'Natural' colour...

Abstract Flamingo - Vergil Kanne

source unknown (please let me know if you know who this lovely image belongs to)

Kelly Wearstler

dejaentndu.tumblr

Paul Juno 

original source unknown (let me know if you know who this belongs to!)

It's so fascinating when people say they like 'natural' colours, and identify colours like "grey, beige, taupe, stone, cream, white" etc. 

Have you ever seen anything so incredible as the COLOUR actually found in nature?

Where do you think 'colours' come from? I guess most people think that someone in a paint manufacturer years and years ago, or someone at pantone 'invented' them somehow. Right?

It's easy to see from these few images that there are no new colours under the sun... they are all pre-existing, for us to draw from, and be inspired by.

I absolutely adore looking at photographs of nature, with these extreme, amazing, fresh, vibrant, bold and unique colours, and combinations. They have nothing (and everything) to do with us, but I am so excited to draw from them when we design.

Here are five images I recently pinned to our 'Palette' board on Pinterest... it's hard to imagine they're real and 'natural', isn't it? Maybe we need to re-evaluate our thoughts on what 'natural' colour means.

How amazing to live in a world with colour like this?! And how amazing we get to bring this colour in to homes for a living.

Abigail x

"From Process to Pattern" at ATELIER DESIGN...

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to cut down the images for this post, honest, I really did (there were 254, all in!)... but there's just too much goodness to share, so I just had to show all our favourites!

This past month, we've had an exhibition on at Atelier Design, one of our lovely Interior Stockist, in Belfast city centre called "From Process to Pattern". Against the backdrop of their stunning Interiors & Furniture show room, the display housed our abigail*ryan fabrics, wallpaper and cushions, along with some of our original design drawings, wallpaper strike offs, fabric colour-sampling and inspiration boards... we had a lovely opening night a few weeks back, so a big thank you to all who came along.

As a little bit of back-ground to Atelier Design (one of our most favourite spots in Belfast to shop in, browse and feel inspired!)... it's a gorgeous top-floor show room on Wellington Street, and the dream-child of Architect James Fairley, and Interior Designer, Victor Branco. Together, they have established themselves as ones of Belfast's leading Interior Design studios, and also deal in high-end Mid-Century furniture with a custom design service. Victor & James create an incredible haven of the very best in contemporary Interiors, along with their carefully curated vintage finds. Together, it makes for a beautiful signature style that the design duo have succinctly and accurately coined "Urban Luxe". We are so in love with their ever evolving space, we would move in in a heart-beat... it is elegant, beautiful, luxurious, contemporary and edgy, all at the same time. They have the BEST taste.

Additionally, James & Victor are two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, and it's always a pleasure being in their company!

The next Art at Atelier opening is on the 5th of June, and will showcase the beautiful Ceramics of Rebecca Killen. Do pop in and say hello.

A HUGE thank you to James & Victor for putting on such a beautiful show, and so tirelessly promoting and loving our brand!

Abigail@a*r

The Craft House at Hartley Hall...

We were contacted several months ago by the lovely Interior Designer & Stylist and Jacob Street owner, Maureen Collins, to take part in The Craft House - a specially curated show home at Hartley Hall in Greenisland, which showcased some of the best art and design talent in Northern Ireland.

Well, the house was completed a couple of weeks ago after a huge amount of hard work and creativity from Maureen, and the Press Launch was last Friday evening.

We went along, and it was lovely to get chatting to all the other designers and makers who had taken part. I snapped some pictures of our Wallpaper, Cushions and Fabric which had been used upstairs in the second bedroom. We absolutely loved seeing the Cosmo Florimetric Fabric on the beautiful antique chair Maureen had chosen... and our Wallpaper used to line the fab Deco-style wardrobe she had also painted.

Hartley Hall Craft House, in Greenisland, is open on Sunday's 2-4pm. You can read a bit more about it on their facebook page, and on their blog, the Crafty Rabbit.

Thanks so much to Maureen for doing such a lovely job with our wares!

A@ a*r