Design Drop in workshops, part of V&A Dundee’s first community engagement project “Living Room for the City” you can see more on the blog post via the link.
• Keep Sunday 20th July free as the Worlds Smallest Street Market will be taking place on Johnston’s Lane home to Spex Pistols (for more information follow the link above) really looking forward to this event that has been a great collaboration of creative minds.  Look forward to seeing you there. See Spex Pistols Facebook for more details during the lead up to the event.

 

May Round Up

Month in the life of Sooz Gordon Designs:

• Article in the Sunday Herald Magazine – “Gallery of Modern Life” – Project I worked on with VandADundee, as part of the first community engagement project “Living Room for the City” which showcased 5 living rooms in Dundee that give you an insight into our everyday life and how we use our living rooms.
• Launch of my home ware designs. I  saw a gap in the ‘home ware’ market to produce designs that celebrated the rich history and accomplishments of my home city – Dundee. I wanted to produce designs that are timeless and embrace the fabric of a city, but have a modern vernacular. It is important to me to design a product that is functional but doesn’t take itself too seriously. I was conscious that my designs were not just adding to the fodder but creating a range that has an interesting and new narrative.
• I have wanted a piece of jewellery from local designer Jane Gowans for sometime and I also love the work of Johanna Basford. So was excited to learn of their collaboration on a limited edition JG mini. So I was one of the lucky people to receive the beautifully packaged pieces.
• Shed Shades, a great campaign by Spex Pistols (Dundee optical boutique) to support the local football team Dundee United who were in the Scottish cup final. The tangerine sunglasses were a hit with both the team and supporters.  The advertising by Spex Pistols is worth a look if visit their Facebook page.
• Peony roses, one of my favourites picked one from my garden last weekend and put in my new purchase a vintage milk bottle from Errol car boot.  First time I have been to Errol, and it was an interesting experience. A lot of the stalls, if you could call stuff emptied on the ground a stall display? However, if can be bothered to have a rake we found some great finds.
• One of my cats Johnny Cash, basking in the sun. a lovely sunny sunday pottering in the flat. catching up with my blog, watching old movies and preparing a sunday feast. Love a sunday.
• Pop up Prosseco bar with Aitken Wines. I was invited to come up with the styling of this event. It was great project and everyone enjoyed the event as it was something different. It was a great challenge to create something special for just one night, as always budget was limited and it needed to be installed and dismantled easily.
• Annual Degree show at Duncan of Jordanstone, I really enjoyed my experience exhibiting the year I graduated (back in 2009.) I have been going since I was at high school so it is always a highlight for me to go along and see the fantastic work produced by this years graduates. I am always inspired and impressed by the level of work.