Beautifully British: Ashley Thomas

I feel like a housemother at a Blyton-esque boarding school, championing the cause of my young charges; in today's case an under-25 designer. Today's interview is with recent graduate Ashley Thomas, a surface designer who designs playful textiles and illustrations. Of course, my favourite is the little bird in the bottom photo - as it combines birds and checks. If you are interested in buying anything from Ashley, contact her via her website.


Brief bio: After graduating in 2007 from Staffordshire University where I studied surface pattern design, I started freelancing for a variety of companies, designing greeting cards, canvas designs and fashion prints. I then launched my own collection a year later aiming to make illustration and art-pieces more usable in the home. My work is now featured in range of exclusive stockists from interior boutiques and galleries from East Midlands to London and Paris.


Describe your work: My work is both feminine and edgy. It has a graphical, yet quirky style, incorporating a range of techniques including silkscreen printing and collage, focusing on trend lead themes and using sophisticated colour usage. I enjoy energetic mark making, exploring scale, placement, and colour, as well as combining various traditional drawing techniques and contemporary graphical manipulation. I aim for a fun, curious range of designs for a playful and contemporary market.

What inspires you: I love finding new inspiration, which fuels my design work. This can be gathered anywhere, from seeing an unusual-looking animal at the zoo, to everyday objects and pets. I like to evoke a story line from the subject matter which makes for conversational compositions. Artists that inspire me vary from Sabrina Ward-Harrison to Sara Fanelli.

Describe a perfect day: A lie in with breakfast in bed followed by hunting around London's interior independent boutiques such as Mint and Beyond the Valley, then lunch in a country pub.