Homegirl London’s Interview: Anna Hayman. Anna’s work is all about the prints which she makes from original linocuts. Her patterns are inspired by Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, the sixties and seventies eras. These are brought to life through Anna’s distinct colour palette. The striking patterns adorn wallpaper, bespoke lampshades, melamine kitchen accessories, teaware, tea towels and stationery notebooks. I caught up with Anna Hayman to find out about her business Anna Hayman Designs.
Bibana Wallpaper
Meet Anna Hayman
Anna tells me about her background – “I originally trained as a pianist, but became interested in fashion retail. This led to management roles and jobs in display and visual merchandising. I then branched into shoe design and balanced a quirky shoe label with piano teaching but then gave up both to have kids. So, a bit of an odd journey, no university for me. After having children, I was massively driven to create a new brand. Because my prints have been a lifelong obsession, this became the focus of a new venture for me and Anna Hayman Designs was born in March 2016. I borrowed money from my bank to start the business, which allowed me to launch my first collection.”
Meet Anna
Creativity is in Anna’s blood. She can trace her family of woodturners back to the 1800s. Relatives even made furniture for Queen Victoria! Anna tells me – “Linocuts are not dissimilar from woodworking so in some way I have kept the family tradition alive. My childhood dream was clothing design. It still fascinates me more than anything. I have always been a bit of a creative powerhouse and can turn my hand to most things. I like to print my patterns onto a range of products from wallpaper to lampshades, stationery, mugs and more. I was encouraged to build a business around my passion and lifestyle by my pottery teacher and lampshade base maker (Ralph Levy from The Handmade House in Ditchling). He has given me plenty of support and encouragement to follow my dreams.”
Linoprinting
Anna is located near Lewes in Sussex, she tells me – “I moved to Ringmer last Summer to a 1930’s home. I am close to my family here and can use the house to integrate into my work. A lot of my prints are used and featured around the house, the reason is partly because I’m opening for Artists’ Open Houses event called Artwave. This is a local event running for three weekends beginning August 19th 2017 and I’m thrilled to be able to throw open my doors and show my process, as well as serve tea and cakes in the garden.”
Anna Hayman Designs Collection
Anna describes her design style – “It’s lyrical, colourful, with a strong feeling of depth which comes from using linoprints as the basis for most of my work. I wanted to create an artistic feel that shows understanding and skill, which is why I choose linoprinting. It is a direct and easy way to make a pattern and quickly satisfying. I’m going to be holding some workshops over the summer called Pattern Play so people can come and try this, not just lino but making a pattern from any form of artwork. It is too much fun not to share! I’m also planning some lampshade making courses as it is a very relaxing craft, people can come and find their inner zen!”
Circle Line Teaware
There are three collections to date. Black and Gold colours are being explored by Anna, see her new Bibana wallpaper. Dark Florals and Oriental Prints can be seen in her Palmprint, Lilypond and Talon designs. Her brights include Charleston, Brick, Buzz and Circus. Anna elaborates – “Although my work is fairly sprawling, over time it has developed a recognisable style and does tie up into themes. While this is a time of experimentation for me, next year I’m going to plan collections more cohesively and bring them out as sets, making them available as fabrics and wallpapers.” At present, these patterns adorn melamine kitchen accessories (chopping boards, trays and plates), teaware (teapot, creamer, sugar pot, mugs, cups and saucers), stationery notebooks, tea towels, lampshades and wallpaper.
Orange Brick Tile Melamine Chopping Board
Inspiration for Anna comes from the Sixties (particularly Biba), Arts and Crafts Period (Rennie Mackintosh, William Morris) and the 1930’s (Clarice Cliff, Coco Chanel). She elaborates – “I’m old fashioned and rely on big heavy art books which I go back to again and again. I’ve just inherited a load more, which I can’t wait to delve into. Also, Pinterest is great for whims. I’m crushing on African prints with the luxe nomadic theme coming up for Summer 2018, so I’m pinning Stella Jean a whole lot. She rocks my world by using African prints in a high fashion way. I love an Australian brand called Nine Lives Bazaar (Australian hippy style clothing company) and A Beautiful Soul (silk chiffon floral dresses made by a UK company).
Alphabet Mugs
Bespoke prints take up much of Anna’s time – “More and more of what I’m working on seems to be designing bespoke prints for collaborative projects. This really excites me as I get to work on something interesting in a real home or a product for somebody else. This means that I get to do the bit which drives me the most which is making the pattern and coming up with the best colour palette. I’m very much trend oriented (in a natural way), so to dip into a style while creating something with my own handwriting, that looks fresh and current is ultimately what I want to achieve.”
Buy Anna Hayman Designs Products
To buy products you can visit the Anna Hayman Designs Website. These products can be shipped overseas. To give you an idea of price points – wallpaper is £95 per roll, teapot £65, mugs £16, melamine chopping boards £10, melamine trays £15, melamine plates £4, tea towel £12 and pack of three stationery notebooks £10. If you want bespoke lampshade, Anna can make these to order in a variety of prints, colours and sizes which take approximately four weeks. Contact Anna via her website if you want to find out more.
Author: Homegirl London. Thanks and Photographs: Anna Hayman.
