ELEGANT | FEMININE | CRAFTED
Designer-maker Stefanie wanted to communicate a more professional image when selling her handmade textile products through local independent stockists.
Stefanie handcrafts beautiful home accessories under her brand name, May Rose, using locally-sourced linen and cotton in contemporary botanical prints. So, it seemed only natural to take inspiration from the prints she uses to develop her new branding.
VISUAL IDENTITY
BRAND ILLUSTRATION
PRINT DESIGN
KEYWORDS
ELEGANT / thoughtful / timeless / refined
crafted / CREATIVE / meaningful / pretty
gentle / graceful / FEMININE / botanical
DELICATE / sustainable / good natured / kind
soft / IMAGINATIVE / enduring / charming
BRAND PALETTE
The brand palette was inspired by some of the fabric prints used by my client in her creations. I wanted to choose a signature brand colour that would still look great against all the different coloured textiles and prints, without compromising on distinctiveness.
The powdery French blue is a gentle, timeless hue that won’t age, making it perfect for a sustainable interiors brand like May Rose. It balances warmth with sophistication, bringing a subtle femininity to the slate blue and chalky grey contrasts.
DESIGN NOTES
We balanced modern elegance with illustrative accents for this charming hand-sewn home accessories maker.
I took inspiration from the pretty printed fabrics the client uses in her handmade creations, for both her brand palette and custom illustrations, with lily of the valley being the birth flower for ‘May’, and the rose representing the second part of the brand name.
I created delicate line drawings and used clean-cut typography to reflect of the fine, crisp weave of the textiles Stephanie uses in her creations.
My aim with the custom rose and lily-of-the-valley illustration was to find the sweet spot between abstract and hyperreal, without being cartoon-like.
“Thank you so much, Hannah. I’m so delighted with the incredibly beautiful designs.”
— Stefanie
May Rose Creations
SUSTAINABLE PRINT COLLATERAL
To reflect the client’s conscious and sustainable values, we had her business cards printed onto card stock made from recycled coffee cups and in vegan ink, by a small independent printer based in Bristol.
Plus, in-keeping with both the brand’s sustainable ethos and botanical aesthetic, we had the product swing tags printed on seeded handmade paper by the lovely A La Kart Creations, so that they can be planted and grown into wild flowers by the customer after purchase instead of simply going to waste.
These are the kind of thoughtfully designed touchpoints that can really help elevate a small business into an authentic and memorable brand.
If you’d like to do something similar for your business, get in touch.
CUSTOM BRANDED TEXTILES
Stefanie wanted to create her own signature fabrics using her new branding, so I dusted off my pattern-repeat skills from my Fashion & Textiles degree, took the botanical illustrations I’d created, and developed them into a custom pattern for printing onto fabric. I found custom printers in the UK, sourced organic cottons and print samples, experimented with pattern weight, scale and placement, and managed the full design and print process in complete consultation with the client.
“Hannah made the whole process feel really easy.”
She was absolutely brilliant at designing the logo, business cards and swing tags for May Rose. Her creativity to come up with the rose and lily of the valley is just genius. And I love the brand pattern so much, I’ve had it printed onto fabric to make signature May Rose creations! Hannah is very patient, knowledgeable and just an absolute joy to work with.
— Stefanie
May Rose Creations
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