RIP Alexander McQueen

It has been confirmed that fashion genius Alexander McQueen has died. The young and unbelieveably talented designer was found this morning at his Mayfair home. Police reports have spoken of his death as unsuspicious with unconfirmed reports suggesting that he took his own life, just a week after the passing of his mother Joyce McQueen. The news has come as a horrendous shock to all. Only days before London Fashion Week, I'm sure the show for his spring collection will be an unmissable event. Rest in peace McQueen. 

I need your help!!

I've put forward one of my designs that I've previously blogged about (see 3 days with a biro) to SwishSwosh, a T-shirt competition site and I need all of your votes please! It's very simple all you have to do is follow the link and then just vote for my design. You'll need to sign up but honestly it takes no longer than 5 minutes i promise! In order for me to win I need to sell lots of them, so if you actually like the design and want to be the first owners of a 'Danielle Kaye original' then please buy! They're only £12 but in order for them to be printed I need your votes! ..VOTE!! (and then go back and buy!) =] 

follow this link to vote>>>> 

http://www.swishswosh.com/design-vote/fantasy-forest

My little guilty pleasure

For a very long time I have thought about the kind of place I'd like to end up living once I can afford to get my own place and do it up the way I want to. Premature? Maybe, but this is a girl who enjoys flicking through the interior design magazine's at the hairdressers and doctors surgery! I bought this book 'New London Style' by Chloe Grimshaw way back in September and realised I needed to tell you how much I adore it. 'New London Style' is an inside peek into the exclusive private homes of London's most creative individuals including talented musicians, designers and artists. The 28 homes in the book completely range in style but one thing that connects them all is an edgy, artistic, modern and funky-fresh flair of creativity and passion for design. My personal favorite home in 'New London Style' has to be that of Mancunian born fashion designer Matthew Williamson who's extraordinary use of colour, pattern and knack for detail is something I will be trying to emulate- just give me a couple years!

3 days with a biro

Final piece with research

Crazy for Chihuly !

People refer to him as the founder of the studio glass movement. I'm talking about glass blowing genius Dale Chihuly. Chihuly became fascinated by glass blowing in the 60's and since then has gone on to produce stunningly beautiful and unbelievably comlex multipart sculptures. Chihuly brings together teams of the world's most talented glass blowers to create his large scale sculptures and environmental art. He takes inspiration from nature and the environment to create his room-sized installations of plant-like, organic imagery. Chihuly has paved the way for glass blowing sculpture and installation, that is now established as an acceptable medium in contemporary art of the 20th century. 

Chihuly exhibited his work at Kew Gardens back in 2005,if only it were still there now!

Some pages out of my sketchbook...

What I'm up to...

So at the moment we've been given a brief to produce a range of wallpaper designs. It really is as open as it sounds. The objectives are to show evidence of drawing, research, idea and design development and we have been told that the designs should repeat but don't necessarily have to. I've gone down a very organic route and focused on plants and flowers so far. I found so much inspiration after visiting the beautiful Kew Gardens last Sunday in West London.

 

Here are some photographs that I took on my visit to Kew and also some pages out of my sketchbook that I'm currently working on! 

What I love about these two flowers (including image below) is that they look like ready made prints that are about to saunter down the catwalk on an exquisite garment! (I'm going to make that happen- watch this space)

I came across this by absolute chance. I was on my way to the exit of Kew Gardens walking past the lake when I spotted a load of rotting leaves right near the water's edge. Like a mad woman I grabbed my camera from my bag and braved the squelching mud! Look at those beautiful tones and textures! - totally worth it. 

A little bit of me..

After receiving some feedback from my blog by you lovely people, I've been told that the one thing that is missing is my own work, sooooo I've decided to share with you some of my own designs both old and new. So now you can see what inspires me and how that translates into my own work!