Nonsense Part 2

Welcome to Monday Mornings. Each week there’s a new featured canvas to meet and learn more about. Check out the original artwork, the Messy Bags that came from it and get a little insight into its personality via the Listening, Watching, Scrolling section. 

This week’s featured canvas is Nonsense Part 2.

Canvases can start a few ways. Sometimes it’s specific colours I want to use together, sometimes it’s about the tools I want to use (brushes vs the squeegee) and sometimes it’s just the realisation that I have 37 almost empty pots of colour that need using. This canvas was one of those, a bunch of clashing colours and no direction beyond reclaiming said pots.

Here’s how you can tell whether I love a canvas or not: Does it have 173 photos of all different angles and pieces on my phone? Well then I love it. Does it have 2 blurry and incomplete photos of it on my phone? Well I hated it and couldn’t wait to be done with it. This one started its life in the You Are Not My Favourite pile. I couldn’t wait to roll it up to hide it away until it was time to cut it up. But as happens not infrequently with these unloved canvases, in cutting them up I find new pieces and details that I adore. The bags that came from this canvas are some of my favourite of 2020. Now I look at the blurry photo and wish I had a piece or two to hang on my wall.

WATCHING: Black Monday. 1980s on Wall Street. Everyone is over the top. So much marble, so much brass. And cocaine.

LISTENING TO: Someone Knows Something.

SCROLLING: Ken Done Gallery. OBVIOUSLY.

See ya next week.

Changing it up a little

I started making and producing clothes because I wanted to dress my tiny kiddos in stylish but not trend driven, comfy, ethically produced clothes. Ones that could be passed down from my son to my daughter because kids tend to grow out of them faster than they can wear them out. I wanted maximum use of the clothes out of respect to the makers who made them and to tread as lightly on the earth as possible.

It’s been a wild ride, from making handfuls of pairs of shorts at a time to manufacturing collections in India and China. Reaching this point was what I thought I wanted. But sometime late last year, right as I achieved the goal I’d set for myself, things started to feel not right. I was putting the final touches on the winter range to send it off to production, even though the Summer 17 stock had only just arrived. I pushed aside the niggling feelings of doubt I was having, dismissing them as growing pains.

But those niggling feelings that started as tiny whispers are now booming drums that I can’t ignore. I don’t feel good about what I am doing. I don’t like the churn of constantly having to bring out new stock and collections for the sake of bringing out new stock and collections. I don’t like that things that are only a few months old are considered ‘old’ stock.

Most of all I don’t like the feeling that I’m turning Inkling into what I never wanted it to be – fast fashion. Clothes that are only expected to be fresh for a few months at best before being discounted to clear the way for even more stock.

So I’m going back to what feels good.

For the foreseeable future, maybe ever, there will be no more seasonal collections from Inkling.

That’s not to say there won’t be clothes from Inkling. There will, but it’ll be done in a way that feels good and let’s me stay true to what is important to me. They will no longer be collections that are filled out with pieces that I like, but don’t love, just for the sake of having a collection. 

You’ll probably have noticed that the Messy Bags have been playing a much bigger role over the last year or so too. Ethical production has always been a constant and so has treading lightly on the earth. They’re a reusable, environmentally responsible solution to dealing with all kinds of messes. A happy, bright, one of a kind solution at that.

Inkling is no longer just for kids, it’s for everyone. Inkling’s heart is right where it’s always been, making useful, practical, beautiful things that bring joy, and have purpose and longevity.

I’m so excited to share with you the very first step in Inkling’s kinda-the-same-but-slightly-different path: Grown Up JUMPERS!

They’ll be available from 7pm next Tuesday, 3rd of July.

Tassel Key Rings

The Tassel Key Rings were born out of a need to use every tiny scrap and offcut of canvas I can. After the Messy Bags are cut, there’s always a tiny piece of the canvas left over. Even though I had no idea initially what to do with them, I’ve saved every little piece that’s ever been painted but not used.

Their magic is in the mixing and matching of canvases that were painted days, weeks, months and sometimes even years apart. They are all one of a kind and as unique as the person using them.

As they are made completely of offcuts and left overs, the releases of them are sporadic and only a few times a year. It takes time to accumulate enough canvas with enough variety to make a new batch.

To make sure you don’t miss out on the next release, you can sign up HERE for email notifications.

Too Much

No such thing as too much colour, and these ones are all bright, bold and shouting for your attention. You’re never going to lose them in a crowd, they won’t let you.

SHOP THE AVAILABLE MESSY BAGS HERE.

LISTENING TO:

My Favorite Murder. I know. I’m way too much into true crime. WAY too much.

WATCHING:

GLOW. The colours explain that, yeah?

LOOKING AT:

They’re both members of my Girl Squad. They don’t know it, but they are.

Sierra Prescott

Billy | Candice Pool

Just a Paper Bag

Sometimes things are different than they first appeared. We all know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Never let a curated version of a story let you doubt your own.

LISTENING TO:

Dead Blondes, still.

WATCHING:

Fargo. Moody, weird, funny, depressing, amazing performances and beautiful settings.

LOOKING AT:

Kip and Co

Ayr