Creative People

Introducing Georgie Daphne's 'Sundown' Cushions + Prints

Textile designer Georgie Young spent 10 years designing textiles and soft furnishings for a range of well-known Australian retailers, before finally taking the leap and launching her own brand, Georgie Daphne this year.

Her debut range, Sundown launches this month, with a beautiful little collection of painterly cushion designs, and art prints with a strong botanical influence, each based on hand-painted designs by Georgie.

Written
by
Lucy Feagins

Georgie Daphne‘s news cushion and print collection, ‘Sundown’. Photo – Benjamin Long. Styling – Michelle McIlrath.

After 10 years of designing for retailers, the Melbourne-based creative launches her own range of products on Wednesday. Photo – Benjamin Long. Styling – Michelle McIlrath.

Georgie’s new range is expressive, energetic and colourful. Photo – Benjamin Long. Styling – Michelle McIlrath.

All of the designs are hand-painted during an intuitive process. Photo – Benjamin Long. Styling – Michelle McIlrath.

Believing there’s no such thing as too many cushions, but wanting to offer something a little different, all Georgie’s cushions are round and feature contrasting designs. Photo – Benjamin Long. Styling – Michelle McIlrath.

Working in her Ringwood home studio. Photo – Benjamin Long. Styling – Michelle McIlrath.

Being a full-time mum, finding local resources not only allowed Georgie to support local businesses but made managing the manufacturing process manageable. Photo – Benjamin Long. Styling – Michelle McIlrath.

Along with the cushions, eight art prints are available, inspired by Georgie’s childhood memories of Western Australia. Photo – Benjamin Long. Styling – Michelle McIlrath.

Writer
Lucy Feagins
16th of July 2018

Originally hailing from Western Australia, from a young age Georgie Young had a flair for design. At the age of 21, she made the big journey across the Nullarbor to Melbourne, to pursue this passion.

‘I had a single friend (with open arms) here at the time, and a desire to study Screen Print Design at RMIT Tafe,’ the designer recalls. Following this, she undertook a degree in textile design, also at RMIT, and after graduating, landed a job at Dryen, a family-run homewares company in Moorabbin. She stayed there for nearly seven years, totally immersed in the world of designing bedlinen, cushions and sheets for some of Australia’s biggest retailers.

Today, ‘going to work’ feels a little different! Working from a lofty studio on the top floor of her home in suburban Ringwood, Georgie has revelled in the opportunity to design on her own terms. Here, Georgie has returned to a hands-on design approach, developing her distinctive painterly patterns by layering ink, watercolour and gouache. ‘I tend to start by painting something quick and a bit loose in ink, then adding interesting shapes and details over the top with gouache,’ she explains.  ‘I also move lots of shapes of tracing paper around to work out compositions’.

Right now, much of Georgie’s creative output happens after hours when her son is asleep – hence the name of her debut range ‘Sundown‘! ‘I’ve also always been fascinated by the colours of magic hour, that hour before the sun goes down and everything is dripping with a beautiful golden light,’ the designer adds.

Being a Mum has also informed the scale of Georgie’s new business, and was a key factor in her choice to manufacturer locally. A trip to India in 2015 to meet potential suppliers proved overwhelming, as the minimum order requirements were so large. Further research lead Georgie to discover that Melbourne has many affordable manufacturing resources she could tap in to, from fabric printed in Abbotsford, to cushions sewn in her own neighbourhood of Ringwood. We love that!

Georgie’s debut range includes six mix-and-match circular cushions, featuring hand-painted botanical patterns, and soft velvet trims. Alongside these, there are eight art prints, inspired by Georgie’s childhood memories of Western Australia: hiding in her Mum’s gorgeously lush garden, and painting every flower she could find!

Georgie Daphne’s Sundown will be launching on the July 18th. She will also be exhibiting at Life Instyle in the newbie section, 1st Life Instyle from August 2nd to 5th. For all the creative local shopkeepers out there, be sure to pop by Georgie’s stand, and say we sent you!

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