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With summer in full swing, sunshine has not stopped play, or lampshade making to be more precise! So, it seems very fitting that August's #memadeshade winner is a beautiful coastal scene, made by Ben of @studio.goldfinch, depicting the very pretty town of Port Issac in Cornwall, using his original lino print design.
Ben's win scoops him a £100 Dannells voucher and our congratulations go to him on his winning with his lampshade prototype. We're sure that by adding shades to his range of products, his fledgling business will be a real success.
Find out more about @studio.goldfinch in our mini Q&A below.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the creative things that you do?
My name is Ben and I am the artist and printmaker behind Studio Goldfinch. Originally from the Midlands, I studied Graphic Communication at Bath Spa University where I developed a passion for all things handprinted, especially relief printing.
Fast forward a few years and I am now settled in the beautiful county of Wiltshire, which is where I found myself stuck indoors during the varying lockdowns of the last 18 months. These turned out to be a blessing in disguise as during the first lockdown, I decided to pull out a lino block and my carving tools and try my hand at printing again. Needless to say, my passion for printing came flooding back to me.
The UK has some of the most varied and impressive scenery and countryside in the world, and I first discovered my love for the nature as a child on family holidays to the Lake District, which entices me back time and time again. Since then, I have drawn inspiration from my various travels around the UK, most recently to Cornwall in May 2021.
So, in November 2020, while I was sat indoors waiting for restrictions to lift and missing being able to travel, I started making work that celebrated the beauty of the UK and Studio Goldfinch was born. Although still in its infancy, the mission behind Studio Goldfinch is to bring the beauty of the great outdoors into people's homes through home accessories, stationary, art prints and gifts. Are you a newbie lampshade maker or have you made up a Needcraft Lampshade making kit before? This is actually the first lampshade I've made so I'm still learning and perfecting the process, but I love getting stuck into something and using my hands so I've loved making my lampshades. I have found that the Needcraft kits are a perfect way to showcase my designs!
What do you love about the shade you entered for the #memadeshade competition? I really like this design as it reminds me of happy memories with my family on holiday. The design is a 360 degree wraparound of the gorgeous fishing village of Port Isaac which is on Cornwall’s north coast. It’s a great place to visit, you can spend hours wandering around the narrow lanes, browsing in the shops and there is a great selection of pubs and restaurants too! I have a personal connection with all of the places depicted in my designs, they all mean something special to me so it’s really fun to see them in a new format. I love that now, every time I turn my lamp on, it takes me right back to my holiday in Cornwall and the happy memories made there.
What’s do you like most about the Needcraft lampshade making kits? They're brilliant because you have everything you need to make a top-quality lampshade, and they come in a variety of sizes! I really like that you can get your own designs or patterns printed onto fabric panels to add that extra personal touch. I was so impressed with the speed in which my fabric was printed and my lampshade kits were shipped. Any plans to make more lampshades? Absolutely! Once I had made this lampshade, I knew I had to make more and I'm already working on new designs and I am also working on some for the lantern making kits too, so watch this space!
August's most liked shades
August 'most liked shades' are feast of natural inspiration, with a range of prints, from bold (@alisonbickdesigns), to ditsy (@lilsews) and one actually created by nature (@bridget9696 ). Lovely to see is @purple_cats_handmade's stunning collection of William Morris shades, taken by in their final resting place in customer homes. Here's what each of them have to say about their own shades.
@lilsews winner is a beautiful coastal scene, made by Ben ofof
Shade made with @needcraft_ kit and @riflepaperco garden party fabric.
Lamp base from @georgeatasda
It’s the time of year when nature starts to imitate art! ♥️🧡🌱 Crocosmia Lucifer and Meteor (aka monbretia), just picked from my garden. I love these bold crimson and orange flowers. We also have a yellow one, but it hasn’t started to flower yet, it’s a bit more of a late summer bloomer. What I love about them is that you can go away and leave your garden to fend for itself for two weeks during a heatwave, and they are in full bloom and fine fettle when you get home! My Crocosmia lampshade is available in blue and stone colour, and gives a really fresh “bringing the outside indoors” statement to a living space. (And it doesn’t need watering either! 😀)
Some customer photos 📸
The wonder of Cyanotype is it makes you look up close, it brings out the detail and the delicate nature of plants in this case asparagus. The material is now transformed into my latest range of 20 cm Drum Lampshades Bringing the Outside Inside. Getting ready for @devonopenstudios #artistsatwork #alreadyaugust
Enter our #memadeshade competition
It's super simple to enter our #memadeshade Instagram competition. Just make a lampshade from any of our lampshade making kits and follow the steps below. And if you want to check out the hashtag #memadeshade for inspiration in advance, we've had over 4000 shades enter since we started!
Here's a reminder of what to do...
Simply take a picture of your proudest lampshade from one of our kits and enter on Instagram following the steps below:
Follow @needcraft if you haven’t already
Post an image of a lampshade you’ve made from an @needcraft lampshade making kit and tag with #memadeshade and the type of kit you used i.e 30cm Drum shade kits, Square kit etc.
And any size and shape can be entered so display those drums shades, exhibit your empires and reveal your rectangles – any lampshade from one of our kits counts!
For full terms and conditions click here.
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