DesignMarket!

It has been a while since The Fruitmarket Gallery's DesignMarket (13th-15th July), but I suppose it's better to post photos late, rather than never!

Me + 'Ella'!

I had an absolutely amazing weekend, meeting lots of lovely designers + design lovers! It was wonderful to be a part of such a large event, and Ziggy Sawdust received a very positive response which was great!

The DesignMarket was listed in The Skinny as on of the top 10 things to do in Scotland that weekend, and 'The Supremes' Ziggy's redesigned nest of tables were chosen as the featured image!

click here

Here is a selection of my photos of Ziggy in action:

You can find some more photos of the whole event over on The Fruitmarket Gallery's Facebook page, here... I am already looking forward to next year! 

'Ella'- Redesigned Vintage Sideboard

I think it's about time I put 'Ella' in the spotlight!

She has undergone quite a transformation! I loved her when I first seen her in her original state but she was very much stuck in the past and I was keen to highlight her pretty curves and give her a contemporary-meets-retro feel.


Here's how she looked when I first picked her up... heavily stained + varnished with some broken, hinged olde-worlde handles!

Before I start a redesign, I like to look at the shape + structure of a piece of furniture and break it down into parts in my head! I then choose colours to highlight all the different components to help show off it's original craftmanship.

I absolutely love her scalloped back board, Queen Anne legs + curved cabinet doors. This piece has lots of vintage appeal! 

I have created a band of sky blue around the middle of the sideboard, including the doors + back;   painted the drawer faces rose pink; sandwiched these parts between a navy top + legs and painted all of her interior grey.

I have topped it all off with lovely hand-made handles from Anthropologie to tie in the colours + create an off-beat finish!

from Anthropologie

And who inspired this piece of redesigned Ziggy Sawdust furniture??  Ella Fitzgerald!

Vintage florals, feminine curves + full of soul ... she's definitely an Ella! But my colour combination was inspired by this Color Collective image:

I wonder what will inspire my next piece...

'Marilyn' - the redesigned 1960s G Plan dressing table

excuse the reflection of my needing-to-be-painted ceiling!

I posted the 'before' photos of 'Marilyn' way back in June and I hope you weren't thinking that I had forgotten about her! She has been lovingly redesigned and was all dolled-up in time for The Fruitmarket Gallery's DesignMarket.

To refresh your memory, here's how she looked before:

She is an original G Plan piece and vintage G Plan pieces are highly sought after in their original state... but this one was looking a bit tired and I knew a little TLC would make her even more appealing!

The dressing table was covered in shiny, yellowing varnish which didn't do much for her... so I stripped her back completely, colour blocked her frame and left her drawer faces as exposed, waxed wood for a contemporary feel.

Here's a snap of drawers before + after to highlight the makeover!

from old + shiny to new + matte!

Using rose pink for the outer casing, chic grey for the dipped-level table top + legs, along with sky blue drawer interiors + navy drawer handles, I have used colour to highlight the structure of this delightful piece of retro furniture! The structural design on this piece is very unusual. It's the epitome of Mid-Century Modern furniture!

I removed the broken light fittings from the sides of the mirror, painted the mirror's wooden casing + re-attached it... The mirror can be angled + adjusted to give you an almost full-length view of yourself!

I actually discovered that the mirror can be removed completely + the sloping back-board which sits underneath it at the back of the table top, can also be removed to leave you with a rather stylish chest of drawers! How versatile! (I painted each component separately so this can be done without affecting the aesthetic/paintwork!)

The rims + insides of the drawers have been painted sky blue, which you can see peeking out in the photo above. These subtle injections of colour make the piece feel really special.

But my favourite part of the entire dressing table has to be her quirky, hinged jewellery drawers!

These pull out and around making sure that you don't loose an earring or something in the back corner... and they became an attraction at The Fruitmarket Gallery's DesignMarket!

Photo courtesy of The Fruitmarket Gallery

No Ziggy Sawdust redesign story is complete without an insight into the inspiration behind it all...

but I think we all know there is only one 'Marilyn' that this lovely dressing table could possibly be named after!

The colours in this picture influenced the colour choices for the dressing table and when I was ready to take the 'After' snaps, the paint wasn't quite dry meaning I had to wait a few hours before the photoshoot could begin, so she's a diva just like her namesake!!

Stay tuned for 'Ella'- the vintage sideboard's story + more snaps of DesignMarket...

I've not been MIA... I promise!

Oh dear- it has been a while since I have written a blog!


The neglect is down to a few things... I was dedicating all my 'computer time' to building my website www.ziggysawdust.co.uk (take a peek!)

         
             My website!

 I was also really busy creating many new pieces for my weekend at The Fruitmarket Gallery's DesignMarket (an event that went down a storm! A blog post dedicated to it is in the pipe line!) and I am now working hard on a few commissioned pieces of furniture for a client!


It has been busy, busy but I am loving every minute of it all!


A few weeks ago, out of the blue, I received a phone call from a journalist at STV local wanting to write an article on me + Ziggy! I was over the moon and she wrote a lovely piece titled 'Ziggy Sawdust leads the flat-pack furniture rebellion' !!

Click here to read more!

Actually....I am still over the moon!


Well, I think that summarises Ziggy's news so watch out for some more detailed posts to follow shortly!