Decorque Guest Post

Hi everyone. Today I would like to welcome Decorque as my first guest contributor. The lovely Harriet from Decorque will introduce their brand to you and reveal their dream for 2013. ♡

I would like to introduce Decorque as a new family run on-line business that launched in September 2012.

Our team is a diverse mix of talents! Lesley Stevens is Decorque’s owner and head designer, also a qualified surface pattern and textile designer who has worked in the fashion industry for many years. Aaron Hawkins is our web developer, who worked on the design and fully implemented our website, he works continuously updating the site to keep a fresh and interesting experience for the customer. Chris Stevens is our expert in eCommerce and all business matters. Then there is myself, Harriet Stevens, a qualified graphic designer, working in the retail sector and designing windows for a UK high-street brand, who manages Decorque’s print production, digital design and social media avenues.

As a team we decided to find a medium to introduce Lesley’s fashion-edge prints to the home-ware market, which so far has been hard work, but an inspiring and exciting challenge.

So this is what we do, we turn this, into this!! 

Decorque

Why cork? Well it is a natural, eco-friendly material, extracted without harming the trees. Surprisingly it takes colour extremely well, whilst keeping its warm tactile qualities. It is heat resistant, hard wearing and non-scratch for polished surfaces.

What we do that is a little different, is, that we digitally print on cork. This being the only successful way of producing such detail in pattern and colour. Presently its only showcased on placemats and coasters, but we shall be extending the range as we go forward.

Hummingbird Cork Placemats

Panther Cork Coasters

We have also extended that natural visual decorative quality of the cork into designs for our Art Prints and Stationery range.

Tropical Greetings Cards

Stationery Tags

In the Lantern at Daybreak print, lantern and butterflies are colour tinted cork and in the Butterfly Tree, we use its natural colour and texture as the bark of the tree.

A3 Cork Art Prints

Our taste ranges from the quintessentially English roses and birds to the exotic toucans and parrots seen in our plastic opaline placemat range!

Lesley is the main designer for the business, mixing hand painted/drawn with photographs, using Photoshop and Illustrator. In the prints above, all the flowers featured are photographed in our own garden while in full bloom, whether left natural or tinted. The birds are painted in water-colour before introduced on to their sometimes digital background. If we need an image Lesley draws or paints one!

You can see our love of pattern in our collective patchwork of stationery designs below. 

Stationery Patterns

We have also just introduced a limited edition hand crafted card range, which gives our work a bit more of a handmade feel – this is something we are trialing for the beginning part of 2013. What do you think?

Handcrafted Love Card

So what is our dream for 2013? Well we aim to expand and develop our core ranges, but I think our real dream is to get the Decorque name out there by participating in more offline craft and gifts fairs, and looking to obtain trade interest too. We’d really love to have our designs and products sold in Selfridges or Liberty!!

We are, in the meantime open to any licensing offers, as well as design projects or opportunities. We really enjoy collaborating and working with other creatives, so we also aim to expand our network this year, through our already successful blog that I currently manage!

You can find Decorque here:

Blog | Website |Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Etsy | Folksy

Thank you Harriet for that lovely introduction and may your dreams come true in 2013 ♡

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