KEY POINTS:
Enjoy trying to include some humour in my work," says designer Imogen Tunnicliffe. "Not always literally, but maybe through unusual colour combinations, unusual fabrics, or a slightly odd shape." Tunnicliffe currently works as the head designer of the Citta design team, where she has worked for five years. Her job involves choosing the themes and colour palettes for each season, designing everything from cushions to duvets, toys, ceramic patterns, beach towels, lounge wear and more - all of which are stocked at design stores around the country.
Tunnicliffe, who was previously an exhibiting artist and freelance illustrator, describes her design aesthetic as quirky and colourful, with a look of craftsmanship. "I prefer a broken wobbly line to a perfect computer-generated one - this adds a story, creates questions and gives a design life." Travelling for work helps provide inspiration for Tunnicliffe's work. "Going overseas is crucial for inspiration - my colleague and I have been lucky enough to go to Paris and New York for artistic inspiration and sample buying. You always come back full of enthusiasm and ideas. Last year we travelled to India to visit our suppliers - it is such a colourful country and their skills as artisans are incredible."
Ten favourite things
1 Mexican Folk Art and popular culture
My first trip to Mexico changed the way I viewed colour and made art. The Mexican people's use of colour is uninhibited and the combinations they use are exciting and unexpected. They have a celebratory attitude towards life and death, and this is obvious in their art, rituals, clothing, food and architecture. Frida Kahlo's house Casa Azul (Blue House) in Mexico City epitomises this for me. It is full of colour and energy.
2 Brass deer
I found these at Junk and Disorderly in Birkenhead not so long ago. I imagine they were originally created as a serious piece of art, but brought into the modern era, they become incredibly kitsch. I like this; the fact that sometimes you look at them and can see the artist's original intent and then sometimes you look at them and they look vaguely ridiculous.
3 Mixt
This shop in Kingsland is a perfect mix of modern and retro. Retro to me means anywhere between the 1950s and the 1980s. Every time I walk in, there are at least 15 things I really, really want. It has a brilliant selection of chairs and tables and because their stock turnover is high there is always something new to look at and covet. They have a great selection of modern New Zealand design and classic European design. I love Bob Steiner's ceramics, which they sell here, in particular his triangular Fantail plates and his new ceramic Ruru (Morepork).
4 Green Bird 2002
Green bird is one of a series of nine prints I created when living in New York for a year in 2002. New York is incredibly exciting but somewhat intimidating, so I am particularly proud of this body of work because I joined a studio, created and printed the work and then sent it home and to London for two exhibitions. The work was really well received and I feel conveys the slightly overwhelming and surreal feeling I had whilst living there. It remains one of the bigger achievements I have made in my small career as an artist!
5 Quentin Blake
I spend as much time looking at Quentin Blake's illustrations as I do reading the text; they contribute equally in importance to the storyline. His drawing style seems flippant, but every tiny line is significant and can change the personality of a character. Full of wit, humour and whimsy, I imagine he has heaps of fun whilst he is illustrating and it shows. I particularly love his mice.
6 Pre-pop Andy Warhol illustrations
For me Andy Warhol's early illustrations are the other end of the spectrum to his later screen prints that he is most famous for. His pop art was deliberately mass-produced and often finished by his staff; whereas his early illustrations are hand done and pure Warhol. He used what is called "blotted line" technique, a primitive form of printmaking, to create a lovely light, free flowing feel to the work. He often combined this with collage, including gold leaf and metallic doilies; changing ordinary things into extraordinary things. Quirky, witty and colourful, they make me smile and have been influential in the way I make my art, especially when I am taking it too seriously!
7 Citta beach towel
One of my favourite things for the beach this summer is the new deco-inspired beach towel I designed for Citta. For me it works as a design; the pastel colour combination, the terry towelling weave and the fringed ends are nostalgic of summer. Citta beach towels are also huge, which I love.
8 Bitossi ceramics
His retro sculptures and vases are the kind of thing I'd like to think I would create if I were a ceramic artist. He uses "juicy" colours like tomato red, bright yellow, his trademark cobalt blue and black and white in combination with elegant shapes and detailed surface decoration. Some of his original designs are being relaunched in limited editions and I notice are available at Mixt.
9 Saben bag
Bright yellow, gold and metallic leather; my new Saben bag combines a whole lot of things I love. It's the perfect size and has the perfect slouch. It's the kind of bag that completes your outfit. Roanne Jacobson certainly isn't afraid of a bit of sparkle and fun. I love where she finds her inspiration and the stories attached to each item. Every season her designs become more and more interesting.
10 Smurfs
These were my first and only purchase on Trade Me! The Smurfs was probably my favourite cartoon as a child. I loved the magic of it; the storyline is pure fantasy and escapism and they still signify that for me which is probably what draws me to them. The actual figurines I find very pleasing aesthetically - they are quite tactile and I like their smallness. I imagine a Smurf would actually be this size in real life.
