Scandi Candy : The Design Story
I love creating patterns. My favourite thing is to carve little rubber stamps from cheap erasers, and use these to create endless variations on a pattern theme.
But where do the ideas for my clear, simple patterns come from?
Finding the ingredients
While designing the Scandi Candy patterns, I started thinking that creating patterns is a bit like cooking or baking – it’s about the quality of ingredients, & taking the time to combine them just right.
With Scandi Candy, I had all the ingredients for her pattern right in front of my nose… for years before they became Scandi Candy!
Slow-cooking a pattern
Alongside my busy days at Skinny laMinx, I have a slow-simmering hobby, stitching needlepoint tapestries. My most recent design has a scattering of colourful graphic shapes that look like little midcentury sweeties.
I’ve been stitching away for over a year now, and after so much time working on something, I either love it or I start to hate it. But I loved the candy-like shapes in my needlepoint more than when I’d started, which is how I knew it had to become a Skinny print. I became curious about what else these shapes had to offer.
Gathering ingredients
So, one sunny morning in my studio, I turned my needlepoint into rubber stamps.
I carved each motif into cheap erasers, and filled a notebook with stamped patterns, experimenting with combinations, placement and colours. From these pages, I selected the patterns I liked best. I combined them at different scales in two colourways, and the Scandi Candy homewares range was perfectly baked and ready to serve.
Creating a simple design like Scandi Candy may look like it’s easy to achieve.
But, just like an excellent dish, it’s the combination of good ingredients, a curious mind and a long, slow process that something so sweet & delicious can be made.
Find the full Scandi Candy range of kitchen and dining textiles, as well as cushions and upholstery fabrics in our website shop, or at the Skinny laMinx showroom at 16a Buiten Street in Cape Town.