Well, this week we had a real treat - as some of you may know already, we got married last year and we were given a voucher for afternoon tea for two. Various reasons have prevented us going for it until yesterday, but we set off to find Lewtrenchard Manor and soon found ourselves in an absolutely stunning location. I have lived near the Devon/Cornwall border for more than 24 years, but I'd never been there before. The gorgeous house surpassed our expectations and we found ourselves seated in the library, quite alone, with dainty china and a cake stand with tiny crustless sandwiches, fabulous cakes and of course, scones, jam and cream! It was a lovely afternoon, a lovely gift and something we probably wouldn't have otherwise done. Anyone drooling yet?!?
This week I've been experimenting with some new textures and shapes in aluminium and have been working on distorting the shapes with my rolling mill which kind of gives a faded effect to the applied pattern/printed/dyed surface. I think I like the slightly industrial feel so I shall continue to explore this and let you see a finished item soon.
On the news front my attention was caught by a report that yet another highstreet store has ripped off the designs of Tatty Devine. It must be so awful as a designer to have this happen. Such companies can afford to mass produce and ultimately sell at a much lower cost than the bona fide designer can. I appreciate that working in similar materials may mean comparison between two or more designers but we all want to work the material in a way that is our own. There are several designers working in anodised aluminium like myself and I strive to make sure that I'm doing something different and something which is recognisably 'me'. I really hope that Tatty Devine takes this to court and wins.
