We love seeing the videos that out MATS Alumni make! In our previous ‘MATS Creating Collections for Home Decor‘ class, we invited our participants to make a one minute video about their experience of the course. Our favorite wins a 1:1 portfolio review and career development chat with Lilla (one hour via Skype at a mutually convenient time)! We are so happy to announce that the winner is Jess Racklyeft and you can watch her wonderful video below! We also wanted to offer an honorable mention to Tina Loeffler. We loved Tina’s creativity and vibe in this video too! Want a piece of the $60 Billion Home Decor industry? What is home décor? It’s all the gorgeous and/or functional items in your house. It’s a booming market that needs tons of art, with over $60 billion in annual sales. Its massive growth is due in part to the popularity
#mymatsprep DAY 1: ART CUP
Are you ready for #MyMATSPep? Lilla has cooked up a very special series of creative prompts, starting TODAY! It’s free, and Lilla has created a series of five mini assignments to get you ready for ‘MATS Creating Collections for Home Decor‘ all this week before the course starts next Monday. If you are not already signed up to the class, come and join us! Photos by Lilla Rogers/Anthropologie ART CUP Put your art on a CUP that you’d like to use every morning. Does it have words? Flowers? What is its shape? What colors? What does your handle look like? Is there a saucer? Does it match or is it different? Look at that, you have just designed a product. Margo and I will teach you how to do tons of this on the top home décor substrates such as metal, wood, glass, ceramic fabric. Extra credit: Upload and order
MATS Home Decor Student Showcase part 3 {January 2016 class}
We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase a series of gorgeous work that was produced in our January session of Creating Collections for Home Décor *** Marenthe Otten | MARENTHE It was music to my ears when the task was set – being allowed free rein with lettering is always a dream. Also ceramics are absolutely MY THING! I adore cooking and I think I have about 20 smashing serving platters and much much more ceramics at home. I’m a crazy collector:-) How did the Home Décor class help you grow? It was fabulous being part of this group. The assignments were FAB, the other students were so kind, open and helpful, I learned so much. It forced me in a gentle way to get out of my comfort zone. It taught me how to build a bridge between designer
Alumni success ‘spotlight’ interview with Emma McGowan
We are so proud of our Make Art That Sells Alumni, that we are pleased to being a series of spotlight interviews showcasing their successes and artwork. We also ask them to share how the MATS courses have helped them learn and grow. You can see more Alumni Success stories here *** Today, we have an interview with alumni Emma McGowan. Emma has taken our Bootcamp for the last 2 years, entered the Global Talent Search 2 years running and attended our Global Art Gathering in the UK Tell us a little about how you got started in art and design My dad was a commercial artist and I loved the fact that his work tools were pens and pencils and a drawing board. The margins of my schoolbooks were filled with doodles and I always intended to become an artist. But instead of going to art school I somehow
#homedecsecrets Part 5: WOOD/MDF
When making art to pitch to an art director to get one’s very own home decor collection, most people think of plopping their art on pillows, lampshades, and something to hang on the wall. Did you know that there are tons of products you can show that will help you stand out? You can take a product like a ceramic plate, for example, and indicate a raised or embossed design? These extras are called ‘finishing techniques’ and all this week we have been sharing a peek at some of the finishing techniques showcased in our upcoming class ‘MATS: Creating Collections for Home Décor’ (which starts on Monday 16 May!). We are giving you daily prompts to get your creative juices flowing. Our last material is… WOOD/MDF. Wood is such a basic part of our every day, it’s something we almost forget about. Take a look around your house… what is
#homedecsecrets Part 4: CERAMICS
How would you like to have a top creative director tell you all about what she looks for in a top-notch home decor pitch? All this week Margo Tantau is sharing a peek at some of the finishing techniques showcased in our upcoming class ‘MATS: Creating Collections for Home Décor’, and giving you daily prompts to get your creative juices flowing. Next up is CERAMICS. This is another ancient element that comes from the earth. One of the main ceramic making centers in China is called Dehua. It’s a fascinating area to visit, tucked deep in the mountains. They’ve been making ceramics there, especially porcelain, for over 2,000 years. Every product is hand touched and handmade to some extent. Clay vessels are one of the earliest forms of decorative and functional art on record. There are myriad ways that you can express yourself with and take your art to ceramics.
MATS Home Decor Student Showcase part 2 {January 2016 class}
We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase a series of gorgeous work that was produced in our January session of Creating Collections for Home Décor *** Carol Lelivelt I chose my Wood presentation board as my favorite image because I think it’s a fantastic array of very salable products with lots of fun patterns. Featured are sea life, seashells, bubbles, seaweed, macrame, and lettering in colors of nautical blues, driftwood, and a pop of “crab” red. How did the Home Décor class help you grow? The Home Decor class made me grow by forcing me to do a lot of designing in a short amount of time. It was a good challenge to figure out how the patterns I created would best suit the substrate and product I put them on. What did you discover about yourself? I discovered a
#homedecsecrets Part 3: GLASS
Did you know that you can take your home decor product pitch from good to great by adding what’s called “Finishing Techniques”? All this week we are sharing a peek at some of the finishing techniques showcased in our upcoming class ‘MATS: Creating Collections for Home Décor’, and giving you daily prompts to start seeing more possibilities for your art. Next up is GLASS… Glass is always a little mystifying and daunting, because it seems fragile yet strong all at once. It is ethereal, beautiful, purposeful, and practical. And we need it! Glass can be the basis of some amazing Home Décor pieces. Lighting, is a major use of glass – think lamp bases, pendant lamps, glass or crystal baubles hanging from a chandelier. Think pressed glass – something that would come out of a mold, like glasses, plates, or perhaps some decorative artwork pieces or glass tiles. Think serving
Cool new free #mymatsprep series for you
It’s that time again! Get your hashtags ready as #mymatsprep is about to begin again! This time we are gearing up for our upcoming course ‘MATS: Creating Collections for Home Décor’. The daily #mymatsprep prompts are designed to warm up everyone registered for class, but anyone can join in. A brand new #mymatsprep series will be shared on the blog every day next week so mark your diary and keep your eyes out! Example of some finishing techniques used on metal – products from CBK And if you missed it, all this week we are running a fun series of #HomeDecSecrets (yes we’ve gone a little hashtag crazy). These daily blog posts give you insights into some of the fascinating finishing techniques used on home décor products. This will make you realise the expanse of possibilities available for your art in this market. You can find out more and join
#homedecsecrets Part 2: FABRIC
Imagine taking your artwork and popping onto templates and getting your own licensed home decor line! We’re talking rugs, canvas art, aprons, dishes, vases, little sculptures, and more. Did you know there are secrets to make your pitch catch the eye of an art director? We’re chatting about it all this week and sharing a peek at some of the finishing techniques showcased in our upcoming class ‘MATS: Creating Collections for Home Décor’, and giving you daily prompts to get your creative juices flowing. Next up is FABRIC… Fabric can take so many forms. It can be printed, stitched, pieced, cut and sewn into so many things. It’s a great vehicle to show your artwork. It is very satisfying to see artwork come to life on fabric – anything from a tea towel to a sofa. It feels so important and so REAL when you see your artwork actually printed