BLUE LAWN DESIGNS

TEXTILES

Profile:

Blue Lawn Designs is a creative team of two - Chris McDonald and Claire Bradshaw. Their studio is located in the west end of Fremantle, where they utilise traditional hand printing techniques. Their designs reflect their love of the Western Australian natural environment.

They sell to those who appreciate authenticity and individual expression, making distinctive products that are of practical and aesthetic value to people every day.

 Chris started screen printing when he was fifteen, attending the Melbourne College of Printing and Graphic Arts, where he completed a five-year apprenticeship. Chris left Melbourne in the mid-1970s for WA where he set up Snapshot Screen Printing – which was one of the earliest textile yardage printers in the state. His visual arts journey has been an interrupted affair, and after some decades away from printing, he has returned to it with a renewed vigour. It was something he learned when he was young and he loved it. It has never left him.

 Claire also has a visual arts background and combines design work for Blue Lawn with her other life as a writer and editor.  

 As well as sharing a creative space, they also share a home, two children, debts, domestic tasks and a resilient sense of humour. Original art and design are sources of much enjoyment for them and, increasingly, for their children.

www.bluelawn.com.au

RUTH DE VOS

TEXTILES

Profile:

Ruth is a Western Australian textile artist and illustrator. 

It is the little every day things that inspire both her illustration work and her fine art.

Ruth uses dye, paint, fabric and stitch to create bold textile artworks. Hundreds of little pieces of hand-dyed or screen-printed fabric are stitched together to create bold textile paintings. Kind of like traditional patchwork techniques, but applied in a whole new way. Ruth loves how screen-printing images onto fabric enable a whole new element of interest to be incorporated in her artworks. Ruth has artwork featured in exhibitions and private collections nationally and internationally.

www.ruthdevos.com

About this line:

Ruth’s botanical illustration features in our accompanying line of homewares. Eucalyptus macrocarpa is a messy but beautiful shrub that forms the most stunning large blossoms. It is native to the south west of Western Australia. This line of homewares features a spill of blossoms and leaves printed by hand onto beautiful 100% linen.

Sally May Mills (Claylines)

CERAMICS

Profile:

Sally creates contemporary functional ceramics that help people to slow down, connect, and embrace ritual and beauty in their everyday life. During more than a decade abroad, Sally studied ceramics in Bali and Japan, then returned home to set up her studio in Busselton, amongst native bush and produce gardens.

Being close to nature in its purest forms is a priority in Sally’s life, and the ocean and WA bush greatly influence the forms and surfaces of her work.

She is drawn to the approachable and non-threatening nature of functional pots, and believes that handmade ceramics can influence a person’s everyday experience and enhance their daily rituals. In her work as an artist she hopes to forge deeper connections for others, and herself, and to encourage a simpler, more mindful life.

www.sallymaymills.com

About this line:

Sally developed a special glazing technique to mimic the colours and textures found on a peeling Karri tree bark for this line. A small lightweight oblong platter with added textured dipping bowl makes the perfect vessel for serving bread and our extra virgin olive oil.