I touched on this topic in the first blog but a few people have asked for more of an insight into how Splendette designs come to be.
As I'm crazy about 1940s and 1950s design, a lot of my inspiration comes from vintage jewellery and vintage bangles (obviously!) but I do also draw on other areas for ideas.
Anything can be inspiring! For example, if you look closely at the Deep Green range I did for AW16, can you see how it was inspired by snakes? I also did the Folklore range based on my Finnish heritage, drawing inspiration from there and vintage designs too.
Other ranges such as Berry, Banoffee and Blood Orange are a bit more self explanatory! The original Starburst bangles were inspired by the classic starburst imagery of the 1950s but then when I developed those the following season into the clear versions (main pic above), I took inspiration from original vintage lucite bags and developed them into bangles.
As I've said many times before, I love colour so I do like to really work with it when designing. True Bakelite can actually be made in all sorts of colours but, over time, it becomes patinated, which then alters the colour. There are many divided opinions on whether this patina should be removed or not, which I'll touch on in a later Bakelite blog post. Anyway, I love to use different colours, depending on what the range is about.
Other places I get inspiration is, of course all of you!! I love to see what everyone wears at the weekenders such as The Rockabilly Rave and Viva Las Vegas. You guys are all so creative with your outfits and accessorising, it really does give me fresh eyes on everything whenever I see photos of you all, so thank you for all the pics and inspiration!
Above all, every single Splendette piece is always designed by me, exclusively for Splendette. You won't find our designs being made by anyone else.
