About Ava Loves Rosie
For as long as I can remember, I have loved to make things! My earliest memory is of making my mum a necklace from a sweet wrapper and some cotton thread. I can remember - despite only being about three - that I was incredibly proud of my creation!
A little bit about my design process…
When it comes to the designs featured on my range of gifts and homeware, I choose to blend traditional creativity with modern technology to create completely new designs. My process begins with sourcing vintage imagery that inspires me; I then use AI design software to rework and transform these images, but that is just the beginning. Afterwards, I spend a significant amount of time editing, reworking, and sometimes redrawing parts of the image to make it fit into my vision. I then build on these elements by adding textures, patterns and text, carefully building each design to ensure it feels fresh and new but with a deeply nostalgic vibe. The resulting designs are then scaled proportionately to fit a range of mugs, signs etc which are all printed and pressed here in our little garden workshop at home.
I am not a highly skilled artist or a classically trained illustrator —while I do enjoy both traditional drawing and doodling and watercolour and acrylic painting for personal pleasure, these methods aren't the ones I use for my homeware designs. Instead, I focus on combining digital techniques with vintage imagery to create something completely new.
AI software is a tool that assists me in this creative process; it allows me to recreate the look of old imagery and I put significant effort into reworking and refining each element to ensure it aligns with the timeworn, vintage look I seek. My aim is to create unique designs that feel like they were illustrated many moons ago; perhaps back in the 1930s-50s. I add details like rust effects , worn edges, fading and so on to create a sense of age and to further build on that vintage 'feel'.
I use these same techniques to create the monthly zine, ‘Around The Year’.
I want to be completely transparent about how my designs are created because I can’t take credit for having sat down with pencils, a sketchbook and watercolour paints; my designs are entirely digitally created via a mix of AI technology (the Midjourney software), Procreate (using digital brushes), PicMonkey design (when adding textures and fonts) and Indesign (for prints). I acknowledge that this is a very high tech/futuristic method to create designs that look old/timeworn! This process (or indeed, the resulting design) isn’t for everyone and there are those who feel it doesn’t have a place in the art world. I would like to say with complete honesty that I absolutely don’t intend to present myself as a skilled artist or illustrator within the artworld by any means - my aim is to simply create happy products that add a little cuteness to your home, bringing the faded charm of old, vintage imagery back to life in the 21st century and into everyday homeware and gifts.