Homegirl London pays homage to Lottie Day. Textile artist, screen printer and Norfolk lover Lottie is known for her contemporary country designs. Her subject matter features allotment vegetables, Norfolk wildlife hares and pheasants along with lobsters with lemons inspired by trips to seaside towns along the Norfolk coast. These delightful illustrations are screen printed in beautiful bold colours onto useful products. You’ll find premium canvas shopping bags, cotton tea towels, cotton napkin sets, printed aprons, drum lampshades, wooden deckchairs and even cute baby grows in the collection. These make wonderful house gifts and self-treats for those wanting a touch of rural chic. I caught up with Lottie Day to find out more about her Norfolk inspired designs.
Drum Lampshades
Meet Lottie Day
Lottie tells me about her background – “I studied contemporary crafts down in Cornwall, specialising in woodwork and metalwork, so I’m not entirely sure how I ended up being a textile designer. After finishing University in Falmouth, I started up my own gallery and shop in Norwich. It was really inspiring to interact with artists and makers but it also made me realise that I’d stopped being creative myself. So I bought a sketchbook and started drawing again. Then I learnt how to screenprint which was fantastic. It gave me the power to adapt my illustrations into all kinds of exciting creations. Before I knew it I was selling at craft and design fairs and getting orders from the USA. That was back in August 2013 and I haven’t stopped designing and screen printing since then!”
Meet Lottie
Luckily Lottie didn’t need any money to get her business off the ground, she explains – “Because I’d already been running my own gallery I didn’t need any capital, I used my extra time to be creative and fitted it in with my day job. My workshop is based at the Assembly House, a beautiful Georgian Mansion in central Norwich. This is where I also curate my own exhibitions and manage the Noverre Gallery and Shop. Running my own gallery means that I’m able to produce a new product and immediately have it on sale to local customers. It’s a great way to test out what works and what doesn’t.”
Parsnip Napkin
Lottie clearly loves what she does, she tells me – “I make almost everything by hand, which is really satisfying. I enjoy getting my hands dirty and making a mess in the studio. Going to work and being creative is an incredible way to (just about) earn a living… although you still have to do boring work sometimes. Luckily I have an endless source of inspiration living in Norfolk. However, I’ve learned that when you’re stuck for ideas, you just have to get out of the studio, go and do something else and the best ideas will arrive when you least expect it.”
View the Lottie Day Collection
Lottie’s designs combine country chic with rusticity and earthiness. Her subject matter ranges from allotment vegetables like orange turnips, purple turnips and parsnips to Norfolk wildlife like pheasants and hares and the Norfolk coast. She says – “I grew up in the sticks so a lot of my work is based on my home county of Norfolk and it’s inhabiting wildlife.” These designs are beautifully illustrated and screen printed onto 100% cotton canvas products in bold and contemporary colours.
Turnip Shopping Bag
Lottie makes useful products which include canvas shopping bags which are perfect for carrying home veg from the farmer’s market. The cotton tea towels are designed to make drying the dishes a pleasure whilst providing an instant piece of art for the kitchen. Cotton napkin sets are brilliant for adding a touch of class to your dinner parties. Printed aprons are a must for any cook in the house. The delightful drum lampshades are made to suit lamps or pendant lights and are available in three sizes. Brighten up the garden with one of the wooden deckchairs featuring allotment veg, dahlias or lobsters with lemons. You can even spoil new arrivals with Lottie’s super cute baby grows.
Feather and Egg Tea Towel
The Allotment Vegetable range celebrates Lottie’s love for homegrown veggies. She says – “There’s nothing like growing food, it tastes so much better. My vegetable illustrations were inspired by helping my Dad on his allotment, the things he digs up provide a constant source of inspiration. Vegetables are beautiful shapes and colours so really do make for interesting subject matter when illustrating. For the deckchair, I have featured a number of veg together which includes turnips, parsnips and radishes printed in eleven colours for vibrancy. For smaller items such as tea towels, shopping bags, aprons and napkins I print one vegetable in a large size so it has more impact. The napkin box is presented with three designs for variety – orange turnip, purple turnip and parsnip.”
Allotment Napkin Set
Norfolk wildlife is also featured in Lottie’s work. Lottie comments – “My Norfolk Hare illustrations are really popular as there seem to be a lot of Hare fans out there. I’m fascinated by hares and love to watch them running around in the countryside when I’m walking. I’ve printed my hare illustrations onto tea towels, shopping bags, aprons and even baby grows. Pheasants are also regularly spotted in the vicinity so I’ve also included those in my work.”
Hare Shopping Bag
Some of Lottie’s designs combine two items like lobster with lemon and feathers with eggs. She says – “My Lobster and Lemon collection is inspired by trips to the Norfolk coast, I love spending time in seaside towns like Cromer and Brancaster. Lobster tastes better with a squeeze of lemon over the top so this is the perfect pairing. You can also buy these as separate designs if you’d prefer with just the lobster and just the lemon.”
Lobster and Lemon Double Deckchair
Lottie tells me more about her printing techniques – “I expose my original illustrations onto screens and then there is a lot of experimentation, testing out colours on natural canvas. Screen printing is a very satisfying process and the joy of making by hand is that each product has its own unique quirks. I mix all my own colours and because I don’t write things down, I spend hours trying to recreate them. My designs are heat-pressed onto the fabric which means they can be hand washed.”
Turnip Tea Towel
Quality is important to Lottie; she explains – “I make sure all my products are made to a high standard so I use the best canvas for my shopping bags. These are finished with leather handles which were inspired by recycled belts, sourced from local charity shops and car boot sales. Unfortunately, I cleaned out all the second-hand belts in Norfolk, so I’ve had to start buying my own leather! For the deckchair I use a rosewood frame which is made in the UK which is just beautiful.”
Lobster and Lemon Shopping Bags
Lottie tells me about her next steps – “I’m currently on the lookout for a potter to help me create a new range of ceramics. I’d also like to start printing my own lengths of fabric, it would be great to see other people making new things out of my work.”
Buy Lottie Day Products
If you love Lottie’s products, you can buy them from the Lottie Day website and she can ship these overseas if required. To give you an idea about price points; shopping bags cost £38, tea towels £10, set of six napkins £27, aprons £38, deckchairs £200, lampshades £60-100 and babygrows £8. Lottie is open to taking on commissions and projects so get in touch if you have something in mind.
Author: Homegirl London. Photographs and Thanks: Lottie.
