Please Like us on our Facebook page.

There are so many ways to keep up with people and things you like now, blogs, facebook, and being a bit of a late starter I haven't even tried twitter yet.  But if you'd like to keep up to date with what we are doing, and see press, or new products please 'like' us!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Donna-Wilson/162673370414516

Ps, here's one of our new images which will be appearing in our new catalogue very soon. O.K it's a bit wintery, but we have been having a LOT of rain recently here. ( an I like the image!)

Koala has been named Wilbur

Thank you all so so much for sending in your names for Wilbur. I really enjoyed reading them all and the little ideas for his likes and dislikes.  We chose Wilbur as I really think it suits him. So congratulations Julia Hausfrau, we'll be sending you a Wilbur as soon as we have your address.


By the way, Wilbur likes pink apples, and dislikes french fries.


I have been a little hectic this last month and haven't done a June giveaway which is terrible, so bear with me and I'll do a double one for July!


Thanks again to everyone who sent in suggestions, I really appreciate it. 


x

Monster Madness at the Design Museum

 Last weekend, we held a workshop for kids in the fantastic Venue of the Design Museum, London. It was the hottest day of the year, but I think everyone enjoyed coming in from the sun to design their very own monster.

Here are some photos of the day.

 Everyone had to design a weird monster using three words that they were given to describe it's personality!

 Then we made a communal giant monster together.

 The monster on the left was made of xboxes, wi's and computers!

 Mr toothpaste

A lot of fun, had by all! Thanks to everyone that participated, it was fantastic to see how imaginative kids can be, it's very inspiring!  And a big thanks to all the staff at the Design Museum, especially Sarah Sheerman-Chase  who is the  Family Learning Coordinator, and my Studio Manager Erin who helped so much on the day.

For more information about what's on go to www.designmuseum.org

Family day at the Design museum, London this sunday!

The Design museum are hosting a family day where I will be doing a little talk about my creatures and how they are designed and made, then kids will get the chance to design their own monsters in the 'Donna Wilson' style! 

To find out what else is on go to: http://designmuseum.org/family-day

when: Sunday 26 June 2011

11am – 4pm

The details:

 The Design Museum Family Day has something for everyone with a selection of funny activities

including drop-in design and make workshops, family exhibition trails, ‘Meet the Designer’ sessions, and children friendly exhibition tours.

Get creative with our hands on workshops,

enter our competition to nominate your Designer of the Year, take a family friendly gallery tour,

plus meet the creative Designer Donna Wilson and discover how she creates her knitted funny creatures.

All Family Day activities are suitable for 5 – 11 year olds, admission is free

to children under 12. General admission: £10 adults, £9 concessions, £6

students under 12s Free.

Tickets can be booked in advance.

Family day activities:

Meet the Designer: Donna Wilson

Meet designer Donna Wilson and discover her menagerie of strange and beautiful creatures. Then draw one of your own to take home!



beautiful decay

Last weekend I had a little adventure back to my homeland! Looking round a derelict space it struck me how beautiful the decay was. I love this old rusty switch, which to me looks like a face.

 Peeling off paint makes a fantastic texture

in the most beautiful colours, pinks and mustards and creams

Nature reclaiming the man made, strange to see wallpaper in a domestic space but plants growing where the carpets should be. Quite eerie.

one of the reasons why we do what we do!

 "With all the technology, all the activities that happen in the virtual world, you can lose contact with real things. I think that's where we come in. Things that aren't mass-produced have a character of their own, and the imperfections are part of it."

I read this really nice article about Labour and Wait , a lovely hardware shop.  http://labourandwait.co.uk/

have a read:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/interiors/back-to-basics-labour-and-wait-is-leading-the-way-with-the-latest-trend-for-oldfashioned-kit-2286694.html

 The photo is of a pile of fox scarves in the studio ready to be packaged up, they have just had their eyes sewn on. Last year we underestimated the amount of fox scarves we'd need to get us through Christmas, so Erin has made it her mission to be very prepared this year! 


Bob knits the lambswool fabric, we wash and dry it and then Kate and Imogen and Kristina do the laying out and the sewing, followed by turning inside out, sewing up and labeling. Then they each get their eyes and noses hand stitched on, and like most of our creatures the eyes give the piece their own unique character. Each one is slightly different and that's what makes them special, you just wouldn't get that from a massproduced item made in a big factory far away.


Just thought you'd like to know some of the processes we use. 


x

Friday Fish and chips anyone?

 Had a wander along the Thames and the Southbank last night, it's like a trip to the seaside!

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/

Brand new Koala with no name....May giveaway!

Hi, I am new to the Donna Wilson range, but I still have no name and no personality! :( 
Suggestions welcome. I am grey and white, and only 25 cm tall.
Please give me a name, and one like and one thing I dislike, and the one we choose to use will win one. :)

Hebridean huts and houses

Just got back from a lovely holiday in the Scottish Hebrides. I wanted to share with you some of the little huts that are sparingly sprinkled around the remote islands.  Most of them would have been used as weavers huts, as nearly all of the crofters would weave Harris Tweed in any spare time they had.

Some of the huts are now quite run down and derelict, but that made them even more intriguing to me. The little tin roofs and painted windows, look almost like tired little faces, with cracks as their wrinkles!

 I love the little tin baths inside this one

 what an amazing colour!

 some were so small against the fantastic backdrop of the hills

Jonathon Meades did a fantastic documentary on the isle of Lewis called Isle of rust for BBC4  showing abandoned vehicles rusting away in the middle of the peat bogs. 

I love the contrast of the net curtains against the corrugated iron.  Hope you like these. I think you will be seeing some of these themes creeping into my work soon!

Odd Objets found on the remote island of South Harris