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 use a variety of different resources:
Sometimes I work with graphics licensed from artists and illustrators - I love discovering new artists, font creators and pattern makers and I frequently combine the work of several different artists within one design.
I recently started working with the Mary Evans Picture Library to license work from artists popular in days gone by, such as Molly Brett and Rene Cloke.
I also choose sometimes choose to blend traditional creativity with modern technology to create completely new designs. This process begins with sourcing vintage imagery that inspires me and then using AI design software to rework and transform them via a series of prompts. 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 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. 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 AI is used in some designs because I know not everyone likes the notion of AI. I can’t take credit for having sat down with pencils, a sketchbook and watercolour paints to create from scratch, although I do frequently add pen and pencil crayon shading to images before scanning back in. Where AI technology is used it is the Midjourney software. Other digital design software I use includes 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 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.
With all the different artwork I work with - from licensed vintage illustrations to digital designs - the resulting designs are scaled proportionately to fit a range of mugs, signs etc which are all printed and pressed here in our little garden workshop at home.