Happy Holidays!

Textile Designer: Cathy Hunt Featured on Pattern Observer

I am very excited to be featured on the Pattern Observer blog, where I share a few snippets of what inspired me on my last three collections. 

I am often asked where I get my inspiration for my work. It seems like the answer is different for each collection. But three things I always keep in mind:

• What product or category is in mind?

• Who will be buying it (target audience)?

• How can I make it unique and marketable?  

You can read the full article here. 

Pattern Observer offers wonderful workshops and courses through their online community, The Textile Lab, and I highly recommend them to textile and surface print designers of all levels.

Merry Holiday & Happy New Year, Y'All

Cathy Hunt Designs Available at OfficeMax

I am doing a little dance in my office right now. On the shelf at OfficeMax you can find file folders with Cathy Hunt designs printed on them—twelve designs, to be exact. This is a bit of a milestone for me. One of my goals this year was to be "on the shelf" so I am pretty excited to be in a national retailer like OfficeMax. Now I need to get some filing done...

View more of my work at cathyhuntstudio.net

from the Garden Gate Collection

from the Wellington Court Collection

Happy Valentine's Day

Twitter Art Exhibit

"Through art we can change the world" That is the mission of #twitterartexhibit. I contributed to this year's event along with hundreds of other artists from around the world! Requirements were to create 5 x 7 postcard size, original art, each to sell for $35. Proceeds to help young artists. It was kind of exciting, actually, to be a part of this, even though I could not attend the event in LA. But because this is a social media-driven fundraiser I was able to follow along online. I really would have loved to have purchased some of the art, as well. You can view this collection of fabulous artwork here on their FB page. And learn more about the organization at http://twitterartexhibit.org.

Flirting with Black & White

I love color! But that doesn't mean I can't be inspired to play with some black and white patterns. I recently did some backyard research using over 50 designs ranging from classy to sassy in various different palettes. Every design that was in a black and white "color" scheme got high marks. I know this trend has been around a while, but it is not going away.
I tried to design patterns that were more for the Free People customer but would also appeal to White House | Black Market shoppers.

Hip Hop Flip Flop Collection

 

So I have been submitting surface designs to various manufacturers. This collection was created specifically for Sandalista, makers of fine flip flops. They did give me some positive feedback but needed to see more before they would be interested in committing. So then I took a few of those designs (above) and submitted them to Tigerprint (a division of Hallmark Cards) for a gift wrap product competition. Again, I heard thanks— but no thanks! I have to say I really do not mind rejection. Well, I know it's only been a few times, so far, but I am just getting my feet wet in this industry. And the more I move forward the more I learn. So every time someone says no, I see an opportunity to take a look at what they DID like and what rises to the top. I know I have a lot to learn, but I am OK with that. That is the fun part for me. See the entire collection in the studio here.

Looking back helps me to see ahead.

At the end of the year, I like to take some time to browse through the past 12 months. I look at my date book, I clean out files, I review the work I have created. It gives me a great feeling of accomplishment. I came across these abstracts that I had set aside to a junk pile. A little time passing gives me perspective, and I see these in a new light. Not sure why I did not like them, but I see something more I need to explore, a new path to follow. I like that.