we are having our first ever web shop sale! all our current tiny mammoth clothing and accessories are 40% off! check it out here or www.beciorpin.com/shoppe
Posts Tagged ‘tiny mammoth’
tiny mammoth web sale!
Saturday, June 26th, 2010webstore is open!!! and something else momentous too
Monday, March 15th, 2010yes! finally! after what feels like an eternity our webstore is up and open and tested and functioning and ready to service all your shopping needs! currently it features all of the beci orpin products, but will soon also have a tiny mammoth and prints section too. have a look (or perhaps even a shop!) at www.beciorpin.com/shoppe/
thanks (once again) to rex at blisterfinger for helping us get it all together. i am fairly sure sticking pins in his eyeballs would have been a far more pleasant experience. you truly are a great and patient person.
and my other momentous news – my blog is now one year old! whilst i know one year is a relatively small achievement in terms of blogging capacity (especially when compared to some others impressive catalogue of years),but its personally a great milestone for myself.
when we hap-hazardly added a blog section when updating my site last year, i had no idea i would love writing and posting as much as i have. i would go so far as to say its a weird kind of therapy for me, and perhaps even made me a nicer person. thanks so much to anyone who has read/commented/even just paid the slightest bit of attention to my blog. i am so very flattered that you would be interested in looking at my work, reading my often strange family stories and enduring my often annoying whinges.
raise your virtual glasses for toast – here’s to another year!
justine clarke project and other new things
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010late last year (on christmas eve, to be precise) i was asked if i was interested in art directing the new justine clarke’s 3rd CD and DVD release (titled “great big world“). for those of you who don’t know justine clarke, she is an australian actress who has been in many films and tv series, is often on playschool, and also has a solo career singing songs for kids. she was also in mad max 3.
in the past we have helped justine with some merchandise through tiny mammoth, and she had been a joy to work with. and i always love to work on kid-related stuff, and wanted to try my hand at art directing – so i said yes.
we have just finished the artwork for the CD (see cover below – released through ABC in april), and are now finishing the concepts for the 15 film clips on the DVD. yes, that’s right, for my first venture into film and animation i am making not one, but fifteen film-clips. i don’t like doing things in halves. and am quite willing to hand over my sanity for the next few months.
other goings on in the studio this week – we have been helping my favourite coffee retailer and cafe seven seeds with some invites for an event they have coming up at the melbourne food and wine festival (you can read more about their event here) we decided to gocco them all on thick poster board… ink didnt like the stock very much and it took all day but we are quite happy with the results. hopefully will be doing a few bits and pieces for seven seeds this year. unfortunately (or probably fortunately) i dont get paid in coffee.
this week i also once again entered the strange world that is feminine hygiene marketing. i have been there before and its been in interesting experience. who knew that guiding a females pad or tampon choice was so complicated. believe me it is. i cant say much more than that for now, hopefully can show/write about it more in the near future. has been fun. and weird. very weird.
and one last thing – the beatbox kitchen website is now up! includes a calender showing which events we will be at in the near future (including good vibrations this saturday) and some other good stuff too – www.beatboxkitchen.com
links a-plenty!
Friday, October 16th, 2009my workload has been CRAAAAAZY this week. i know i always say that, but this week… phew, will go down as one of the most insane. anyway… enough complaining.
we have finally updated our tiny mammoth site with our summer collection! take a peek here. it also includes a secret colouring-in page to print out – see if you can find it! thanks to rex for making it all work
another site that was launched this week (well more of a blog actually) – was the three of a kind blog. as you will soon discover, three of a kind is the title of an exhibition i am working on with 2 other artists – madeleine stamer and iggy and lou lou – which opens november 20th. even though i was trying to limit my involvement in exhibitions this year, when maddy asked me to be participate in a show with her, and also mentioned irene would be showing her amazing work, i jumped at the chance! the blog will be updated by us three with opening night details, exhibition work and other surprises.
and lastly.. a bit of parental pride… tyke wrote and recorded a song called “i’m in my rocket” with his awesome music teacher claire at school, and then performed it with her at the fringe festival a few weeks ago. you can hear the song here. apparently was played on RRR last week and they said was like “gary numan had been let loose in a preschool”. i am totally taking it as a compliment.
tiny mammoth sample sale
Friday, October 9th, 2009
we are having our annual tiny mammoth seconds/samples/past season sale tomorrow at the wimble street childcare co-op fete. apart from many bargains from us there will also be all the usual fete goodness – BBQ, raffles, wine and cheese, jumping castle, face-painting, cake stall and 2nd hand goods. i love a fete of any kind so bummed i wont be there. raph will be manning the stall though -go visit! 18 wimble st, parkville, 10am-3pm
googly-eyed mayhem and other goings on
Monday, August 31st, 2009with my work (still feels criminal calling it “work”) i find things come in waves – some weeks we spend lots of our time researching, other weeks it’s putting together boring (but important) things like specsheets and linesheets, and sometimes its doing whole bunch of different stuff… but these past 2 weeks have been solid, heavy-duty designing. its been exhausting and draining, but also most satisfying and exciting
aside from all the kit excitement, we have been working on yet another cover for built by wendy sew u book 3 (that’s the third cover we have done! this one is definitely going through though), as well as new yardage prints for her fall 2010 range, final artwork for new whitley album and promo materials (pretty excited about this one!), my first illustration job through jacky winter (cant say for whom for as yet), a tee-shirt design for my friend’s home-birth cause (read more about it here), re-designing the logo and branding for ari’s daycare (a freebie – fun one though), finalising prints for jethro and jackson, and working on new papercuts and prints for a group show i have coming up in brisbane.
and all the while, the final samples for my new line have arrived and are being photographed, as well as the new tiny mammoth summer collection coming in, being swing-tagged, sorted into orders and sent out to our stores. and just to make this a little bit harder – as part of the collection i designed a patchwork bear with googly eyes, which proved to be a best seller, so lucky noe spent a good few days sewing eyes on bears and tee-shirts. she was going googly-crazy by the end, at which stage i promised never to design anything with googly eyes again (i had my fingers crossed behind my back – sorry noe, i just could not make such a promise!)
needless to say it has been a proper madhouse around here.
here are some photos of the googly-eyed mayhem and some of the orders waiting to go out -
and here are some of my fav piece’s from the new collection… tiny mammoth website update coming very soon!
hello jacky winter!
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
as from today, i am officially part of illustration agency jacky winter! needless to say i am honoured and excited to be part of this great agency – ever since i saw the first “jacky winter field guide” i have been endlessly impressed by their group of artist and also the way the agency promotes itself. i will be in fine company with the likes of we buy your kids (biddy maroney easily one of my fav aus talents), niels oeltjen, dylan martorell and jonathan zawada, just to name a few. rebecca wolkenstein will still be representing me in sydney, on behalf of jacky winter. (b.t.w – rebecca being the super-star she is has also joined forces with jacky winter to form new agency rock of eye - check it out - their line up is pretty epic)
on another note, this past weekend my folk face cushion was in the age sunday life magazine. it was part of the my space section, this week featuring author vanessa holle’s house. i was particulary psyched to see the cushion in someone’s home (especially in a house that i really liked the look of – i have been hunting one of those arabia heart bowls for ages!) and also flattered she said the cushion “becomes a piece of art itself” – shucks! thanks vanessa!
i originally made the folk face cushion as part of a princess tina range, but we are releasing them again as part of new beci orpin line next month.
also, we will be showing tiny mammoth winter 2010 collection over the next few days at life in style tradeshow in melbourne. if anyone out there is around come and say hello!
lots of things
Sunday, July 26th, 2009there has been so much going on and things i would like to write about lately, i am not even sure where to start. i had intentions of doing several blog entries this week, all which were cast aside when current hectic nature of my life prevailed and took over. anyway… after an exceptionally lovely sunday afternoon/evening spent enjoying pimms & lemonade, raph’s cooking and winter sunshine with friends in our backyard, here i am trying to figure out what to write about first… sigh.
well, lets start in chronoligical order…. so first, my favourite things from my design ventures last weekend. this is not a design market turned out to be really great – so impressed with quality and variety of products! my favourite things were pillowcases from sunday morning design (see below), super soft cotton tights from OKOK, bespoke quilts from skapa bilda and height charts from co-op, who shared a stall with the foundry, which also has a great selection of other beautiful paper products (check out these from katsumi komagata. mind blowingly awesome.)
to be honest, i found design made trade a little disappointing… feels like organisers are still finding their feet, and couldn’t decide who best to pitch it too – retail or industry. but, it did lead me to discover arkit kit studios and houses. the house designs were simple but so nicely considered, and finishes where beautiful. although i am no expert in the world of architecture, this seems like quite a reasonably-priced way of attaining an architect-designed home.
after briefly talking to owner craig chatman (well, at least, i think it was him?), who showed me a 3 bedroom plus studio model, i immediately started to conjure up visions of my custom design arkit module on a block of land somewhere in semi-isolation on rye back beach. as soon as i got home i was on realestate.com looking up vacant blocks, working out how i could run our studio from down there, as well as how to convince leah and noe to commute for 4 hours a day to our new beach home. i can get very easily carried away. i soon realised that actually, i loved my house and neighborhood, and the beach house will just have to wait. hopefully, not for too long.
next up – our manic week in the studio (am i forever stating things are manic in our studio? sorry if so). as well as working on new prints for built by wendy, preparing for built by wendy book 4, and designing new prints for sleepware label jethro and jackson, this week majority of our tiny mammoth winter 2010 samples came in. receiving final samples is both exciting and nerve-wracking – its the accumulation of at least 4 months of work, and by this stage, if things are not right, its too late to change. we had a few disasters (its the norm), but on the whole, i am REALLY EXCITED about how this collection has turned out. unfortunately, i wont be able to post any pictures until collection goes into store next feb, but i will be posting about tiny mammoth summer collection shortly (instores in august!)
also, tiny mammoth got a nice shoutout in current issue of ANORAK magazine. this is the best magazine for kids out there - i often talk about how hard it is to find interesting, independently-minded stuff for kids, so when i discovered anorak magazine, i immediately subscribed! its based in the UK, and put together by rob lowe (of supermundane fame) and cathy olmedillas. it comes out 4 times a year, and every issue has a theme, (this one is the bike issue – check out “my first bike” page for extra laughs!). its full of great illustrations, funny stories and activities. you can subscribe direct through their site, or you can buy in australia from kidostore.
this week we have also been working on final pieces of my new beci orpin line – its also getting exciting! all our products are almost ready, and we will be showing them to retailers in august, and hope to have them instore in september. we are also currently building our own online shop, which will sell a selection of beci orpin product, as well as a few other surprises. this should be launched end of august too.
and last but not least, ari and i went for a walk yesterday morning, and i was delighted to notice the first blossoms starting to appear on trees. i am obsessed by the weather, and find the change of season exceptionally exciting (even when global warming is making everything a bit out of whack). i think winter into spring is the best one too…
have plenty more things to write about (including 2 particularly major announcements – no, i’m not having another baby), but will do so later in the week. enjoy your start to the week!
yo gabba gabba
Friday, June 5th, 2009when i started this blog i thought that if i was going to do it – might as well be properly, and intended to post every few days, or at least once a week, so please excuse my absence this past week. but i have a decent reason for my slackness – raph has been (and still is) in the U.S working on his new book, leaving me to carry out family duties single mum style (big props to any of you out there – you are amazing!). apart from the occasional feeling of not having an adult conversation that doesnt entail work-realated content, it actually hasnt been so bad. i am really lucky to have had a lot of help from our awesome staff and family, and on the whole it has just made me more organised, which i quite like.
regardless its been another busy week in the studio. not so much going on (actually leah and i spent much of today at ikea picking out fabrics for cushions to go with my new rug – there are some advantages of raph being away!), more a week of meetings and preparing for the busy weeks which are building ahead. we have also been finishing off tiny mammoth winter 2010 collection, which has been loads of fun, as well of lots of other little house-keeping type jobs (design house-keeping, not actual house-keeping).
but something very exciting did happen this week… last saturday we had a family outing to see the yo gabba gabba live show. I LOVE YO GABBA GABBA. possibly more than my children. from the first time i saw “party on my tummy” on u-tube i couldn’t believe someone had made kids show so awesome!! and once we got to sink our teeth into the whole first season (over and over and over – dvd wont play anymore) – it was like a shining beacon in the (mostly) bland ocean that is children’s programming. ultra cool guests, biz’s beat of the week, amazing retro-styled characters, catchy (but barely annoying) songs with electro/indie beats, animations that blow your mind with cuteness – it was everything and more i dreamed a show could be. and my kids even loved it too.
anyway, their live show was a sensation. unfortunately, raph and i only got to see half of the show each as the yo gabba gabba live experience proved to be way too overwhelming for ari, who wailed the whole time he was in or near the theatre. luckily, after a weird co-incidence (i was emailed by the lovely tour manager libby requesting some of the princess tina keep co-lab shoes i designed for dj lance rock!) we got to go back stage after the show, and have our photo taken with the cast
ari fell asleep just before we met them all – probably a good thing.
i also got to meet one of the creators scott schultz (i gave him the “were not worthy” salute), his lovely wife ruth and wardrobe designer julia knapp. later that week, julia came to my studio for a visit and a cup of tea. she was sooooo great – was awesome to meet yet another female creative of similar mindset doing amazing things – especially one that has one of my dream jobs. lucky she is so good at it (she has just been nominated for 2 emmy’s!) or i may have been extremely jealous.
thanks for coming to visit julia!
some other things that caught my eye this week – papier-mache online magazine.
best kids related magazine i have seen in a long time. i hope it turns into a printed magazine one day.
also my sister emily sent me this website 100 abandon houses.
raph has long been obsessed by abandon and half-built, abandon houses, and these photographs of houses in detriot by kevin bauman are amazing. you can also buy prints (they are really cheap – $35US) and a portion of the proceeds are being donated to related charities.
well.. that was an effort an a half. surely made up for lack of posts. i’m off to watch silent witness. have a good weekend!
mental health days
Sunday, May 24th, 2009this past week has been quite a mellow one in our studio. with no pressing deadlines or clients breathing down our neck (not that we don’t thrive on it when it happens!), i even managed to have 2 days where the only work i did was answer emails and take phone-calls for a few hours. this meant i got to do things like clean my house until it was spotless (advantages of home studio), waste plenty of time on the internet (bad ebay addiction at the moment), have a long lunch with a friend, plan extravagant dinner parties and spend a whole day food shopping and cooking. and since on those days tyke was at school, and ari at daycare, it was all done child-free! it felt extremely indulgent.
i did have to put up with a few exasperated remarks from raph (he cant bare to watch me not working while he is), so my justification was they were “mental health days”. needless to say, there was much scoffing from him, but it really has done me the world of good. sometimes a few days pottering at home is almost better than a holiday – i feel relaxed and have had a flood of new ideas and inspiration over the weekend, which i am sure are a result of my days of domestic bliss.
there has still been plenty going on in the studio though… the tiny mammoth website has just been updated with our current winter collection (thanks to blister finger for doing all the tricky web stuff), and we have been finishing off the winter 2010 collection as well. we have also been working on a tour program for justine clarke, for upcoming “making the garden grow” tour. we also recently completed this illustration for light project.
light project is partly owned by my friend matt. he is one of those awesome clients who lets us do what ever we want! we are also working on a big mural for the entrance of their new melbourne office. there is no deadline so who knows when it will be completed, but its definitely a fun project to work on.
also, here are some prints worked on for built by wendy’s current spring collection. they were actually completed a few months ago, but of course we keep them secret until they hit the stores.
leah worked mostly on both of the prints. she is a dab hand with the ol’ watercolour. they came up a treat printed and look so nice made into garments too.
stay tuned this week for a post of my recent ebay wins. i am sure its going to make for thrilling viewing.