Inspiration Profile - Imogen Tunnicliffe

It is a grey rainy Friday morning here in Wellington so it couldn't be a better day to have this week's Inspiration Profile as it is full of colour and pattern. It is a pleasure to have Imogen Tunnicliffe on board today so enjoy and have a great weekend all.

Imogen Tunnicliffe - alongside Gaudi's Garden tea towel from Citta Design's Barcelona range.

Fletch the fox and Manuel the Monkey from Citta Design

Name: Imogen Tunnicliffe

What do you do: I am the Senior Designer at Citta Design.  I have been here for 9 years (cripes!).  When I started it was just me, and I only worked 2 days a week for a few hours. I used to sit out the back with paper and pencils etc and draw!  Not a computer in sight…

Where do you live: West Auckland, New Zealand

What are you working on: We are just tying off the loose ends for our Summer 2013 collection Greece, Under the Sun, and laying the foundations for our winter 2014 collection where we are off to Copenhagen.

Meguro tea towel from the Tokyo range

Queens Wood tea towel from the London range

Who/what inspires me: Work wise, each new season we look to an international destination to draw inspiration for the next collection.  Exploring new cities is always inspirational - and if we are lucky enough to be sent there, it is of course even more so!

Other than that……. Great illustrators – like Quentin Blake, Saul Steinberg, Maurice Sendak, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s architecture, Marimekko, Andy Warhol’s early drawings and illustrations, fairy tales, fantastic window displays, live music, animals, the garden. It’s endless really – the smallest thing can be inspirational.

I work best: In the morning after a coffee (from Cool Food Café in Bloc!), or in the afternoon with a glass of wine. There is nothing like a glass of wine during the day…it definitely frees up your thinking.

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: Move away from the desk/computer! I often go for a walk, get a coffee/drink, talk to someone else. Again, the tiniest thing can spark some inspiration, but you have to change your environment for that to happen.

The best advice I have been given is: It’s not very ground breaking but, “Worrying won’t actually change the problem”. Such a simple, obvious statement but so true. It's something I have to remind myself daily.

My latest discovery is: The Oratia Farmers Market which is near where I live. It is one the the most enjoyable, relaxed, straight forward farmers markets I have been to.  There is a band, wine, coffee, second hand shops as well as lots of delicious, reasonably priced home grown food. It is also not too busy and therefore easy to very easy to move around. 

Zoo duvet set from the Barcelona range

Heath duvet set from the London range

Books that I get inspiration from: Any really good tale – it doesn’t have to be hugely intellectual, but I do like a book that is well written, where the words flow well. I love historical novels; it’s such great escapism and the fact that much of it is based in reality makes it more compelling.

Conversely, I also love Magic Realism…

Plus, I have always loved Asterix and Tintin – and still do!

Magazines that inspire me: I don’t have time to read a heck of a lot of magazines but design wise - Vogue Living, Elle Decoration, Inside Out, Frankie, Urbis. I have a subscription to National Geographic which always inspires.

Blogs that I enjoy: The Sartorialist, Maurice & King, fuckyournoguchicoffeetable, Oh Joy, April & May, Oh Happy Day, Shit London…..and many more.

My favourite room at home is: Probably my daughter Rose’s room.  It’s the sunniest, warmest room in the house and as it’s a one year old room I have allowed myself to go a bit mad with pattern, colour and loopy accessories.

Designing many of the toys and children's bed linen for Citta Design has always been one of my favourite parts of the job, and it’s great to finally have somewhere to put it all!

Rose's bedroom

My office is: At work in Mt Eden, Auckland.  There are 6 of us and it’s very relaxed and easy.  It’s all ‘creative mess’ and ‘organised chaos’, and there is always a lot of giggling going on…and lots of work too! 

What am I looking forward to:

Work wise: I’m really looking forward to our Greece photo shoot coming up in a few weeks. I think it will be really interesting and not what you expect – we have a slightly unusual angle for the styling/photography. It’s great to see all your work from the last year come together in the shoot, and the story come to life.

Personally: I am looking forward to my daughter’s first birthday in 2 weeks, the Foals concert in October, and next summer! 

Thanks Imogen! It was great to have you featured here today. Keep up to date with all the Citta goodies on their website, their Facebook page or their Pinterest boards.

Meguro cushion cover

All photographs are used with permission by Imogen Tunnicliffe and Citta Design.