Industrial Design Magic
Sometimes when I am drawing, I try to imagine what my art would look like if it were carved in wood, or molded in ceramic, or cast in metal. I have talked about these ideas with my husband, Chad, who is an industrial designer. It just so happens that one of Chad’s many skills is the ability to render product ideas that look really, really realistic. When I queried him about material applications for my art, his response was, “Oh, I can render that.”
But, as so many of us know, when we finally settle in after work, after dinner, and after the children are in bed, we are just too tired to do anything else. We need a little extra motivation to accomplish extra projects.
Well, it just so happens that the “little extra motivation” my husband needed to prompt him to turn my imaginings into really, really realistic renderings, was to see me try to do it without his help. Apparently, my efforts were not quite up to snuff, and that got him moving. Here is what he made:
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
© Ana Davis, Ltd.
I showed these renderings to some friends and colleagues, and several of them thought they were photos. Nope. This is industrial design magic. And, I think, it is awesome. Thank you, Honey! Now instead of imagining if my artwork would look cool on wood, ceramic, or metal, I KNOW it’s cool. 
Spring Promise
I wrote the entry, below, for the Blend Fabrics blog today. I thought I would also publish it here:
Hi everyone! My name is Ana Davis, and I am an artist, Creative Director, illustrator, and pattern designer. I began knitting, crocheting and sewing when I was 6.
This photo was taken around the time I began to sew and make art.
I studied various forms of art throughout lower, middle and high school, and I have always been obsessed with color.
I often dream about color, and have for as long as I can remember. In one dream from my childhood, I entered a room where there was a wall full of tiny, white drawers. As I opened the drawers, I found that each one was filled with intricate objects of a single color. I opened every single drawer, just for the surprise and pleasure of seeing the color they contained.
My love of color and creation led me to a fine art major in college. I spent years in the printmaking, painting, and drawing studios. I still love to draw, and a favorite summer pastime of mine is sketching the flowers in our garden.
This is a sketch I made of our fabulous pink and white peonies.
While working toward my undergraduate degree, I also studied three-dimensional art. In keeping with my preoccupation with pattern design and sewing, I managed to cast patterns in bronze, and sew pillows and quilts for my sculpture classes. In the midst of the conceptual art movement of the 90s, sewing was very much out of step. But since then, the disciplines I have so loved since my childhood have been embraced with renewed respect.
These days, it seems that everywhere I look there is a groundswell of excitement for the ingenuity, craftsmanship, and utter beauty of quilts and crafts. It is a thrill to be involved with these movements, and an honor to have my fabrics available to the incredible artists who might use them.
My first fabric collection for Blend is called Spring Promise:
I have tried to bring together the beauty of traditional motifs with the energy of contemporary color, and the whimsy of modern geometrics.
I hope you like my designs, and I can’t wait for the pleasure and surprise of seeing the intricate objects they become. Happy creating, everyone!
Ana
Fat Quarter Shop
Oh. My. Gosh*.
From time to time I search to see if any of my artwork has made it onto some of my favorite websites, Blogs, and online stores. I never find anything. UNTIL TODAY.
This morning I went onto the Fat Quarter Shop and entered my name in the search field. Guess what came up??????
If you are a designer or a crafter or a quilter, you are familiar with this square and the charming Fat Quarter Shop logo. It’s like a badge of honor for me to have my artwork on this website. And the collection isn’t even set to ship until August!!! I. am. so. excited.
* I have a two and a half year old, so even when I write I am trying to keep my mouth from spewing out profanity. This not swearing thing is going fairly well though, considering I really worked hard at swearing a lot as a teenager. I remember practicing swearing because I thought it made me seem tough and cool. Now I do everything in my power to NOT swear. Oh, how things change…
Apartment Therapy, The Best of Reader’s Desks
Today I was co-featured on Apartment Therapy! AT did a desktop tour of our home office, as well as the workspace of my dear friend and partner at Habit Goods, Jim.
Here is some of my fabric. In the Background you can see our old, rotary telephone. Since we only receive calls from telemarketers and Grandpa Davis, we let our two and a half year old manage all of the incoming calls.
This photo shows the bookshelf in our office. Some of my vintage cameras and camera paraphernalia can be seen close-up, below.
I love Apartment Therapy, and am so happy to be on the site. I was trying to entice the fabulous AT duo, Judy and Heather, to return to our house and feature it as a Before and After. But, we still have some plumbing and a bathroom to redo before the house would be ready for that kind of attention… and by “some plumbing” I mean all of it, and by “a bathroom”, I mean both bathrooms. But, I swear it’s almost finished.
In any case, I am thrilled to have a snippet of my space make it onto AT. Thanks Judy and Heather for taking the time to come talk with Jim and I about Habit Goods and my surface design obsession. It was great to work with you on this!
Animal Parade
I am SO happy to be posting about another upcoming fabric collection! Animal Parade, a line of cotton craft and quilt fabric for little girls, is scheduled to deliver in August. Yahoo!!!!! Here is a sneak peek. The final version of the fabrics is now on view at Blend Fabrics.
I am so, so excited about this new line. Even though I have a little boy (and almost all of my friends here in Chicago have little boys), my very best friend just had a little girl. They live in London, but as soon as I get this fabric, I am going to make little Elsa a trunk load of goodies and ship them all over to her. I am especially excited about the larger scale animals with the flowers and vines. I scaled it for appliqué and small pillows, as well as quilts.
Hope everyone likes this new line, and please, please, send me images of what you make with it!
