Designer Feature: Mooselane Design

I have some wonderful work from Marika of Mooselane Designs today, she has such a lovely style, quite simple but so effective with clean and crisp motifs.  Marika has done a lot of design courses from art to graphics to textiles.  Eventually she decided to study product design at the Glasgow School of Art.  She says Glasgow is such a creative and inspirational city to be in and loved her time there but after graduating she felt she needed a break from design.  She ended up working in branding for a couple of years before she began drawing again and came back to surface pattern.  From this Mooseland design began!

So why do you want to be a designer and what do you like about patterns?

I believe in making things that have a function or purpose.  I chose product design because I wanted to use that skill to improve peoples lives through design.  However, for as long as I can remember I have also loved the playfulness of patterns and the use of colour in general.  It fascinates me how images, colours and patterns can create the perfect balance (in the space it's in) if done well.  This is important especially when I do freelance branding work for businesses, and I enjoy that combination of strategic and creative thinking.  I've discovered the #365 patterns challenge (design a pattern a day) and I've decided to do this for the remaining months of 2013, seems like a fun challenge!

How would you describe your style and what is your favourite medium to work with?

Colourful designs with a Scandinavian feel to them.  I enjoy the initial stage when I create lots and lots of drawings, the build up to the end result.  I wish I has my own ceramic workshop and a printing studio where I could get my hands dirty more!

I'd love a huge workshop where I could make as much mess as I wanted!  What inspires you and where do you find your inspiration from?

As a mother to a 2 year old I'm surrounded by colourful illustrations and books and this has definitely had a big influence on my designs.  Although, inspiration could come from anything I see really, a colour combination, a composition (that created a pattern in my mind) or just an interesting texture.  For example my Autumn/Winter 2013 designs were inspired by things I saw on a footpath in my neighborhood!