Our stand at tent London

The talented writer Katie Garner has also written a piece about our stand at the show, and I loved what she had to say...so here it is! 

Sarah-Jayne Guest Splashes Tent London with her Signature Style

Unveiling the much anticipated new ‘Wasp’ cushion design, Sarah shows London a life of colour and dreams in textiles By Katie Garner

As the home place for innovative, fashionable and global talent, splashed across an array of textiles, furniture, ceramics, accessories and materials, it was only natural that British designer Sarah-Jayne Guest showcased her varied wares at Tent London last weekend (20^th to 23^rd September) as part of the massively inspirational London Design Festival 2012.

SjGuest Designs stand at Tent 2012

With her usual aplomb of eclectic colours and imagery, Sarah’s stand was a vivid rainbow-like streak amidst the white barriers of the stands and concrete surroundings. Her fabulously popular collection of cushions, made from 100% cotton, was proudly on display on different height shelves, including her latest patterns – the ‘Wasps’. Large luridly yellow wasps hover on backgrounds of hot pink and off white making the usually antagonistic insects strangely appealing.

Elle Deco approved award

Sarah used inspiration from her popular and  ‘Elle Decoration Approved’ ‘Pigeon’ cushion to create her latest animal-themed design, firstly by working out what appealed so much in the ‘Pigeon’ cushion. Not only did they hit three fashionable trends – mustard colourings, bird motif, patriotic British – but they also delved into a more unusual source of inspiration. “Pigeons are considered a pest, rodents, so it got me thinking to other animals like this and it got me thinking about wasps. Quirky, yet beautiful,” Sarah-Jayne explains. No doubt this is also the reasoning behind her ‘Frog’ cushions too. 

Grey wasp cushion £49.00

It’s not all about the wildlife though as Sarah’s designs also widely incorporate bold, oversized florals that demand attention in loud shades of yellow, blue, purple, green, red and pink, with accents of grey. They are often cunningly mixed with the mundane, for example you may spy a teapot nestling against a goose or a clock face propped against an enhanced petal. For something maybe more classic, Sarah’s geometric patterns of zig zags or checks in clean lines were also present, again in her signature shades.

Green wasp cushion £49

Sarah shows how uniquely versatile she is with her newest venture – her stone collection, which uses sandblasting to create patterns and designs on different coloured stone. It takes the polish off the glossy stone to leave shapes, in very much the same process as writing on headstones. Coloured stones in purple, reds and blacks etched with individually placed petals would create stunning splash backs or kitchen work tops as well as quirky floor or wall tiles. They have already attracted the attention of Italian restaurant chain Zizzi who have used Sarah’s stone designs on their table tops.

Zizzi can’t get enough of the talented designer as she has also worked on numerous location themed wall murals for their various restaurants, letting her bold illustrations liven up blank white walls. Tying in the connections with the local area provides an interesting twist, for example, the Shrewsbury branch is covered with Tudor buildings and flowers often seen in their famous flower festival. Durham on the other hand is drenched in imagery of its main emblem, the cathedral.

Sarah Guest and Katie Garner at Tent

As a sneak peek into the creative workings behind the uniquely different prints, Sarah’s stand at Tent was a perfect taster of the punchy and character-stuffed style of her ‘Imagination’ collection that would surely inject life and colour into whatever home they resided in.