The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

Being a HUGE fan I have been dying to have design studio Darling Clementine feature in a Day With for a long, long time, and today that day has come! The girls were very busy these last few months so I’m really appreciative that they took some time out to give us a peek at their day and their amazing new studio! How gorgeous are the black and white tiled floors? Thanks ladies!

Hello!

We are Tonje and Ingrid, and we are Darling Clementine.

We specialize in making stationary products, and we love to design and have fun at work!

We have just moved into our new office, in the Old Town of Oslo, Norway.

It has everything we dreamed of; shopfront with old beautiful windows, chess patterned floor and a huge storage space in the basement. We have re-decorated the entire space, and we are thrilled to finally have our own place! We would have loved to show you more images of it, but as predicted it always takes a long time to get everything in place.

Therefore we are still working on top of boxes, wondering where we put this and that during the move, and smelling of paint when we get home. We are going to have an opening party Friday the 11th of June so that’s our deadline…

We love it here though! Here is what our day today looks like:

We always start the week with a Monday meeting. This is sometimes hard to keep strict as we are so close friends and usually have so many things to talk about from our weekend! We always make a cup of lovely coffee to accompany our long list of what to do this week.

Today has been especially sunny and warm here in Oslo so we snuck out after our meeting for a small break in the sun outside our office. (image; tonje front)

When we have divided our list of things to do we usually have a few hours answering e-mails and getting our Etsy and shop orders ready for the postman.

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We don’t have a full Day With today but since I fell for her work last month I found printmaker Angie Lewin’s flickr page of her work in progress, preparatory sketches and inspirational objects.

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Hello! We are Sally and Dave and we own ToDryFor.com

Our days are generally a bit of a whirlwind of activity and eating. It’s just the two of us [to quote Bill Withers] and we currently work from home, but are on the lookout for some new business premises. Working and living in the same space has its advantages [a short commute down one flight of stairs and easy access to home comforts] and some disadvantages [we are permanently surrounded by boxes and often work until midnight, not really having a proper ‘going home’  time].

At the start of each day we eat breakfast, chain-drink a couple of cups of good, strong Yorkshire tea, and discuss what we are both going to do. I [Sally] am a bit bossy, so this generally consists of me telling Dave what he needs to do through a mouthful of cornflakes.

We then crack on with emails, potter about on the Internet ‘researching’ new designs [aka looking at facebook / twitter / blogs etc] and catch up with any admin tasks. It’s surprising how much time is taken up by really dull jobs, like filling in spreadsheets, paying invoices and keeping things ship-shape, but it’s a necessary evil.

We generally have a break at around 11ish, with another cup of tea. We then package all the orders and take them to the post office, sending tea towels out to the far corners of the earth. It’s always fun to think that we might have helped make drying up dishes that little bit cheerier for somebody on the other side of the world.

Throughout the day we take deliveries of parcels, either tea towel stock for ToDryFor or exciting products for the new websites that we are launching later in the year. And then it’s lunchtime!

Our afternoons are spent doing our own separate work. Dave is currently adding additional payment methods to ToDryFor and is also building the two new websites, whilst I’m working on our May e-newsletter and writing copy for some additional tea towels we’re adding to our existing range.

We love listening to music whilst we work, including everything from Dolly Parton and the Steve Miller Band to Au Revoir Simone, Blitzen Trapper and Miley Cyrus [we know this isn’t cool, but we do actually know and sing along to all the lyrics to Party in the USA].

Today we’re doing a photo shoot for a couple of new tea towels that are due to go live on the website in the next week. Photographing the towels always takes a long time and is thirsty work; time for another cup of tea and a slice of Battenburg!

The rest of the afternoon is spent catching up with emails again, checking stock levels and pottering on with our various individual tasks. It’s good to be able to unwind from our hectic tea towel schedule, so we’re finishing off our working day by meeting our friend Fraser for a pint in The Rusty Bike – a great pub just around the corner from us. Cheers!

Today we are spending a different sort of Day With Donna Wilson in her studio  – we get a peek into studio life in Donna’s world and learn a little more about the wool loving lady herself from her team…

Donna Wilson has been quoted as being ‘wonderful with wool’, a ‘material marvel’, a ‘textile designer extraordinaire’ and even an ‘All round textile legend’. As these descriptions suggest, her distinctive designs have won her an army of dedicated fans around the world and given her a reputation as one of Scotland’s brightest design stars. Characterised by a playful nature, tactile aesthetic and multicoloured palette Donna Wilson’s work ranges from colourful knitted creatures to striking upholstered furniture designs.

Here are a few things you may or may not know about Donna’s world!

Study
Donna has always loved making things, drawing and being creative, from an early age she wanted to be a designer.  Donna studied Textiles at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen before gaining an MA in Mixed Media and Constructed Textiles at The Royal College of Art in London. It was during her time at the Royal College of Art that Donna enjoyed some early success with her first collection of knitted creatures. Being an industrious sort of person, Donna took the creatures to a shop called Couverture who sold lots every month, which paid her rent while she was at college!

a little wall of things Donna likes, colour, patterns, and artwork inspiration…

After graduating in 2003 Donna set up her own studio which now produces designs for sale in over 15 countries across the globe, which is a lot. As well as her collection of lovable creatures, the past 7 years have seen Donna produce blankets and cushions, trays, wooden dolls, scarves and socks, tea towels, upholstered furniture and even stationery and books. In fact there isn’t much that Donna hasn’t turned her creative hand to!

finding a home for the creatures, cushions and doilies…

Inspiration
Although she has lived in London for ten years now, Donna still takes most of her inspiration from memories of her childhood growing up on a farm in Aberdeenshire in the North East Scotland. When she goes home to visit her family she likes to walk through the beautiful landscape and breathe in the fresh air, which makes her very happy. Her love of the Scottish countryside has influenced her to use texture and organic forms in her work that remind her of home. By using handcrafted techniques like felting, sewing, knitting and wrapping, Donna creates a closeness and familiarity that invites people to connect with her products.

making ‘make your own monster packs’ – work in progress…

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My name is Melissa Launay. I am a painter and illustrator.

I do not remember this, but I was apparently born in the Westminster Hospital on the Thames Embankment in London and immediately whisked off to Spain to be with my mother’s family. I am half Spanish.

Found to be sufficiently acceptable, I remained there for the next 20 years or so and, as I showed a certain amount of talent drawing as a child, I finished my education at the Seville University of Fine Arts. London was still in my blood, however, and as soon as I could I moved back to the capital where I now live in a delightful Georgian house in  Stockwell which I share with four delightful people.

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