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I am very excited to have Georgie Baker Designs as one of our newest designers on the site. She has such a creative, unique style and we are lucky enough to get a little look into the secret life of Georgie :)
My parents were undoubtedly the people who influenced me creatively. There would always be an abundance of sewing threads and fabrics squirreled away in a box in my mother’s wardrobe, and I would always anticipate their next outing onto the bed, where cottons and needles would scatter the sheets and the floor. My father is also artistic, and as a child I would often sift through his collection of black and white sketches that resembled photographs.
The house I grew up in was a modest three bedroom semi with a beautiful garden, and one I miss considerably.
If I could change one thing about myself it would be to learn from those who practice the art of spontaneity.
You wouldn’t know it but I’m very good at playing a few tunes on the piano. I had lessons as a child, but I haven’t kept it up as much as I should have.
You may not know it but I’m no good at maths and numbers. I really couldn’t think of anything worse.
At night I dream of strange things mostly. Although I can never remember them fully. Most are fleeting visits to another time or conversations I may have had, and most are quite bizarre.
What I see when I look in the mirror my reflection when I wake for work at 5:30 in the morning.
My favourite item of clothing has to be a pair of black patent T-bar shoes that look like they have been pulled straight out of 1920’s black and white film. They are lovely.
I wish I’d never worn fluorescent pink leggings. I was aged eight at the time.
I drive an old clapped out Mazda which I have become surprisingly attached to. It has seen me through many an adventure.
My favourite building is St Vitus cathedral in Prague; it is a beautifully haunting building, with amazing structure and craftsmanship. I also adore the mosaic structures built by Gaudi.
A book that changed me ‘Textures of Memory, the Poetics of Cloth’. A collection of artist reviews and reflections on the power of re-collection and memory.
Movie heaven … I love horrors, anything with atmosphere and anticipation.
The last song I downloaded was an album by a band called The XX. One of the best records I’ve bought for a while.
My secret crush is the jewellery made by Marmod 8 as seen on etsy.com. They manage to get just the right amount of macabre in their pieces, whilst still retaining a beautiful design aesthetic.
My real-life villain is The taxman.
The people who really make me laugh are my three wonderful friends who I lived with at University. I wish they lived just around the corner.
My greatest regret is not having a definite action plan after graduating from University.
The last time I cried … I cry at silly things mostly.
My five-year plan … I’d love to move to either Brighton or London, set up a shop, albeit a virtual one rather than one made with bricks and mortar, and sell my wares. I’d also love to design for Vivienne Westwood. I can but dream.
My life in six words… Unpredictable, Surprising, Rewarding, Difficult, Challenging, Productive.
Cassia Beck is a very busy, talented lady! Not only is she a mummy but she also is also the lady behind Cassia Beck Photography, Cassia Rose Jewellery and her latest venture, Violet May.
We always hear such kind comments on her work and I am personally very proud to have such a creative lady working with us. I wanted to bring you details of her newest project. She is currently photographing a toy horse that she played with as a child every day for a year. The horse is always there but just in different creative scenes. So far she has done 27 beautiful photographs so there is lots more to come!
You can follow the horse here.
In the wake of Bike Week I thought now was a good time to show All Things Original what I have been up to recently. In a nutshell, I have been ‘doing up’ antique bicycles. I have been digging oily muddy and unused bicycles out of the shed, away from the car-boot sales and transforming them into pretty shiny happy bikes … Bearing in mind that I know nothing about the mechanics of a bike, doing this project was an experiment from start to finish and therefore, for me was fresh and exciting. Annnnd because I was so pleased with the results I wanted to share the photos and the process with you guys!.
Ingredients to make a nice bike:
One old tatty bicycle
Lots of Sandpaper
Paint remover
Patience
A strong housemate to bash off stubborn mud guards (optional)
And about 3 cans of spray paints
Firstly I source a beautiful bicycle in bad condition.. Then I take the bike apart, and try to photograph and bag all the nuts and bolts up in a logical order. Easier said than done! Then I strip all the paint off using paint stripper,(very smelly stuff and a bit burny if you get it on your skin) and masking tape and chrome parts. The fun bit is then designing stencils and choosing spray paints, and this takes me ages to do, because I change my mind so much. Fortunately there is a lot of scope for doing so much on the frames in terms of patterns and prints and a lot of bicycles out there! By the time the bike is sprayed and finished, I have forgotten how it all goes back together, lost the photos I took and it doesn’t seem to make any sense so I take the bike and bits to the nice man in the bike shop to sort it out for me. Job done.
Things I liked
Making rusty parts shiny ( the bikes were more or less covered in it)
Making stencils
Spray painting, sooo much fun :)
Things I didn’t like
Going to Halfords about 50 times to find the right bloody tyre, apparently ‘it’s a size of wheel that is not longer catered for’. Gah.
Having to learn the hard way that pyjamas + bicycle riding = material tangled in pedal and a heap of human in a rose bush
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Although the bicycle looks like an extension of my wardrobe the essence of cycling is not lost. Idly riding around towns and parks, or doing circles in your garden (no hardcore mountains for me, thanks) is good for the soul and the environment.
And the sun is STILL shining so I’m off to blast the love handles in style. :)
I’ve just come back from a weekend away in Cornwall. I spend lots of holidays down in Cornwall and it really is one of my most favourite places in the world. There are just so many beautiful beaches and seaside towns to explore and maybe that’s why I am especially in love with the fabulous company Welbeck Tiles which is based all the way down in Penzance. They make handmade tiles, designed in a small workshop using traditional materials.
I dream of one day owning my own little cottage somewhere in Cornwall and I’m already planning to adorn my kitchen and bathroom walls with some of their gorgeous tiles.
I just love the vintage imagery they use of jellies and old household products. But I have to say that my favourite has to be the coastal selection which is filled with vintage postcards and old adverts.
You can even have your own images printed! I’ve one from this weekend that I think would be great…
I am very excited to welcome the lovely Super Duper Things to www.allthingsoriginal.com. Louise Evans is a very talented designer and creates some amazing pieces of jewellery from her vintage finds as well as some very cool bits and bobs to both adorn yourself and your home! I also cant help but to love her style of photography too…. Super Duper!
I decided over Christmas that i am going to hand sew my daughter a Grandmothers garden quilt. Its probably going to take me 20 years to do but i thought it would be a fun project for the new year!
So to my excitement, today i came across www.donnaflower.com. This is one of my new favourite websites showcasing some of the most fabulous vintage fabric … i am already looking forward to purchasing some to add to the quilt :)
I’ve just come across the most fabulous website via missmodish! I had so much fun scrolling through pages and pages of vintage photos.
I’ve got loads of boxes of vintages photos that I’ve picked up over the years (mostly from car boot sales – I just can’t help myself!) and I never tire of flicking through them. There’s something so magical about photography from the past and sadly it’s just not quite the same now everything’s gone digital.
I’ve recently been rooting through piles of pictures of my own family too – here are a few of my American grandparents who are still alive and kicking and have been married 60 years this month!
I am very excited to be here! My name is Cassia Beck, I am a photographer from Brighton, UK and I hope I can inspire you in some way.
I would like to introduce some new pieces I recently added to my shop on All Things Original. My signature pieces of work include seaside images and flowers. Recently I have added some prints showing everyday objects as I see them.
I take my camera with me everywhere and I have always loved to photograph the mundane, ordinary things we normally pass by without seeing. My recent captures are beautiful objects but also things we see over and over as we grow up. How many times have you seen a typewriter, a row of books or cotton reels?
I find such objects very nostalgic, they bring back happy memories from my childhood; my mother’s sewing box, with cotton reels in every colour and her tin of buttons that I used as pretend money in my “shop”. I remember a blue typewriter, no one ever used it but it was always there. Books bring comfort to me, I am from a family of avid readers and books were everywhere!
I hope these images bring back some memories for you…
My very old but friendly G5 computer died this weekend causing me no end of bother! I’m now trying to save its little life whilst also erasing everything on it….lucky I have everything backed up!
So on this very stressful Monday afternoon I would like to share with you a new and now favourite blog of mine – Note Book Doodles (found via Here Comes The Sun). Somehow it has given me a little boost of happiness and maybe you can find something on there too to cheer you up on this windy September Monday……
For any of you that don’t already know, the Lomography store has just opened on Newburgh Street, London. I’ve always wanted to own one of their fabulous cameras and so that’s where I headed today.
The shop stocks a huge range of the cult cameras and accessories and the very friendly owner Adam Scott was more than happy to help me choose everything I needed :)
Lomography is all about experimenting and not following any rules. Photos are often blurry, over saturated and very much represent their “Don’t Think, Just Shoot” motto.
So I walked away with a new Diana F+ with various new lenses and I cant wait to get started.
The shop is also going to host some ‘how to’ seminars soon as well as talks on the history of the camera. So I’ll be returning for some new tricks but in the meantime it’s time to get shooting!
(my very first photo of my baby Minnie on her first visit to London Zoo)












































