Walking...

Yesterday after a day on the computer (making patterns though, it was fun) I saw Brene Brown tweeting about a Ted Talk called 'Got a meeting? Take a walk' and I went to have a listen. Nilofer Merchant tells the story of how she was supposed to be meeting with someone but they couldn't fit her in to their busy schedule so they said 'look I have to walk my dog, shall we talk while we walk?' and this gave her the idea for 'walk meetings'.

Why meet in a stuffy office of a coffee shop? Why not get out in the fresh air and get some exercise  and look after yourself whilst having your'e working. I love that idea. There's nothing like a walk to get the ideas going. 

It made me want to get out immediately and even though I didn't have a meeting as such I took a walk on my own. The leaves were unfurling and the birds were singing and I thought about how much inspiration this simple activity gives to me.  I can pinpoint certain places where inspiration struck, like here on this hillside above the archery fields looking out over Hebden Bridge where I once marvelled at the structure of a dandelion clock and it gave me my the idea for one of my best selling lamp designs. 

Time out walking is never wasted. It's one of my favourite things.

Thankyou too!

I seem to be gathering quite a collection of thankyou cards recently. Today I got a very sweet card from a little girl called Scarlett (her writing sure is neat for one so young ;) and it made me SMILE. It reads:

Dear Aunty Hannah,

Just a tiny note to say a heartfelt THANKYOOOOOOOO for my gorgeous Christening lamp that you made for me on behalf of my Fairy Godmother Sally.

It really was a total surprise but equally an absolute delight. I may be only 1 (almost) but I know a glorious work of art when I see one and yours is always something that makes me smile with joy. I've been fascinatedly fiddling with the ON/OFF switch all week and I think I've finally figured out how to turn it on myself. Cooool! Thankyou. 

Tiny hugs and kisses

Scarlett Grace xxx

The wonders of the wallpaper factory

It was awesome. 

Me and my friend Claire (who also has plans for a range of wallpapers) arrived at Anstey Wallpaper Company in Loughborough early Friday afternoon just in time to see the last hour of the printing machines in action before they clocked off at 2 o'clock for the weekend.

The printers were incredible and we loved watching them feed in the huge rolls of paper, gracefully winding it up and down and picking up ink from big vats along the way.

Sabrina, our friendly guide, introduced us to all the different printing methods along the way. Surface printing, flexographic, rotary, gravure, block printing, screen printing and state of the art digital to name a few.

There was a silver and red paper printing here on the gravure machine

and on the rotary machine (kind of like a screen print but the mesh is in a cylinder) they were printing this lovely palm wallpaper. 

 This is their colour chart.

When the colours are signed off they are stored in these tubes for their reference. I loved all the tubes.

and I loved all the coloured squeegees in the screen printing room.

The screen printing tables were sooooo long

and the screens were so huge!

They have expert colourists on site

 who can mix up the colour of anything that they see. 

They have created a colour wall for inspiration

and when a design is ready to print they offer up many colourways and let you choose your favourites. I'm looking forward to this bit.

After the tour we sat down with a cuppa to talk about our designs and which print method would be best to produce them. As my designs are tonal it looks like gravure is the best for me. This is where a copper plate is engraved with the design and wrapped round a metal cylinder.

All the gravure cylinders are stored in a big warehouse. It's nice to think that mine will soon my amongst them. 

Everything felt possible after this visit. It's a whole new beginning and a very exciting one. The next step is to finalise my designs. Even though I want to take LOTS to print and offer them in a myriad of colours I have to start small. I'm going to take three designs to print to start with and build from there.

Soooo I hope I can find lots of people with walls that are crying out for some peaceful nature inspired patterns because I'M MAKING SOME! :) Hannah Nunn wallpaper could be as little as ten weeks away x

Switch off the big light...

In all the excitement of studio moves and wallpaper development I forgot about my little Illuminate book and having been shouting about it much lately. I had a royalty statement last week though and I was pleased to learn that it is doing very well out there without me. Today, thanks to the lovely Sharon Dale at the Yorkshire Post I have a big feature all about it...and about the wonders of hand crafted lighting in general. It features House of Chintz, Holly Ross and Amy Adams of Perch! ceramics in Brooklyn. It's a great piece and you can find it on page 6 of the Property Section. Thanks Sharon x

I went to the wallpaper factory yesterday and it was beyond awesome. I will be back soon with lots of photos. Wallpaper could be as little as ten weeks away!

British Craft Trade Fair 2013

I couldn't have hoped for a better response to my wallpaper at bctf. Thanks to everyone who stopped to have a look and pass comment. Your feedback was very valuable and has fueled me up....I was already pretty stoked so I'm really raring to go now!

The wallpaper really made my stand and created the perfect backdrop for my lamps. 

I listened very carefully to everyone's comments so I can decide which designs to take to print.

The fair was the best ever and I am going to be very busy fulfilling lamp orders for the next few weeks. I picked up twelve new outlets this time. This will all help to save my pennies for my wallpaper manufacturing! YES!

I was pretty much glued to my stand so didn't get a chance to take any pictures of all the AMAZING work at the show. As always it was wonderful to see everyone, makers and buyers alike. Having been away two years it was great to be back. I've had such a lovely few days x

And the winner are...

Here are the lamps for the winners of my giveaway. 

They have all been on their outing to the British Craft Trade Fair for the last three days and have adorned my stand and inspired a few shops and galleries to offer personalised lamps to their customers :)

Thanks so much for all of your entries. There were so many and I really would love to send a lamp to each and every one!

I'm going to track down the winners now and send them to their new homes.

I'll be back soon with news from the show. x

Trade Show Time...my wallpaper is making an outing!

In a couple of days it's The British Craft Trade Fair and I am very excited to be dressing my stand with my wallpaper. This morning I collected my digitally printed samples (thanks Print Bureau) and it was so much fun rolling them out (with a little help from my friends) and seeing them in real size for the first time!

I've got five designs

all in neutral colours

and they look reeeeeaaalllly pretty.

There are some new lamp designs too. Feathers,

Ferns,

and Fritillaries.

Today everything came together. 

The sign got finished, the final lamps were made (including the winners of my giveaway..will reveal them once my stand is set up),

 PAT testing was done, the toolbox got tidied, boxes got packed,

and the brochures got delivered. 

I'm ready and I'm excited!

Who's coming? Stand 149, Great Yorkshire Showground, 7th, 8th and 9th April.