Indie Designer Interviews: Bonbi Forest
| Posted Apr 28th 2008 8:02AM by Mallory Whitfield
Filed under: Accessories, Jewelry, Casual wear, Designers, Interviews, Under the Radar
We love all of the amazing independent designers out there. In order to find out more about just what makes all of these creative types tick, we present to you an ongoing segment called Indie Designer Interviews.Today's interview is with UK-based artist & designer Lee May Foster. who in addition to designing her own line of screen printed tshirts and jewelry also sells the work of other indie designers at her online shop, The Bonbi Forest Indie Emporium.
Tell us a little about your company. I am Lee May Foster, an artist living and working in a beautiful corner of South West England and I run The Bonbi Forest Indie Emporium where I sell my own jewelry and hand printed tees and accessories alongside the wonderful wares of other talented designers and artists from around the world. As well as making stuff for my Bonbi Forest Brand and running the Emporium, I also work on commissions and projects and my latest have included designing and hand printing limited edition merchandise for musicians Bat For Lashes and Dan Le Sac V's Scroobius Pip...
How did you get started as a designer? I started stenciling tees when I graduated from art school (I have a BA in Fine Art Painting) for friends and family as presents at Christmas time a few years ago. It occurred to me that other people might like them too so I decided to learn how to screen print and with the help of my web designer boyfriend, I set up the first incarnation of the Bonbi Forest online store to sell them a few months later. I began making jewelry around the same time as the store opened and started selling that on the site too and things have kept growing from there! My tees and jewelry are now sold in the UK and the USA in several online and brick and mortar stores.
I decided to expand the shop into The Bonbi Forest Indie Emporium to stock the work of other designers when I discovered how hard it is to get your brand 'out there' as an independent designer and I really wanted to do something to help promote the indie goodness that other designers are producing. The store is growing really fast and it's all very exciting! I'm just really pleased to be able to put something back into the indie design world for artists and customers alike.Any advice you would give to aspiring designers? You don't have to rush in to a big grand business plan, take little steps and test the water to find out what works and what customers want and build on that day by day. Also tell everyone you know about what it is you are up to with your fledgling business because when you haven't got much of a budget for advertising as a start up, word of mouth and simple business cards can work absolute wonders.
What inspires your work? My inspiration comes from a love of nature and the great outdoors, my travels around the world, good books and music and other people's stories and experiences all play a factor in my drawings and prints. I like to play around with different colours, shapes and textures and love experimenting with different ways of mark making in my drawings. I like to keep the themes of nature running through my jewelry and combine them with all things celestial and space-like and add the odd splash of bright colour here and there...
What are your top fashion & beauty must-haves? For beauty Bio Oil is a favorite as well as Astral moisturiser.
For fashion I love vintage boots, sweet dresses, slim jeans and zingy coloured nails!
Where can people find your work? In The Bonbi Forest Indie Emporium!! Plus other stores too, there is a (gradually expanding!) list on the about page of the Bonbi Forest site...
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